The 2016 Trend
If you are on social media these days, you may have seen the 2016 trend. People are flashing back to 2016 by sharing pictures of themselves ten years ago, sharing details of their lives, reminiscing about what life was like. There are also those wondering why we’ve chosen to look back this year. Why didn’t we do this in 2025?
There is a reason we are looking back to 2016. Where ever you stand politically, 2016 marked a significant moment in the life of our country and we have been in significant transition ever since. It was not just about a presidential election but it was about divisions in families and in belief systems. It marked new priorities publicly vocalized for our country but we also saw this shift happen within our congregations. What once felt solid felt was shaken. What once was known felt unknown.
We often hear congregations say they just want to get back to what things were like before the pandemic. Our own congregational version of the 2016 trend. The reality is that many churches were already deep in transition before the pandemic started, they just did not realize it. Trends that were on the horizon suddenly came quickly. We have been moving slowly to a decline in church attendance for decades. The conflicts that congregations were able to avoid, emerged in a difficult political climate and only increased during the pandemic. With changing church realities, many people began moving congregations and these pockets of new people had not fully integrated by the time of the pandemic. Other congregations engaged in a strategic planning process in light of the changing realities but never got to fully commit to them before the pandemic. Pastoral transitions were also common during this time. And all of these trends that began around 2016, made it challenging for congregations during and especially after the pandemic.
We are a decade into this transition, and change is our new normal for awhile. Thriving congregations are those that are happy to look back and learn from their past, celebrate from their successes but are willing to embrace a new reality that honors where they have come from. We can look back, doing our version of the 2016 trend, but if congregations are going to have a future, we have to realize that we will not be going back to pre-pandemic realities. Our congregations will still be immersed in change, just like the rest of our lives are today. Our congregations are changing in part because the world around us is changing so quickly.
In scripture we find a God that continued to change the way that God related to the people as culture changed. God spoke differently to Abraham than to Moses than to the Israelites through the prophets than to the New Testament churches. God is always present in the change. The spirit is moving in the change, even as institutions rise and fall. We can take comfort in that.
The real question is, what picture of our congregations do we want to be able to share in 2036? Going back will not get us to a faithful and flourishing future. We trust that God is still speaking and the spirit is still moving in the midst of our change. It is only when we look forward, embracing change rooted in our deepest values and making the most of this unique moment in the life of our congregations, that we will have a future. Let’s move towards something we can be proud of in 2036.