What Netflix, YouTube and iPods Teach Us About the Future of the Church

What Netflix, YouTube and iPods Teach Us About the Future of the Church May 25, 2016

www.wikipedia.com
www.wikipedia.com

If I were an executive at a major network (NBC, ABC, CBS, etc.), I would be scared to death right now. There is a massive sea change happening in the world of entertainment consumption, and the entertainment world as we know it is tilting on its axis. I grew up in a day and age where kids piled up in front of the tv on Saturday mornings to watch cartoons in the living room. The cartoons, the networks, and the location of the television dictated when and where and what I could watch.

Now the entertainment world is fundamentally different. My four children don’t need to watch actual television anymore. They would rather watch programming on their iPod Touches. And what’s scarier for the major networks, they’d rather watch YouTube or Netflix. They have no idea what NBC, ABC, or CBS is. And this is the biggest generation that America has ever seen. The entertainment industry is fundamentally changing as we speak, although the full effects won’t be felt for another decade. Now it’s important to remember that the core of the industry remains the same: delivering entertainment to the masses. It’s just the medium that is transforming.

Churches, especially established churches, should take note of the next generation rising up. Stats have shown for years that established/mainline denominations and churches have been losing the younger generation at a cataclysmic rate. They’re (in this illustration) the major networks, enjoying decades of success and growth but now seeing their very foundations eroding.

The need for spirituality hasn’t diminished any more than the desire for entertainment. People are just finding spirituality (and entertainment) in different places. It’s why Netflix drove Blockbuster Video out of business. The medium of entertainment changed, and Blockbuster didn’t adapt. In another twenty years, tens of thousands of established churches (Blockbusters) will shut their doors once the aging populations that are keeping them afloat die off. The core of Christianity (Jesus Christ) will always remain the same, but the medium will look different for this next generation. New churches, non-denominational churches, modern churches are the Netflixes, YouTubes and iPods of the new church world.

We may not like it. We may deny it. Like VHS salesmen, we may be pining for the day when everyone comes to their senses and flocks back into established churches. But it’s not going to happen. Every time I see my kid fire up YouTube Kids for a few minutes of entertainment on their iPod touch, I’m reminded that this generation consumes entertainment in a fundamentally different way than I did.

How they pursue spirituality will be fundamentally different as well. It’s incumbent upon us as churches and Christians to meet them where they are and point them to Jesus.


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