Sydney, Australia
Australian Christian author Mark Sayers has urged young emerging Christian leaders to accept themselves as “one of a kind” with unique gifts that God can use to renew his church in a post-pandemic society, but one which should expect more challenges.
Sayers, a senior leader of Red Church in Melbourne, author and podcast host, was invited by Alpha Australia to speak to dozens of leaders across the nation about his knowledge and experiences on thought leadership, as well as his understanding of current evangelical needs after COVID-19.
Mark Sayers. PICTURE: Supplied.
In an online session on Thursday, he said revivals often followed times of trial and difficulty, and that the current model of Christian worship and evangelism is changing.
He said when the pandemic hit, he realised it would “short-circuit” the world in devastating ways, but also that it would make people look at the world differently.
“I think what this has done is, actually short-circuited the [sort of] life script we were running on – even leaders – where we just made a lot of assumptions around the world about [the world] and how we thought the world was going to turn out.
“I think we’ve perhaps been brought back to a more accurate view of the world,” he said. “We do not realise [often] how good we have it in Australia and in a sense that also insulates us from hearing the message of the Gospel. I feel that in this season Australians have actually been reconnected with possibility of suffering and disruption.”
Now that Australia was emerging from its second wave of the pandemic, there was an opportunity to reach out to the community, which itself was seeking a greater spiritual connection, he said.
Quoting missiologist George Hunter, Sayers said “evangelism happens in the gap between idols”, explaining Australians have long been used to doing whatever they want whenever they want in a nation that boasts strong social and community services, relative safety, extensive and varied entertainments and a rich natural environment.
But there was “an evangelistic hunger” and COVID-19 was proving to be an instrument God was using to allow people to search for meaning. It was this hunger Sayers said that created opportunities.
“People are asking big questions about life,” he said, including about changing jobs and challenging relationships, which created “a massive opportunity we can’t afford to miss”.
“The pandemic is an invitation to see the world as it is, not the fantasy version of the world that often Western people, and even Western church leaders – and particularly Australian church leaders – can see the world,” he said.
But Sayers warned polarisation of viewpoints often drives wedges between people, affecting their spiritual lives and relationships in churches, and urged the group to call on the Holy Spirit and focus their work on God and Jesus.
“There is a change of posture that the Australian church needs to step into and I think it’s this increased dependency on God. The reason Christ precedes renewal is Christ pushes us back on the power of God, not our own human power.”
He said it is personal renewal and the reliance on God that leads to corporate change and churches needed to pray “Come, Holy Spirit” so people could see that change.
“My great prayer is that a generation of leaders who are on fire with the Holy Spirit draw people to them because they see Jesus in their lives,” he said.
“There was this myth – perhaps in the 2010s – where [leaders said] ‘we can have this church and we can avoid issues and walk this middle path and keep everyone happy’ [but that] has gone.”
He said the current “celebrity model” for church leadership, which “provides religious goods and services”, was a failing model. Instead, there was an opportunity to model a uniquely Australian approach to leadership with the focus on Jesus.
By using Biblical leadership models, such as David and Jesus, there was an opportunity for Australian leaders to create a new national approach, rather than looking to other nations.
“There is a world of change coming. So the new normal is the world returning to what it was like. I think we were actually living in some 20 years of an unreality there; we thought there were no problems in the world…I think we are returning to what the world has always been like which is multiple disruptions happening simultaneously.
“There is lots of disruption coming. We are not going to return [I think] to a period of peace for some time.”
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Sayers said there was also an opportunity for Australia and New Zealand, which had largely been spared the horrors or the COVID-19 experienced by other nations, to be outward focussed and intercede for the world.
“In past seasons – five or 10 years ago – I looked at the leadership scene in Australia and sometimes my heart felt concerned. My hope is that there are people saying ‘this is suck, and this is hard and this is difficult, but I am going to say yes’.”
Sayers said when people were willing to say yes regardless of the pressure, it was “a recipe for renewal and awakening”.
“Awakening was never going to come in this country with us just doing things better. It’s only going to come when, in desperation we turn to God.”
Sayers, whose books include Strange Days, Disappearing Church, and Reappearing Church, used a personal reflection at the end of the session to encourage the group to step out in faith, recounting that he was asked by his school principal in Year 11 to leave because he was not considered smart enough to succeed in his final exams.
He has no Bible college degree. He does not have a university degree.
“Everything that God has done in me and in our [wife Trudi’s] life is not through any special skills or intelligence that we have had or courses, or people we’ve met, or just networking – I’m a rubbish networker – [and] I didn’t ask for this. I never wanted to write a book. Someone asked me to write a book one day: a guy who was not good at school.
“Everything I have done in my life as a leader, if it can be an example to others, the example I would like to give to others is, it’s from me saying ‘yes’ in difficult times; even though I perhaps didn’t believe in myself. But God believed in me.
“Keep saying ‘yes’ to Him. That’s my real encouragement. Don’t look at me and go ‘I could never be Mark – I’m [Sayers] one-of-a-kind’. You’re one of a kind that God has created for a purpose. You don’t have to be me.”
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