You’re Leading in a Different Moment

When we talk about the Second Reformation, we are naming a moment the church is already living in. The First Reformation returned the Bible to the people. The Second Reformation is returning the work of ministry to the people. Pastors today are carrying an unsustainable burden because ministry has become too concentrated in one person, while success is still measured by budgets, buildings, and attendance. As generational change reshapes how people belong and participate, those measurements are coming into conflict with reality. The Second Reformation is about learning to release ministry in a way that can carry the church forward rather than exhaust its leaders.

It is not a program, a denomination, or a trend that can be adopted or avoided. It is a way of understanding a generational shift that is already underway in the United States. The structures that once supported church growth no longer function the same way, and the old scorecards no longer tell the whole story. The Second Reformation gives leaders language to interpret this moment honestly, especially as pastors feel pressure to succeed by measurements that no longer reflect health or faithfulness.

Because generational change is reshaping the church faster than many leaders were prepared for. Younger generations relate to authority, institutions, and belonging differently, and digital formation has accelerated that shift. At the same time, pastors are still expected to carry responsibility for preaching, care, leadership, and growth while being judged by metrics that belonged to a previous era. This is not a failure of leadership or faith. It is a collision between an old way of measuring success and a new cultural reality. This change is not preventable. It is already happening.

No. It actually offers relief. Pastors were never meant to carry ministry alone or to define their worth by numbers on a spreadsheet. Their calling is to form people and equip the body for shared ministry. When leadership is released rather than hoarded, pastors are freed from an unsustainable burden and churches become more resilient across generations. Authority is not diminished. It is multiplied through people who are formed, trusted, and sent.

There is an old story about cows and buffalo facing a storm. Cows run away from the storm and stay in it longer. Buffalo run directly into the storm and pass through it faster. The generational shift facing the church is like that storm. Leaders can spend their energy trying to outrun it by clinging to old measurements of success, or they can face it with clarity and courage. Churches that learn to ride this wave tend to survive and flourish. Churches that fight it often exhaust their leaders and lose their way. The question is not whether the storm is coming. It is how we choose to face it.