Mark is Director and founder of McCrindle Research, a leading research agency in the fields of social trends, generational studies, and demographic shifts. He completed the Arrow Leadership program in 2002 and after hearing Hugh McKay speak, pursued his goal of setting up his own social research company.
"Arrow seeks to be Australia's peak body for Christian leadership development," said Arrow Executive Director, Karl Faase. "We identify the emerging leaders in Australian churches and mission organisations and invest in them with solid evangelical teaching and tailored mentoring," said Karl.
"Many of our graduates have gone on to make a significant impact towards a growing, vibrant Australian church that impacts the wider community," he said.
"Mark was invited to speak about his area of expertise – social research – to expose supporters of Arrow to current thinking on a range to topics," Karl said.
Over seventy people heard Mark's address at the Sydney and Melbourne lecture.
Focusing on a recent survey carried out by his organisation, Mark spoke about the church commitment of the various demographics represented in the Australian community.
"The 'builder generation', those over 64, are only 13 percent of the population but represent 27 percent of the church population," Mark said. "As we move towards the younger end of the scale, we find that whilst Generation X and Y, (those born after 1965 and 1985 respectively) are each 21 percent of the population, they represent only 17 and 11 percent of the church population respectively," he said.
"As Christians, we need to understand that the younger generations (Generations X and Y) have moved from 'tradition to innovation'; from 'reputation to recommendation' and from 'structure' to fluidity'," Mark said. "We need to offer them the opportunity to 'do life' within a church community, rather than just sit passively in a church service once a week."
Mark also focused on the developments in Internet and mobile communication use amongst Generations X and Y and encouraged leaders to look for innovative ways of communicating the timeless message of Jesus using Web 2.0 technology. "This technology savvy generation are spending lots of time social networking but they are yearning for authentic community where they don't always have to be 'on'," he said.
"And as much as they have – they are looking for more. They have grown up in a culture without awe and transcendence," he said.