What Will The Local American Church Look Like In 20 Years?
I don’t have a lot of non Christian friends.
I hate that about myself.
But to the few I do have, I have been having quite a bit of conversation about what they think the church will need to become in order for them to go.
I have also been having massive conversation with career Christians, like myself, as to what it will take to shake us from our mummified states.
Here is my VERY BROAD STROKE thought on it.
And take heed, this is not a summary of what is wrong today, it is a summary of what might be right tomorrow.
I think there’s a chance that the weekly large group gatherings will disappear.
Not completely. But not “weekly”.
I think that the large group produced gatherings will be more a time of celebration of what has been accomplished through the Hands and Feet of Christ in the communities throughout the month.
I think that the main communicator might teach almost primarily via video.
I think that church staffing will look completely different.
I think that there will be much more bi vocational leadership as a strategy rather than a necessity.
I think that there will be less church office space and more use of community work space.
I think that online communities will no longer be looked upon as “second class” and these communities will flow offline and be a crucial part of the church.
I think that the value placed on relevance will slowly fade to a value system based on authenticity.
I think that more local churches will combine resources in order to better reach the local communities.
Looking back at that little list I just puked out…
It all seems so far fetched.
But I think in order to do as Craig Groshel says…
Reach people no one is reaching…
We MUST to do things no one is doing.
And I don’t necessarily think that means within the confines of our current structure.
I think that is where we all start with when we read that quote.
What if that means redefining our structure all together?
Hmmmm.
Just thinking out loud.
Now it’s your turn to think…Outloud
Los
RAIN IT DOWN
I look forward to a time where the publicity that is given to "the church" is not only seen when terrible failures are plastered across the evening news. I guess we need to start making our own publicity if we want it that way. Seeing Mark Driscoll's interview on Nightline last night and it finished my night on a good note.
Wow! You know… I've never really thought of it that way; that we may have to redefine our structure altogether. When I see all these forward-thinking ideas and then think of the things that make us think twice about doing them I always hear, "what about the people that are already in the church?" Many churches don't want to "change" for fear of losing their currently solid base. They think that radical ideas such as redefining our structure might make the people that like the current structure leave. While that may be true in some cases… don't we owe it to the un-churched?!
Bi-Vocation has been a key to a lot of our success
I am totally with you on the idea that office space with be different.
I am a big fan of not having an office at all.
I think churches will move more towards using buildings that they don't own for their space and losing the millions of dollars in debt they occur building these "kingdoms"
I still don't know if the whole house church thing will take off. I feel like we will always need a building to gather in weekly. Especially in suburbia.
But I like the question posed here. Some thoughts will continue to rattle in my head about this one.
Great topic!
Personally i just hope we have flying cars by then!
I agree with a lot of what you said there. In fact some of it is already starting to take place.
Video teaching is happening at most of our multisite churches.
I think we're going to see a shift in church staffing as well. i think its going to come in the form of more churches sharing their staff with each other grow in areas that they may lack.
Online communities in churches that are tinkering with online campuses are moving to treat their online attendees just like they are part of the service ( i know we put a lot into making our internet crowd feel welcome )
Good topic, looking forward to what others have to say.
I agree about office space – maybe the elimination of it almost completely. I think churches will become more & more strategic w/ $. Having tons of square footage in office space just won't make much sense.
I think church staffs will become built more around gifts/skills than age group ministry. This will streamline ministries & eliminate much of the duplication that currently exists in most churches between all the age group ministries.
I agree, I see the elimination of age based ministries in the future
Really? Isn't it always going to be relevant to college age and below? Youth, Jr High, Sr High and college ministries aren't going anywhere. Not sure to what extent age-based ministries exist at the adult level but sure, I could see those evolving around gifts/skills rather age.
Youth ministry as we know is is still pretty young and has only existed for a tiny portion of time compared to the Church (25 years). I think at the very least it needs to be looked at closely in terms of its purpose, not to mention the fact that it is almost exclusively and American phenomenon. I had some discussion about it earlier this year – http://www.nikao.ws/tag/death-of-youth-ministry/“target=”_blank”>http://www.nikao.ws/tag/death-of-youth-ministry/
Personally, I feel we are harming the body by splitting it up by age. Lets get back to the older teaching the younger, and the younger inspiring the older! @ntullos is spot on. Not that we shouldn't have a focus on college and youth ministry (certainly those age groups have unique needs) but we should have a focus on an age-integrated, all-inclusive community (horizontal) not a set of age-segregated groups run by a leader (vertical).
Exactly. I tried to say it more gingerly because I tend get batteries hucked at me or something.
thats an interesting thought….
There are merits to both separated youth ministry and and integrated ministry. For example, we use to have our high school and jr. high kids attend summer camp at the same time and we found the jr. high aged kids were intimidated by the older kids… they weren't as free in their worship or in even games and social interactions.
Two years ago we split the camp into different times (jr. high for the first camp, HS for the second) and the results were phenomenal. Both the jr. high kids and the HS kids got more out of their experience because the perceived expectations of the other social group were removed. Worship was more free, knowledge transfer and life change happened with more effectiveness, and even meal times were more relaxed because the kids could simply be themselves.
Now extend that case to adults interacting with kids in an integrated form. The expectations now are a lot steeper that kids put on themselves as now they are interacting with an even more dominant social group. They aren't going to be free to talk about their personal issues or concerns… what boy in that environment is going to respond to an altar call about deliverance from pornography or masturbation? What girl will respond to an altar call about sexual abuse?
There is merit in the older teaching the younger, and I think for it to be effective it has to be in a mentoring capacity. To eliminate aged based ministry would take away the freedom for these kids to respond in a loving and non-judgmental environment. As our society gets more complex and problems become more aged based, our solutions should as well.
I think we should have "age based ministry," but I don't want to see it on Sunday morning when the church gathers for worship. I think everyone should be together. Kids and teens need to know "this is how we come together as the church."
Small groups are the place for age based ministries IMHO.
I agree that corporate worship should be corporate – we don't seperate our youth (jr. high, HS) from the corporate service. We do, however, have a children's ministry that goes on during the corporate service (nursery to 6th grade) which as proven very effective and limiting distractions for the corporate service.
We have a seperate youth service on Wednesday nights, and a College/Young Pros service on Saturday night (right after our corporate Saturday night service) which provides the environment and opportunities I described above.
The children's ministry at our church is wonderful for "limiting distractions for the corporate service". Unfortunately, it's our youth group (ages 14-19) who've stepped up to teach this class when the lady who'd taught that group for the previous 10 years stepped down. That in-and-of-itself is not my ideal situation.
I think our teens feel like they're in the way, most of the time, during regular corporate worship. The songs we sing on a regular basis are at least 40+ years old and they don't care for the style of music. Not that they want to have Skillet playing for worship service, but they're not into the Gaither's. They have previously been forced to "do service" like our adults have been "doing service" for the last 60+ years. It was an awful experience for them.
Now, when we plan youth-led services, I guide them through "planning" their own services. I'm not about scheduling what happens in a church service (the Holy Spirit should be the guide for that), but there is an element of planning that goes into a worship service – and they need to learn how to "find out" what God wants to do with that particular service. We've also started bringing those "taboo" subjects like cutting, recreational drugs, and different types of abuse out into the open in these youth-led services. This has had a fantastic effect on most of the adults. They're finding out that it's really ok to talk about the "taboo" situations that can happen.
I think they've also inspired our adults – not that they're stepping up in droves to volunteer to teach the primary class, but it's inspired them to broaden their view of what "worship" really looks like. The kiddos have really taken to drama. Especially drama with music as a background. This has totally changed the way they've begun to interact with our adults.
On Sunday mornings, all of our kiddos are in the back. On Sunday nights, they hang on the back pew. On Wednesday evenings is when we have our "age based ministries" in full force. Class in the back for kiddos under the age of 12, youth group (12 & up) in the Fellowship Hall, and adults in the sanctuary. If we didn't have Wed. nights, we wouldn't get to work with them. I'd miss that.
Great insight, we definitely need the opportunity to come together as one body and an opportunity for the older to teach the younger and vice versa. One of the great thing about youth ministries is the ability to build up new leaders and allow youths to serve, lead and take responsibility in ways that wouldn't get to otherwise.
I think the all-inclusive community is vital and a way to reach out as well. Working with youth I see when we as parents and adults invite them into our lives it extends the arms of the church beyond a weekly program. It also allows for outreach to their families, we have many students who come to our weekly program who are the spiritual heads of their homes, when we invite them to do life with us it's been a great way to invite their parents to come along as well. I can think of nothing better than hanging with freinds on a Friday who range from teens through their parents.
I don't think it's that far-fetched. There are ministries (mostly student ministries) that are meeting throughout the week in homes and only get together once/month.
Husband and I were having a similar conversation last night. "What is 'church' supposed to look like?" The early Church got that THEY were the Church. They met regularly to exhort, edify and comfort one another, to worship together and share their studies of the scriptures. The rest of the week, though, their focus was on being faithful witnesses to the gospel.
That's where I think/hope we're going: back to the beginning. Get together once in a while to learn, worship, and encourage, and then go back out into the world and do your Spirit-led thang.
I could see the "gaps" during the month being filled by more informal gatherings of believers in homes and such. I think we'll also see more and more leaders outside the traditional seminary background, folks who have learned their theology online and in community. They would be the ones leading these little church pockets.
I also think we'll see fewer and fewer "how to" sermons.
I wonder if there will still be groups of "fundies" in 20 years; or maybe I should ask what will the next generation of "fundies" look like? I guess the danger is that if we aren't careful, in 20 years we'll find that we're the traditionalists who think God ordained our style of doing church. I better get my bumper sticker printed: "Give me that old-time Twitter, it's good enough for me!"
This is something I've been thinking about for a while. I agree with much of what you've said. I still think we will have weekly meetings though, but church-only buildings will become a thing of the past and pastors' offices will be at Starbucks, Panera, or the city library rather than in an office/church complex.
Another pastor and I are talking about a partnership between our churches where we would share resources and assets together. They are larger, and we are transitioning to health and growth. We are hoping to create a network of churches in our region that will partner together to build the kingdom, not just any one church.
I think "pastor" as a vocation will have to change. I bought into the lie 17 years ago that I had to go to Bible college and all that to be a pastor. That has left me with no marketable skills whatsoever BUT being a pastor. Pastors will have to be bi-vocational out of necessity AND strategically 10-20 years from now.
I also think we will begin to see churches intentionally divide once they reach 400 to 500 people to reproduce in another part of the city, town, county or region. 10 years from now churches won't be talking about 10,000+ in one central location.
I also agree that online communities will be a MAJOR area of fellowship and discipleship in the NEAR future.
That's my opinion… for what its worth.
Totally. I meant to say that smaller groups of 300 or less may meet weekly.
what you just described here looks a heck of alot like the denominational movements that brought protestantism over to the states +-300 years ago – like John Wesley's movement. And I agree, I think it will look alot like this too. Except Wesley's technology was a horse! : )
Nice list! I think that if things move in the right direction, the church will sound different too. Worship services often express a relationship with God through the perspective of a long-term Christian, which can be intimidating to non/new followers, as well as make them feel isolated from the rest of the congregation. Hopefully, the church of the future will do more to target non/new followers more directly and function to serve them and meet their needs, while still managing to support their more long-term members.
Oh and these days already "contemporary" style church is already "traditional" …. think about it.
I like the idea of shaking things up and making changes, but the Word will always be the same. "The Church" is not a building; it is us. There is awesome community going on here at RagamuffinSoul, with a ton of bright, intelligent people with a heart for Christ. I'm sure there is even more of that at Northpoint and Buckhead, but there are so many places where it's just not happening. I would hope that in 20 years the old mentality would go with the oldies and not have been instilled in the minds of young leaders today. I would pray that people would realize that the pew is not permanently planted to the ass and they can lift their butts from it and DO SOMETHING for the good of the Kingdom.
I wish I could say that I envision change, but I don't. I see change in some places, like Buckhead, where change (from the norm) is already taking place. Unfortunately, as you move to the middle of the country, I would guess you're out numbered by tradition. Obviously I'm not lumping everyone into that category, but from my eyes, that's what I see. I pray that I'm wrong.
true
I like your vision here; when I saw your tweet I thought to myself that the fundamental change in the next 20 years will be more community. I see myself and my peers going deeper with God and pursuing theology and application. Its a powerful blend: God + willing servants to be his hands.
I don't think the primary teaching will be by video—it seems to me that individual believers will have many voices teaching in their lives; both older believers in their local community and many teachers by long distance (books, blogs, video, etc.)
And the whole bi-vocational thing is true too. God has called all believers to be priests, all believers to be Christians, all believers to be missional. I hope and pray that the "professional" pastor role is diminished in decades to come.
Well put.
Okay, so I just read the article about Carlos on collide.com and was a little skeptical about how amazing this blog would be, so I checked it out. As I read this post I was reading with chills. This is almost exactly to where we are going as a church/ministry. God is leading us to use small groups, not as a break down of the big group, but an entry point, and maybe only point. we are moving our "weekend experiences" to a celebration of Jesus and fellowship. Add a 24/7 prayer room, and so many other things that I won't bore you with. I believe there are not many people who are just going to walk into a church to find God anymore. I believe we are called to be a community of prayers who bring the kingdom life to the streets, college and high school campuses, and neighborhood homes. Plus, God's vision is to reach way more people than you can fit into a building, no matter how many times you have services. I guess all I am saying, is right on Carlos. It feels good to know you are not alone in this way of thinking.
Daniel. Thanks so much for stopping by. You are right. We are all in this together!!!
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That is well put. I think they meant adult. But I would lump college In as well.
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As someone who does not fit into a traditional church group (mid-30's, single, career, home owner, no family within 2,000 miles) I would like to see more emphasis on gifts/skills ministry.
Great writing Carlos. Likes what Pastor T wrote as well – WE are all the church – WE are all to minister. I do hope that there will always be a building that people can go to. When my dad passed away we were attending a church that uses a high school campus on the weekends for church. I did miss being able to go to a church building and being able to sit and pray and think. I know that God is not in a building but I really did miss that. On the other hand it is an amazing to watch the church grow through the use of internet and video and tweets and blogs and how many lives can be touched by this medium to grow and love Christ.
True.
I totally resonate. And I don't think your thoughts are that far off (both in reality and in time-approaching). Moreso, I'd be totally okay with these moves, even welcome it. I know of some church that meet corporately once a month to celebrate the overflow of their weekly small relational community connections (small groups, home churches, etc.). I agree too that new staffing schemes and structures will be needed (maybe a re-emergence of the "apostle-type" role!). Where ever it goes – go Jesus!
I thought it was interesting that you said online community won't be second class but then said it will flow offline and become a crucial part of church. You probably didn't mean it the way I read it but I think they will stay online and be a crucial part of our church.
Good post. Let's hope whatever does happen more and more people are being reached for Christ.
Yea. you know what I mean. I think it will have to create life change offline but can do most of it's work online.
I don't know what the church will look like, but I know that I hope it'll become more like a family and less like just another consumer relationship–that we end if we don't like the new style of music/particular pastor/small group format. I hope it'll become a more healing place of growth in which (as Tim Keller put it tonight) we're humbled enough to listen and affirmed and loved enough to repent–and transformed by the way we're doing life together and seeking Christ.
As for reaching nonbelievers, I wonder if the first step is Christians as individuals in their work places, neighborhoods, etc. having a firm grasp of the gospel and being intentional in seeking out those who do not believe–and engaging in dialogue–so as to develop a relationship and better understand someone and to help contextualize the gospel in a way that that particular person can relate to and understand. Helping church members study the apologetics and deepen their understanding of the gospel is a practical way the church can help in that endeavor, but in the end, it seems like relationships are where it's at.
I think we've placed way too much emphasis on the service aspects of our faith … in the future i think we need to put way more thought behind how we help believers understand their relationships to each other and how we give them the tools to help them change the world where they as salt and light … it's all about community building for me and "life on life" work. Ironically, I think the work building community online may influence offline approaches to community too.
Very well put.
Could you expound a bit on the “how we give them the tools to help them change the world where they as salt and light”.
I feel like there is some good stuff in there.
Los…great post. Just finished today with the Innovation3 conference in Dallas. This is pretty much what the last two days have been about. The word "missional" was used a lot, defined and redefined. What it all seems to boil down to is that the church is going to have to move from being simply attractional to a one on one transformational experience. The big word, discipleship. And I agree…we're going to have to get out of our offices to make that happen.
I think the biggest shift that needs to take place is simply one of focus. Far too many churches are inwardly-focused. "Come, let us help you," is our mantra. The church of the future needs to be externally-focused. "Wait there. I'll be there in 30 seconds."
As for church offices, take a good, hard look at Mosaic in LA. They operate out of 12 half-converted classrooms at a local university. It's absolutely amazing what they do with basically no real facilities. And ya know what? Even those 12 "offices" are likely to be empty at any given moment (except for the main administrator/receptionist). Why? The staff are out in their communities!
Yea. I've spent some time with Bryant and boys in those offices. I want my wall painted with black chalkboard stuff as well.
"Plus, God's vision is to reach way more people than you can fit into a building, no matter how many times you have services."
I love it. I said almost the same thing to the local paper the other day. Check it out
http://tinyurl.com/bbeawa
It was late and I think i missed a couple of words that made it the opposite of what I meant to say! First, when I said we overdo the service aspects, I meant the worship service production. I think that's important, but I don't think we follow up that superb attractional experience with equal excellence in helping the body be the body. As far as the tools, what I mean there is that our body's skills, gifts, talents, financial resources are still largely not-transparent to everyone and therefore can't be leveraged most of the time unless the church decides to do a specific project. I think online church community needs to be about crowd-sourcing and collaboration tools more than corporate America. Does that help?
being in semiary the state of the church is something I think about almost all the time. I try and balance today's culture with a Biblical model of what the church should look like and be. this is the first time i've ever heard someone say that weekly gatherings might not be a priority and i whole heartedly agree. less and less i think people today are looking for a weekly production type of church experience and more and more I see the church happening through a more grass roots approach. kudos los, you nailed it for me.
Thanks man. The crazy thing is. I would love to see quarterly produced events with weekly small 200 or less intimate worship times of singing and serving.
You want that???? Come to our church. We have that every week. There's less than 200 of us there on any given Sunday. =)
Jon Foreman "Instead of a Show". Amos 5.
I hate all your show and pretense
the hypocrisy of your praise
the hypocrisy of your festivals
I hate all your show
Away with your noisy worship
Away with your noisy hymns
I stop up my ears when your
singing ‘em
I hate all your show
Instead let there be a flood
of justice
An endless procession of righteous
living, living
Instead let there be a flood
of justice
Instead of a show
your eyes are closed when you’re praying
you sing right along with the band
you shine up your shoes for services
but there’s blood on your hands
you turned your back on the homeless
and the ones that don’t fit in your plans
quit playing religion games
there’s blood on your hands
I see the church merging.
I see it the church becoming completely mobile.
I see the church becoming gangsta like, in that you have a central mob location. The central locale would feed into not one or two branches but it would have "chapters" all over the country.
I pray some day it is truly ONE church with ONE purpose.
I pray that churches quit trying to one up other churches.
I pray that whatever the church becomes, that it scares people. That it is so faith dependent it becomes "cool."
This is a really great post, Los. I'm a student at UCF and am very active with Campus Crusade for Christ down here. We are currently trying to be molded into almost exactly what you are talking about. We are completely changing our "weekly" meetings to a more coffee-house atmosphere where non-christians won't feel awkward or out of place. This also puts more responsibility on individual Christ-followers to share the LOVE of Christ with these people on a personal, relational, authentic level instead of a man on stage who tells them what they should do.
I'm not even sure the American church will take 20 years to do what you're talking about. Most of the ones who are not starting to transition right now are already behind or are about to be well behind the learning curve…
Good thing it's not about us.
I was thinking that myself… we don't have 20 years to change. If we haven't started yet (like my church) then we are already behind. The shifts are already happening.
I don’t have a lot of non Christian friends.
I hate that about myself.
I have been working through this in myself the last few days. My wife and I carried a couple of our Seniors to a Dustin Kensrue, of Thrice, doing a solo concert (check him out if you don't know him). It was supposed to be at a bar and grill type place. It turned out to be a lot more bar and a little less grill. Feeling a little a uneasy in the atmosphere especially with a couple of students (who are rock solid)…I realized it had been a long time since I had been in that environment and that I have NO non-christian friends that I connect with on a weekly basis. I have some old Frat Brothers that I talk to / see a couple times a year…but that's it. In fact the majority of my interaction is with "church folks". Then you have Dustin, a believer, but not necisarily labeled a "Christian Artist" doing ministry in the trenches NOT around church folk.
I totally agree that bi-vocational leadership will and should become a strategy and not a necessity. We keep some of our greatest assets in our staff behind office doors. Granted we have a huge responsibility of "equipping the saints for the work of the ministry", but we still should do our share friendship evangelism and not just preaching.
I agree with your train of thought. I believe for the church to be effective in being the "church" we have to get away from the single church building structure idea and "go be the church" in our communities. We all want to impact non-believers, but the chances of them actually coming to our physical structure church will be less and less. We have to take Jesus to them.
We have to make use of "third places" that are already established. I believe this will be the hot bed of future disciple making . The third place is a term used in the concept of community building to refer to social surroundings separate from the two usual social environments of home and the workplace. In his influential book The Great Good Place, Ray Oldenburg (1989, 1991) argues that third places are important for civil society, democracy, civic engagement, and establishing feelings of a sense of place. Oldenburg calls one's "first place" the home and those that one lives with. The "second place" is the workplace — where people may actually spend most of their time. Third places, then, are "anchors" of community life and facilitate and foster broader, more creative interaction. All societies already have informal meeting places; what is new in modern times is the intentionality of seeking them out as vital to current societal needs. Oldenburg suggests these hallmarks of a true "third place": free or inexpensive; food and drink, while not essential, are important; highly accessible: proximate for many (walking distance); involve regulars – those who habitually congregate there; welcoming and comfortable; both new friends and old should be found there.
So, what does church look like in the future? People going to the coffee houses, local pubs, volunteer agencies, in their own local neighborhoods and living out Christ likeness in their everyday, normal running around lives. This is where your family/tribe belonging comes in.
The once a month large group gatherings help the smaller tribes have connectedness to the bigger scheme of what God is doing!
Art_Good is right…this shift is already happening around the country. A friend of mine, Jim Wicks, is leading such a shift in Portland, OR. Check it out here: http://www.communityofadsideo.com/Adsideo/Home.html“target=”_blank”>http://www.communityofadsideo.com/Adsideo/Home.ht...
bro…that was one of your best posts yet. i;m excited b/c some of that honestly looks like the church i go to now… Journey (in Franklin). Same venue that re:create will take place next week.
The keyword in our family….authenticity.
great to see you the other day. have a safe trip to Nashvegas.
I think we can take a lesson from what we see in the computing world. In the past we would own a computer, buy various programs that we installed to do different things that we needed them to do. Today, everything is moving toward living online (cloud computing) – social networks, email, personal publishing (docs) are all moving online and with real-time collaboration.
The same goes for the church. The past is where we have our buildings, our programs… and we primarily "do ministry" within the four walls of our facility. Today we are moving toward an "open" model where we borrow a page from technological innovation and get outside of our walls (both in the physical and proverbial senses). We are breaking away from "they way we've always done it" and moving toward the actual needs of those we are trying to reach… and moving to where they are rather than trying to pull them to us.
This is the essence of what you are saying… technology, tools, strategy… these are just the means to reaching people where they already are.
My friends Tom & Jean in Pittsburgh are exploring this very thing and touching lives just the same. http://catalystfaith.wordpress.com
Definitely more respect for the online experience, but coming from South Africa and most assuredly any 3rd world there will be more physical gathering. Watching a whole sermon online will destroy the cap for the rest of the month.
Maybe Sundays will no longer be the traditional day to gather but I still think that there will always be a place for the Saints to get together and encourage each other.
ooo, maybe in 20 years there will a virtual online Churches – now that would be cool, finally I will see a Buckhead service – I'll be 56 but I reackon I will still enjoy the music
loswhit, I think this might change in the larger metro areas like ATL,LA,Seattle, etc. But small-town churches in America are not ready for change, yet. And believe me, I've been on staff with buildings, no-buildings, rentals, homechurches, etc. I've have mixed feelings about how to start. I think that some of the smaller uber-conservative tiny churches will die or flourish.I'm working with an organization that helps church plants develop resources and the next generation will need to do a lot more thinking on their feet than the church of the past 35 years. It's going to be a lot more NT style.
I have a lot of non-christian former coworkers who have mixed feelings about the church. And we've done a terrible job. I just read an article yesterday on a review of "Lord, Save Us From Your Followers" http://bit.ly/aPDO
by Scott Overpeck.
Good stuff.
…how is the church in 20 years?….I don´t understand anything about offices, buildings and massive meetings….I hope that church is about being the body of Christ, I hope that church is where my brothers and sisters are, I hope church is people who love people as Jesus did…I don´t care about the rest but please meet non Christians…I live in a country where evangelicals are less than 1% of the population and really it is great to live every day with people who really need the church to be church….
not sure this will make sense, but i'll try…
i think a good analogy for this is computer technology…anybody been around long enough to remember the size of the first "super" computers, which couldn't even really do some simple tasks that even our cell phones do now? we would laugh ourselves to death if someone was still trying to use on of those…
apple is a great example of a company that starts with, what do we want this product to do? then, what is the best way to do that? and only then, what must the hardware look like? just look at the transformation of the iPod from year to year (or month to month, for that matter). desired outcome, process (operating system), hardware
we've been running on the same piece hardware (church building and structure) pretty much since the beginning…thus we are stuck running the only (software) programs that we can given the confines of our hardware…new programs get run through the filter of whether they will work in that hardware…in order to upgrade these days, we can't just add programs or make them look better…we need to start from scratch and work backwards…what does Jesus want us to do? What is the best way to do that? What physical structure (if any) and organization is necessary to equip EVERY disciple to do that?
bottom line: if our current form is not seeing lives changed and transformed more and more into Christ's character and being aligned and involved in His mission in the world, it MUST change. if this IS happening in your current structure, keeping doing it – just get better and better at it…
Perhaps the pulpit should be destroyed, thus enabling 'followers' to follow Jesus instead of a talking head who is paid to talk. What if we just let church happen instead of trying to control the program. Meet at 9, we'll see where God takes it…who has a good word from this week? Who's hurting? Who's new? Who has questions? Anybody have a song on their heart?
What would it look like if we didn't have 7 steps, rehearsal, sermons scheduled out a year ahead of time? What if we had to live it, and let it live through us? What if leaders led because they felt led, not to justify thier position or paycheck?
Just thinking.
Ok, I'm talking to myself since this has now become an antiquated post, but I'll type for my own sake:
Is the decentralization of the Church a good thing or a bad thing? That to say, has Protestantism gone too far, and factioned too much? Is there something to be said for hierarchy, single mindedness, organization? Who will we rally under, as a body…or will we thrive and function in dysfunction and separation? Who will be the Christian Obama that can talk sense into all parties and get a majority on board from all walks?
The "right" answer is Jesus, but we're too busy bickering about inconsequentials for that, and too many professional Christians have too much invested to defer to other leadership and submit to someone elses teaching.
Who is going to put up the banner that says "Revival here tonight" and will draw from all churches in the area, or the country.
I ramble.