Radical change lies ahead on the church landscape in America. We must prepare now for future ministry.
Presumptions:
a. We are living in the last generation to see full time, paid, professional clergy (with benefits). While there will continue to be full time, paid clergy, they will be working for mega-churches and will be the elite and the lucky.
b. We are living in the last generation to be able to afford the traditional church building. As congregations shrink in size they will have to sell their buildings. New church plants will not be able to afford to purchase land and pay for new buildings. New churches will rent space or will buy multi-use space which can serve as either a way to draw in the world (retail, restaurant, clinics, play, etc) or provide income (church as land lord). In some cases, it may be possible to rehab empty churches but the difficulty remains in how to pay for maintenance and utilities.
c. Seminary education is about to radically change. Thanks to the internet, traditional campuses and class room experiences will increasingly become a thing of the past. Since clergy won’t be full time, prospective candidates will not be able to afford the costs of traditional seminary education. Undergrad + seminary program can = $100k.
d. Traditional benefits enjoyed by churches may end in the near future. Since we have allowed a generation to grow up which doesn’t see the church as beneficial to society, we may lose our property tax exemption and other exemptions (such as exemption from traditional employment laws, sales tax, income tax, etc.).
e. When looking for a church, people’s first experience, first impression, and a major determining factor in their decision about whether or not to visit that church, will be their experience of that church on line. Personal invitation to church will remain a chief factor in choosing a church, but the internet experience will become more and more critical.
While not replacing face to face relationships, people will continue to form online communities and seek ways of networking those communities and integrating them into their daily life.
f. In 20 years, there will be more unchurched people than there are now. 78% of Polk County (Iowa) residences say they have no church home. That trend will continue. There will also be fewer churches.
g. Every Christian must now understand themselves as a missionary. Every church must be a missionary sending and equipping center. Every pastor is already a missionary, regardless of whether or they realize that yet or not.
h. The model of church as a dues paying club must end. The attitude that has to go is this: “We pay our dues, we expect service for our dues, if you don’t do what we want with our dues, we will leave.” The model of a church as a corporation must also end. Members are not share holders. This adjustment will affect the way we teach about financial stewardship. The corporate model of leadership is no longer feasible either, because we are now entering a time in history when faith, not votes, needs to be our guide. (eldership) (spiritual gifts)
i. This is an era where vision will determine the future of the church. Those who have God given visions will survive. Those without will close.
j. The population is graying, the church in America will be hit by a catastrophic demographic change in the next 20 years as many of our current members will be dead. The boomer generation will transfer much of the remaining wealth away from the church, using it for their retirements, health care, and end of life issues. Their estates will be smaller and will less frequently include churches in their final bequests. The boomer generation is also slow to empower the next generation to lead. k. In the city of Des Moines there is currently a surplus of underutilized young leadership both inside and outside the church. l. Further, for reasons stated previously, many church buildings will become vacant in the next 2 decades. It may be possible to acquire them at no cost and plant new congregations with new leaders with the express purpose of reaching the neighborhoods surrounding the churches.
m. We live in times of unprecedented change: health care, the stock market, new enemies, uncertainty, talk of climate change and catastrophe, etc. The Good News has the best market it’s had in years. Our Savior can deliver real hope and real change. The only thing keeping us from revival now is that churches tend to be inward focused with their resources while talking about being outward focused.
End Result:
The church of the future will by necessity be leaner, more efficient, have a different profile (look much different) and will be more focused on mission.
Showing posts with label church. Show all posts
Showing posts with label church. Show all posts
Monday, April 5, 2010
Monday, February 22, 2010
The Church of Sanctified Imagination
Pondering some random thoughts about the nature of church....
I see in many church goers a tendency to lead grace-less lives. It isn’t that they can’t tell you what the Gospel is. It isn’t that they don’t value church. It isn’t that they don’t know their Bibles. It’s just that they aren’t happy about it. They seem, except for a greater knowledge of Bible trivia, just like worldly people. Their faith doesn’t seem to impact their heart. It impacts their calendar and commitments; it impacts their bank account; it impacts their voting; it impacts their parenting; they are “doing” everything they are “supposed to do.” But there is no joy, seemingly little peace, and love seems more an obligation, another chore, than a way of being.
Is there something in the way that we do church that teaches people this? Is it hard for me to see this situation objectively because I think that the church is so very important and that when done right, it is alive, fun, vibrant, life-giving and sustaining and transformative?
I see also in many churches an amazing lack of imagination. There seems to be little creativity or ingenuity. I mean, come on, we’ve got the all time best story in human history to work with and we can’t be more imaginative than 3 songs, some readings, and a teaching? This, in my opinion, then leads to an amazing lack of fun. Oh, I know some people don’t think that fun is a proper value for church to have but I think if you asked Jesus’ disciples they would tell you that following Jesus was all these spiritually deep things and the most fun they’ve ever had too. All you have to do is read Justin Martyr’s history of the early church and you’ll see what I mean. The church was alive, faith was real, and miracles happened. They were forced to constantly innovate because their meetings had to be in secret and they always had to be imaginative in seeking ways to tell the story of Jesus. You were guaranteed that something would happen every week in church.
Didn't Jesus' death redeem human imagination as well?
What I wonder is whether the church intentionally or unintentionally stopped having fun and celebrating the imagination when Constantine made us legal. Since then, if appears, as if a sort of war has been waging between the cerebral and the playful. Luther’s reforms were, on the one hand, biblically grounded, and, on the other, rather innovative because his concern was in getting the message to the people. They weren’t “getting it” from the same old same old. He designed different kinds of services and used illustrations and humor in his amazingly long sermons. In fact, it could be argued that his sermons were his foremost innovation. Heretofore, the majority of priests taught very little from the pulpit. The focus of the mass was the sacrament. Luther’s huge innovation was to make both the didactic and the mystical of equal importance. Luther introduced “new music” into the church and also new ways of communicating - utilizing the printing press to put teaching aids like the Small and Large Catechism in the hands of parents as well as the Bible.
On the other side of the war is the type of “strict” adherence to doctrine which is suspicious of anything new, fun, innovative or imaginative because it isn’t strictly “just the word.” Of course doctrine is important and we should strive to teach and preach it in it’s purity. But I don’t for a moment believe that we can’t make the Good News interesting and relevant.
Those who master doctrine tend not to be the life of the party nor the most imaginative and are suspicious of those who seek to make doctrine understandable using any means other than preaching, which, as we saw, was an innovation itself. Something might be compromised in the process. Oh, and they may have to give up some control. Interesting how often disagreements can be traced back to human control.
I think there is a real lack of lack of trust between the theologically minded and those who seek to take the concepts and make them available to the masses through a process of imagination or innovation.
Case in point: the Puritan movement in England. When Oliver Cromwell was in charge, they shut the theaters, cracked down on minstrels, and outlawed much of what passed for contemporary entertainment. They regulated church services as well. Innovation, imagination, fun, was looked down on. You might say that Calvin accomplished the same in Geneva. Yet neither of these approaches worked. Because when all is said and done, if we in the church cannot captivate the imaginations of our audiences, we cannot expect to capture their devotion to our cause, either.
How do we create churches that are doctrinally sound and also creative, innovative, imaginative, and in a word, fun?
I suppose that one thing to consider is that one man’s fun is another man’s torment. There’s no accounting for taste. Some people will love your new song and some will hate it. So then we have to allow for the fact that not every church will be the same and people will congregate in congregations that best match their learning and personality styles. Which is essentially what we have today. And if we could learn not to judge one another on our styles but rather by the fruit on the trees, we might be even more effective at reaching our generation and perhaps the world with the message we’ve been entrusted with: salvation is found in Jesus Christ alone.
Jesus, by the way, a very innovative teacher. Used all kinds of object lessons. And the most visual speaker in history. He knew exactly how to stimulate not just the intellectual, but the imagination as well. Not suprisingly, he managed to appeal to every style of learning known to man. What else would you expect from God?
And this is where we leave it. Jesus captured people’s hearts but he also captured their imaginations as well. I would posit that is the sign of true devotion, when someone captivates your imagination as well as your intellect. We know that in all things it is the Holy Spirit who creates faith. But we also know something about ourselves. We tend to be more inspired and quicker to commit when the message is delivered to us in a way that so stimulates our heart and soul we cannot help but follow along. Let’s give them Jesus, every possible way we can imagine. Thanks for reading. God bless. PJ
I see in many church goers a tendency to lead grace-less lives. It isn’t that they can’t tell you what the Gospel is. It isn’t that they don’t value church. It isn’t that they don’t know their Bibles. It’s just that they aren’t happy about it. They seem, except for a greater knowledge of Bible trivia, just like worldly people. Their faith doesn’t seem to impact their heart. It impacts their calendar and commitments; it impacts their bank account; it impacts their voting; it impacts their parenting; they are “doing” everything they are “supposed to do.” But there is no joy, seemingly little peace, and love seems more an obligation, another chore, than a way of being.
Is there something in the way that we do church that teaches people this? Is it hard for me to see this situation objectively because I think that the church is so very important and that when done right, it is alive, fun, vibrant, life-giving and sustaining and transformative?
I see also in many churches an amazing lack of imagination. There seems to be little creativity or ingenuity. I mean, come on, we’ve got the all time best story in human history to work with and we can’t be more imaginative than 3 songs, some readings, and a teaching? This, in my opinion, then leads to an amazing lack of fun. Oh, I know some people don’t think that fun is a proper value for church to have but I think if you asked Jesus’ disciples they would tell you that following Jesus was all these spiritually deep things and the most fun they’ve ever had too. All you have to do is read Justin Martyr’s history of the early church and you’ll see what I mean. The church was alive, faith was real, and miracles happened. They were forced to constantly innovate because their meetings had to be in secret and they always had to be imaginative in seeking ways to tell the story of Jesus. You were guaranteed that something would happen every week in church.
Didn't Jesus' death redeem human imagination as well?
What I wonder is whether the church intentionally or unintentionally stopped having fun and celebrating the imagination when Constantine made us legal. Since then, if appears, as if a sort of war has been waging between the cerebral and the playful. Luther’s reforms were, on the one hand, biblically grounded, and, on the other, rather innovative because his concern was in getting the message to the people. They weren’t “getting it” from the same old same old. He designed different kinds of services and used illustrations and humor in his amazingly long sermons. In fact, it could be argued that his sermons were his foremost innovation. Heretofore, the majority of priests taught very little from the pulpit. The focus of the mass was the sacrament. Luther’s huge innovation was to make both the didactic and the mystical of equal importance. Luther introduced “new music” into the church and also new ways of communicating - utilizing the printing press to put teaching aids like the Small and Large Catechism in the hands of parents as well as the Bible.
On the other side of the war is the type of “strict” adherence to doctrine which is suspicious of anything new, fun, innovative or imaginative because it isn’t strictly “just the word.” Of course doctrine is important and we should strive to teach and preach it in it’s purity. But I don’t for a moment believe that we can’t make the Good News interesting and relevant.
Those who master doctrine tend not to be the life of the party nor the most imaginative and are suspicious of those who seek to make doctrine understandable using any means other than preaching, which, as we saw, was an innovation itself. Something might be compromised in the process. Oh, and they may have to give up some control. Interesting how often disagreements can be traced back to human control.
I think there is a real lack of lack of trust between the theologically minded and those who seek to take the concepts and make them available to the masses through a process of imagination or innovation.
Case in point: the Puritan movement in England. When Oliver Cromwell was in charge, they shut the theaters, cracked down on minstrels, and outlawed much of what passed for contemporary entertainment. They regulated church services as well. Innovation, imagination, fun, was looked down on. You might say that Calvin accomplished the same in Geneva. Yet neither of these approaches worked. Because when all is said and done, if we in the church cannot captivate the imaginations of our audiences, we cannot expect to capture their devotion to our cause, either.
How do we create churches that are doctrinally sound and also creative, innovative, imaginative, and in a word, fun?
I suppose that one thing to consider is that one man’s fun is another man’s torment. There’s no accounting for taste. Some people will love your new song and some will hate it. So then we have to allow for the fact that not every church will be the same and people will congregate in congregations that best match their learning and personality styles. Which is essentially what we have today. And if we could learn not to judge one another on our styles but rather by the fruit on the trees, we might be even more effective at reaching our generation and perhaps the world with the message we’ve been entrusted with: salvation is found in Jesus Christ alone.
Jesus, by the way, a very innovative teacher. Used all kinds of object lessons. And the most visual speaker in history. He knew exactly how to stimulate not just the intellectual, but the imagination as well. Not suprisingly, he managed to appeal to every style of learning known to man. What else would you expect from God?
And this is where we leave it. Jesus captured people’s hearts but he also captured their imaginations as well. I would posit that is the sign of true devotion, when someone captivates your imagination as well as your intellect. We know that in all things it is the Holy Spirit who creates faith. But we also know something about ourselves. We tend to be more inspired and quicker to commit when the message is delivered to us in a way that so stimulates our heart and soul we cannot help but follow along. Let’s give them Jesus, every possible way we can imagine. Thanks for reading. God bless. PJ
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