a few weeks back i was in a conversation where we were talking about the future of the church. i made some statement, not slamming the megachurch, but being less than kind to the megachurch as the future of church. which, i am prone to do.
one of the people just happened to be a part of the staff at one of the biggest megachurches, that i will leave unnamed (haha!). and he offered his view. he shared that he felt that the future church will look like megachurches and house churches.. hmmm..
now i pondered that. it most certainly could be the case. people seem to embrace the large corporation securities/offerings or they go against the grain in some anti-establishment stance, which could bring about that dynamic. but i don't know if corporation is the future (and lets be honest, the megachurch is a corporation) of the life of the person.
what i got to thinking about was the inclination people are having to live the 'green' lifestyle. it is just now becoming a norm and part of peoples daily practices. so as families develop with young adults that have grown up being 'green' what are some of their behaviors that might shape they way they participate in church life?
we are already seeing that people are not too worried about their church denomination loyalites. the economics are poor in large global corporate climate, which was otherwise safe & secure 5 years ago.
so these three things, 1. green living 2. falling denomination loyalty 3. an unsecure corporate economic will lead to resurgence of parish life.
people, conscious of their impact will doing old school transportation, walking to & from the markets/cafe/stores. because people cannot blindly count on corporations for their economic securities there will be a move back to small business (which i hope government taxes make easier, or less taxking, to do) bringing up local entrepreneurship, and finanicial control back to the individual, that we have not seen in 50+ years. people will move back into those houses of worship that were abandoned by a church denomination, or are a dieing congregation, in their neighborhoods and reshape them to what is core to their local needs.
when will this happen? maybe 20-30 years or so from now. there will be that generation shift where the older folks who have grown up with behaviors of driving all over God's green earth to get what they need are not the norm. they will be replaced by children of my family who have grown up living simply, using canvas bags for daily grocery pick up, walking to schools, riding a bike to the post office, knowing who all is in your neighborhood (instead of driving in and driving out).
will this replace what we currently know? not completely. just as the corporation will never leave us the megachurch will never leave either. but it will become less a significant voice in our day to day lives. there will be nothing to be enamored about as people lives will have become reoriented towards a parish life. house churches i don't see as being a norm, but being the new 'satalite' campuses of the parish church, which isn't such a new idea at all.
in the future, we will see parish life return.. will we, our denominations, be ready or will we have moved out our stakes?
chime in? agree/disagree? thoughts? am i crazy?
Gav,
I leave it to you to come up with such topics! After pondering your words, I do believe you’re on to something. If this is 20-30 years out, I’ll be one of the “old” (very old) members but even an old dog can learn new tricks. I am a firm believer in “smaller”…be it church, youth group, etc. I’m very relationship driven and long for the days of “neighbors and neighborhood”. I hope you’re right!
Gav,
I leave it to you to come up with such topics! After pondering your words, I do believe you’re on to something. If this is 20-30 years out, I’ll be one of the “old” (very old) members but even an old dog can learn new tricks. I am a firm believer in “smaller”…be it church, youth group, etc. I’m very relationship driven and long for the days of “neighbors and neighborhood”. I hope you’re right!
What place do church leaders play in this potential future model? For there to be smaller local parishes, there need to be more of them and thus more leaders for them. We could go back to the original itinerant system of circuit riding, or we could train more clergy, or we could throw out educated leaders (or all leaders). I think there are problems with all of these options. Are there better ways to have smaller local congregations?
What place do church leaders play in this potential future model? For there to be smaller local parishes, there need to be more of them and thus more leaders for them. We could go back to the original itinerant system of circuit riding, or we could train more clergy, or we could throw out educated leaders (or all leaders). I think there are problems with all of these options. Are there better ways to have smaller local congregations?
i’d imagine you see more lay leadership and local pastor types. or maybe you will find second career professionals who were once a pastor who are finding new ways to do church in house church or parish models.
i’d imagine you see more lay leadership and local pastor types. or maybe you will find second career professionals who were once a pastor who are finding new ways to do church in house church or parish models.