Sociologists C. Kirk Hadaway and Penny Long Marler reported in their 2005 Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion that “over the past 30 to 40 years, denominations had increasingly reported a decline in their numbers“.
In the past 9 months there’s been a lot of talk about the accelerated decline of church attendance.
A large part of this in these days is due to the Covid-19 pandemic that has affected churches worldwide. We are living in a world of uncertainty and with the threat of further lockdowns being imposed on us at the drop of a hat if community transmission of the virus is picked up, some churches are actually growing.
Now this may all sound paradoxical – How is the church growing, or going to grow when it looks like it is in decline? Another way to look at it – Is God at work pruning…
The second in a series of posts that I wrote over 18 months ago looking at the future of the church – This one explores the remaining 5 Predictions that Carey Nieuwhof originally wrote about in 2016.
I hope you find it beneficial – Blessings ’til next time 🙂
The Covid-19 pandemic that continues to sweep across our world has dramatically changed our lives and turned our world upside down, and the pain and anxiety that this causes around us is very real.
This is felt right across the societal spectrum including the local church, or as in our setting the local Corps. We have experienced a huge amount of upheaval which has seen our places of worship closed, ministries, programmes, activities and events postponed and/or stopped completely for the time being. While for others that have been able to reopen again for a short period of time and only if significant changes are put in place to restrict interacting the way that we were used to. We have seen a huge amount of change!
This has seen most if not all churches across the world having to re-access, or reimagine their methodology. Churches have had to pivot quite…
In light of one of my recent posts Why Gathering with the People of God Matters I feel it is timely to revisit a few that I wrote a while ago about this whole area of reimagining what church could look like going forward.
I hope that people find them beneficial blessings ’til next time 🙂
So far this year we have seen a huge amount of upheaval within the church. Churches have had to pivot quite significantly, morphing and shifting their methodologies of ‘doing church’ in ways that many simply weren’t anticipating.
The Covid-19 pandemic that continues to sweep across our world has dramatically changed our lives and turned our world upside down, and the pain and anxieties that this causes around us are real. (At the time of writing this blog entry their have been over 800,000 deaths worldwide).
With so much upheaval, we have seen a huge amount of change! Many churches and Corps have seen ministries, activities and programmes closed down due to social distancing requirements, only for them to reopen for a time, and in many cases close down again. This has seen most if not all churches across the world having to re-access, or reimagine their methodology.
Sociologists C. Kirk Hadaway and Penny Long Marler reported in their 2005 Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion that “over the past 30 to 40 years, denominations had increasingly reported a decline in their numbers“.
In the past 9 months there’s been a lot of talk about the accelerated decline of church attendance.
A large part of this in these days is due to the Covid-19 pandemic that has affected churches worldwide. We are living in a world of uncertainty and with the threat of further lockdowns being imposed on us at the drop of a hat if community transmission of the virus is picked up, some churches are actually growing.
Now this may all sound paradoxical – How is the church growing, or going to grow when it looks like it is in decline? Another way to look at it – Is God at work pruning the vine? Is God calling us to disturb the present so that we can have a more effective future?
The thing is hope is not lost, Jesus has already advised us that “He will build His church and the church will reign triumphant” refer to Matthew 16:18 (The Voice).
An Open Door Online and a Great In-House Experience
Genuine Relationship
Deep Engagement
Clarity
Risk and Experimentation
In another post he identifies that “most Christians who are not returning to church are not leaving Christianity. They’re not even leaving your church. They’re just not coming back to the building, and perhaps they won’t even after there’s a vaccine and the pandemic is a distant memory.”
The Covid-19 pandemic has been an accelerator and now that the effects of the pandemic have stretched on for a number of months, with no real resolution in sight as far as a vaccine – regular attenders will more than likely become less regular and irregular attenders may well become even less frequent attenders.
The reality is this is just a sign of a shifting culture and it will necessitate a paradigm shift for the church as it grapples with its methodology. (I touched on this a couple of months ago when posting two articles about Reimagining the Methodology – Part 1 and Part 2).
Another person I have been following online of late is Doug Paul, who has spent more than 6 months working with a cultural anthropologist to put together something that he thinks will not only be interesting, but wonderfully useful as we enter into the third decade of the millennium. (And only proved more true by the COVID-19 pandemic.)
He has written a free ebook: 10 Church Predictions for the Next 10 Years that may shed some light on what the future could hold for us as we navigate the impending days ahead.
The Covid-19 pandemic that continues to sweep across our world has dramatically changed our lives and turned our world upside down, and the pain and anxiety that this causes around us is very real.
This is felt right across the societal spectrum including the local church, or as in our setting the local Corps. We have experienced a huge amount of upheaval which has seen our places of worship closed, ministries, programmes, activities and events postponed and/or stopped completely for the time being. While for others that have been able to reopen again for a short period of time and only if significant changes are put in place to restrict interacting the way that we were used to. We have seen a huge amount of change!
This has seen most if not all churches across the world having to re-access, or reimagine their methodology. Churches have had to pivot quite significantly, morphing and shifting their methodologies of ‘doing church’ in ways that many simply weren’t anticipating.
“Every generation experiences change. But sometimes you sense you’re in the midst of a truly radical change, the kind that happens only every few centuries.” Increasingly, he thinks we’re in such a moment now.
He goes on to say that he thinks “the change we’re seeing around us might one day be viewed on the same level as what happened to the church after Constantine’s conversion or after the invention of the printing press. Whatever the change looks like when it’s done, it will register as a seismic shift from what we’ve known.”
So what will the future of the church, our Corps be like?
The other day I touched on the first five aspects that Carey highlights, now we will turn our attention to the remaining five:
Firstly, “many churches currently try to get people to attend, hoping it drives engagement. In the future, that will flip.
The engaged will attend, in large measure because only the engaged will remain.
If you really think about this… engagement driving attendance is exactly what has fuelled the church at its best moments throughout history. It’s an exciting shift.“
Secondly, “For years, the assumption has been that the more a church grew, the more activity it would offer.” The reality is going forward, “Simplified churches will complement people’s witness, not compete with people’s witness.”
Thirdly, “Online Church will supplement the journey but not become the journey. There is something about human relationship that requires presence. Because the church at its fullest will always gather” we need to be spending time with and doing life together in person. We have this innate need to be in community with one another and although that can happen online, inevitably we all want to meet in person to see if we can truly connect.
Fourthly, “Online church has the potential to become a massive front door for the curious, the unconvinced and for those who want to know what Christianity is all about.
In the same way you purchase almost nothing without reading online reviews or rarely visit a restaurant without checking it out online first, a church’s online presence will be a first home for people which for many, will lead to a personal connection with Christ and ultimately the gathered church.“
Meanwhile, almost “paradoxically future large churches will likely become larger not because they necessarily gather thousands in one space, but because they gather thousands through dozens of smaller gatherings under some form of shared leadership. Some of those gatherings might be as simple as at a coffee shop or even home venues under a simple structure.
We will see the emergence of bigger churches and smaller churches at the same time as the gathered church continues to change.“
So how do we respond?
By continuing to explore opportunities to bring “hope and life” to those that we come in contact with, by experimenting with different ways of ‘doing church’, and by exhibiting love to all those that we interact with, including our brothers and sisters in Christ, extending grace, mercy and forgiveness.
The thing is God is doing a ‘New Thing’ in our time, positioning His church where it needs to be, so as to impact the world for His glory! And we need to be open to a moving of His Spirit in these days.
Catherine Booth is often quoted as saying “if we are to better the future, then we must disturb the present“. Maybe God is doing that for us in these days because we as the church have grown complacent, and risk averse.
The church has often been called the ‘Hope of the World’, it is His church, His way of impacting the world and I’m pretty sure that He is not done with it yet.
This is the hope that we profess that God is not done with us yet, and that there are greater things still in store for those of us that remain true to His Word, to His fellowship and to His people – the whosoever.
So let’s get excited about what God is doing and step out boldly in faith, counting the cost not as a sacrifice but as an opportunity to do what He has called us to be, the ‘Salt and Light’ in the world impacting people’s lives, one life at a time and doing whatever we can to take Jesus out into the world, using whatever means are at our disposal.
For as we do what we can, God walks along beside us opening up the storehouses of heaven, blessing our endeavours to do His mission!
So far this year we have seen a huge amount of upheaval within the church. Churches have had to pivot quite significantly, morphing and shifting their methodologies of ‘doing church’ in ways that many simply weren’t anticipating.
The Covid-19 pandemic that continues to sweep across our world has dramatically changed our lives and turned our world upside down, and the pain and anxieties that this causes around us are real. (At the time of writing this blog entry their have been over 800,000 deaths worldwide).
With so much upheaval, we have seen a huge amount of change! Many churches and Corps have seen ministries, activities and programmes closed down due to social distancing requirements, only for them to reopen for a time, and in many cases close down again. This has seen most if not all churches across the world having to re-access, or reimagine their methodology.
“Every generation experiences change. But sometimes you sense you’re in the midst of a truly radical change, the kind that happens only every few centuries. Increasingly, I think we’re in such a moment now.”
He goes on to say that he thinks “the change we’re seeing around us might one day be viewed on the same level as what happened to the church after Constantine’s conversion or after the invention of the printing press.
Whatever the change looks like when it’s done, it will register as a seismic shift from what we’ve known.”
So what will the future of the church, or as is the case in our setting, our Corps be like?
For today we’ll touch on the first five aspects that Carey highlights and later in the week we will look at the remaining five:
Firstly, “every time there is a change in history, there’s potential to gain and potential to lose. I believe the potential to gain is greater than the potential to lose. Why? As despairing or as cynical as some might be (sometimes understandably) over the church’s future, we have to remind ourselves that the church was Jesus’ idea, not ours.
It will survive our missteps and whatever cultural trends happen around us. We certainly don’t always get things right, but Christ has an incredible history of pulling together Christians in every generation to share his love for a broken world.“
Secondly, “churches that love their model more than the mission will die – Churches need to stay focused on the mission (leading people into a growing relationship with Jesus) and be exceptionally innovative in our model.” (I alluded to this in my blog entries entitled “Changes – More than Just a Song” and “Navigate Change, for change we must!“).
Thirdly, “the gathered church IS here to stay! The church has always gathered because the church is inherently communal. Additionally, what we can do gathered together far surpasses what we can do alone. Which is why there will always be an organized church of some form. So while our gatherings might shift and look different than they do today, Christians will always gather together to do more than we ever could on our own.“
Fourthly, “Consumer Christianity will die and a more selfless discipleship will emerge. Consumer Christianity asks What can I get from God? It asks, What’s in it for me? and this leads us to evaluate our church, our faith, our experience and each other according to our preferences and whims.
As the church reformats and repents, a more authentic, more selfless church will emerge. Sure, we will still have to make decisions about music, gathering times and even some distinctions about what we believe, but the tone will be different. When you’re no longer focused on yourself and your viewpoint, a new tone emerges.“
Fifthly, “Sundays will become more about what we give than what we get! The death of consumer Christianity will change our gatherings. They will become less about us and more about Jesus and the world he loves. Rather than a gathering of the already-convinced, the churches that remain will be decidedly outsider-focused.
In the future church, being right will be less important than doing right. Sure, that involves social justice and meeting physical needs, but it also involves treating people with kindness, compassion in everyday life and attending to their spiritual well being.”
Obviously, “while no one’s really sure of what’s ahead, talking about it at least allows us to position our churches for impact in a changing world.”
So how do we respond?
By continuing to offer “hope and life” to those within our spheres of influence, by continuing to be forward thinking rather than dwelling on the past – By exhibiting love to all those that we come in contact with, including our brothers and sisters in Christ, extending grace, mercy and forgiveness.
God is doing a ‘New Thing’ in our time, positioning His church where it needs to be, so as to impact the world for His glory!
Catherine Booth is often quoted as saying “if we are to better the future, then we must disturb the present“. Maybe God is doing that for us in these days because we as the church have grown complacent, and risk averse.
The church has often been called the ‘Hope of the World’, it is His church, His way of impacting the world and I’m pretty sure that He is not done with it yet – This is the hope that we profess that God is not done with us yet, and that there are greater things still in store for those of us that remain true to His Word, to His fellowship and to His people – the whosoever.
So let’s get excited about what God is doing and step out boldly in faith, counting the cost not as a sacrifice but as an opportunity to do what He has called us to be, the ‘Salt and Light’ in the world impacting people’s lives, one life at a time and doing whatever we can to take Jesus out into the world – be that through serving and helping those in need, presenting His message of love, grace and mercy in new and innovative ways, using whatever means are available.
For as we do what we can, God walks along beside us opening up the storehouses of heaven, blessing our endeavours to do His mission!
Sociologists C. Kirk Hadaway and Penny Long Marler reported in their 2005 Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion that “over the past 30 to 40 years, denominations had increasingly reported a decline in their numbers“.
So far this year we have seen a huge amount of upheaval within the church. Churches have had to pivot quite significantly, morphing and shifting their methodologies of ‘doing church’ in ways that many simply weren’t anticipating.
According to an…
Sociologists C. Kirk Hadaway and Penny Long Marler reported in their 2005 Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion that “over the past 30 to 40 years, denominations had increasingly reported a decline in their numbers“.
In 
I posted the other day an article entitled ‘
So how do we respond?
The life and times of Perry... 