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What Does the Future of the Church Look Like?

Orginally published on Monday, July 17, 2006 at 7:23 AM
by Todd Rhoades

My friend Tony Morgan (of Granger Community Church) is starting a fascinating project. He will be working with a group of ministry leaders from throughout the country to consider what innovation in the church really looks like; and what it will mean for the future of the church. As I look back at how much ministry and church-life has changed in the last twenty years, I am just utterly amazed. Have you ever really thought about what the church will look like twenty years from now? Well, that's exactly what Tony's group is planning on looking at. It sounds interesting and exciting...

I got an email last week from Tony asking for our help… Will you join the conversation and help Tony start with a base of good questions to ask these leaders.  Here are some starting comments and questions from Tony.  Let’s discuss them here.  What questions would you add?  How would you answer the questions that Tony raises here?  What do you think the church will look like in ten or twenty years?  Here we go…

Innovation defined.
How would you define innovation?

Is it biblical?
Does God want churches to innovate? Did innovation happen in the first century church?

Ingredients for innovation.
What does innovation look like in today’s churches? What are the ingredients for innovation in the local church?

Opportunities for change.
What’s happening outside the Church that should influence innovation inside local churches?

Obstacles?
What are the enemies of innovation in churches? What are the challenges churches will have to overcome to experience innovation?

Leadership.
How can leaders help create a culture of innovation?

Technology.
How will technology including the use of media and the Web influence churches in the future?

Arts.
What will the role of the arts (music, drama, video, etc.) be as the Church moves into the future?

Community impact.
How are innovative churches trying to engage and impact their communities? Does innovation look different in different communities?

Size.
Does size matter? What about smaller churches and those with limited financial resources? Or, is innovation harder for larger, more established churches?

Cultural influence?
Do you believe the Church has influenced past cultures? Do you think the Church can still influence culture today?

Measures.
How will we know if innovation is working? How should we measure the impact?

Future.
What do you believe will be the most significant differences between churches of today and churches of the future?

FOR DISCUSSION: What’s your reaction? Are there key topics that Tony’s missing? What do you want to know about the Church in the future? How would you answer these questions?


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 TRACKBACKS: (0) There are 28 Comments:

  • Posted by
    Thursday, July 27, 2006 at 6:24 AM

    Hi Gary,

    Statistics on the other hand, indicate that despite the mega church’s greater resource, they are far less effective at training and launching people into ministry than smaller churches.  If memeory serves, volunteerism, as a serrogate measurand, according to Barna was only 2%-3% in mega churches and near 30% in churches less than 100.  If preparing people for ministry was the goal, we would do well to break up megachurches to many churches less than 100.  And that shouldn’t be very surprising since the first chruches, with the exception of a few, were primiarily small. 

    Howerver, i agree that an emphasis in small/cell groups should compensate for that tendancy but in reality, the statistics sadly are not much different for churches over 1000 that include a small/cell emphasis. 

    This is why I see value in the tensions caused by voids in small chruch ministry.

    Anyway, that is my 2 cents

  • Posted by Gary Sweeten
    Thursday, July 27, 2006 at 8:57 AM

    John, I agree with all you are saying. Right now, most large churches are simply magnets for bringing people to the Lord and getting them grounded in the Milk of the Word. They may also have an occasional “teaching evening” to “go deeper” but it is mostly Mush and rarely Meat or Ministry Skills.

    I think we need a variety of sizes, types and theologies. That is in reality what God is doing.

    The churches that actually mobilize folks to Ministry are able to Motivate them to do service but few even think about actually helping them grow to Maturity and a deeper Ministry.  write me and I will send you some of the ideas about systematic growth I developed at a mega church in the 80’s when we had one half of our active members who identified their gifts, call and ministries.

    The key now is to Mobilize the 30 million Boomers who have known Christ for years but have no deep understanding of Ministry for an exciting and positive retirement.  They have the time, money, wisdom, etc to lead the next revolution and revival if we take up the challenge.

  • Posted by Rich Smith
    Friday, July 28, 2006 at 3:26 AM

    Hey John,

    I think Rick Warren has summarized your point accurately. He has long said that “Church’s must grow smaller as they continue to grow larger. This is done thorugh the effective utilization of small groups. WIllow Creek, Bill HYbels, and Bill Donahue have gotten the point. Bill Hybels realized as they grew to a church of 20,000 on weekend services, it had beccome monster eating him and his church alive. Hybels said that they were essentially a large group comprised of multiple and individual para-church ministries. It was at that point that Willow Creek transitined from “a church with small groups,” to “a church of small groups

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