The Future of the Church in America, Part 3
I see the church in America moving towards a more organic “God in the raw” church experience with church services having a real, raw, heartfelt vibe.
Church services where the goal is for people to really connect personally with God. (Wow, what a concept – connect with God at church.) This means that the goal or “win” for the service components (message, altar, worship, communion, offering, prayer, etc.) is to design them so that people can personally connect with God at various points in the service.
This in turn also becomes the goal or the “win” of the entire service.
While much of this is already happening in several prevailing churches, there is still a mindset in much of the church that the goal of a service is to create a “learning experience” instead of a “connecting experience.”
God doesn’t want people to just learn something or do something. He wants people to connect to the purpose behind it. He wants them to connect to Himself.
Then the church becomes the reflection of Christ, and in turn people who are looking for God can easily find Him.
Christ is not hidden behind all the religiosity or traditions of men.
GO GOD!
The Future of the Church in America, Part 2
I see what I call a wave of convergence coming to the church.
There have been several different streams of prevailing, life giving Christian churches across the United States over the past couple of decades. There are several names given to these church tribes or “camps”.
We have purpose driven, creative, relevant, spirit-filled, spirit-contemporary, seeker, emergent, multi-site and so on.
There are also several combinations of these camps and streams of churches. They have all added to one another and for the most part are respected by one another. However, they have not worked really close together to make a bigger impact for the Kingdom. I believe that is changing right before our eyes and will continue to do so even more in the near future.
These up and coming generations of pastors are not nearly as tied to a certain camp or denomination as they are to making an impact and working with churches that are focused on doing the same.
It is now very easy to respect small doctrinal differences and church preferences while keeping Jesus Christ the main thing.
These prevailing churches will have a multiplied impact working together and the church will experience a new strength because of this unity.
The questions that now unite pastors and churches are: Are you reaching people? Are you committed to making an impact in your community? Are you willing to change to make an even greater impact?
Yes, worlds are colliding.
These streams are converging in America to form a mighty rushing river that will be more powerful than ever.
I am amazed at how organizations like the Association of Related Churches (ARC) have become a catalyst for this.
These days it is so encouraging to see all the different streams of leaders and speakers at conferences advancing the Kingdom together for multiplied impact.
The Future of the Church in America, Part 1
I believe the church in America is starting to come full circle.
I believe God is moving big time and getting the church back to the core disciplines of our faith: prayer, fasting, consecration, preaching the cross and moving in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Much of the church in America has been very focused on becoming super creative, relevant, cool and “de-religiousizing” and “de-weirdifying” the Christian message.
I believe God has been at the center of this and I am so glad for the church.
As many of you know we are huge believers in environments and relevant ministry. Atmosphere and creativity are huge in ministry and especially in reaching people. The beautiful message of the gospel deserves a beautiful wrapping around it.
Creativity, excellence and relevance all contribute in removing barriers as people come to God.
But I feel as if God is now ready to bring much more focus to what really brings Christ-likeness and power to the church. The things that are really necessary to make solid, committed disciples. I am not talking about people just serving and attending a small group. Those things are important but there is so much more to knowing Christ.
I am talking about disciples that really know the person of Jesus Christ.
I feel like the next wave for the church in America is getting back to the essential disciplines of our faith that enable believers to become “self feeders” and really know the person of Jesus and the power of God.
Over this next decade, I believe that the churches in America that are going to be the breakout churches - the ones with explosive growth and huge impact, these are going to be the churches that while being relevant and focused on reaching people, they are also going to be extremely passionate for the Lord.
They are going be focused on prayer and fasting and really grounding people in the Word of God.
People will be coming to the church by the droves to hear the Word of God and to experience God’s presence and power.
These churches are going to be Spirit filled and Spirit led.
They are going to experience God’s power in a whole new way.
They will reach the masses and make solid disciples.
While continuing to remain creative and relevant, these churches will preach the cross and be focused on the light of eternity. Over the past couple of years we have seen thousands and thousands of decisions for Christ at Celebration Church. We saw around 450 decisions just last month.
We are very thankful to God for this.
But I see the day when thousands and thousands are won to the Lord in one day (Acts 2:41)! I see the day for some churches in America when facilities just can’t contain the people and the attendance is too large to count.
When the church is so on fire with so many people that infrastructure and services have to be completely re-thought.
This will not happen with just being relevant. It will happen when the church on earth (especially in America) aligns itself with God in heaven.
So much of Christian ministry today is what I call “needs based”. It is focused entirely on meeting people’s needs so they may live better and more successful lives on earth.
I agree “needs based” messages play an important part in the life of the believer, and I completely agree that God wants us to have better relationships, good attitudes, successful careers, etc. The Bible says a lot about those things.
I also understand that in order to reach the unbeliever in our post modern society many times people need to be met at a point of need or relevance first and then led to the Truth.
But there is also the principle of God drawing people’s hearts and the conviction power of the Holy Spirit.
If people are seeking God they need to be able to encounter Him. I believe that God is always stirring hearts and people are hungry for the Word and want to experience God “in the raw.” We need to be balanced and minister the “whole counsel of God.”
It is not an “either/or” but a “both/and.”
We must maintain an eternal perspective as our foundation for living.
Our home is not this earth; it is with Christ in eternity.
Our marriages, careers, and everything else need to be driven in light of eternity and by the purposes of God. We live with the understanding that our life on earth is a temporary assignment.
I will be talking more about this over the next couple of weeks.
Tell me what you think.