From the birth of the church to today, the continuity and spread of the
gospel has been dependant on the church passing leadership to the emerging generation. A cosmic relay race with eternal consequences and life altering ramifications.
We can see at least three generations of North American Churches right now.
Traditional Church
What we have come to call the traditional church is what most Americans still picture when they hear the “C-Word.”
You put on your Sunday best and went to church primarily to hear the sermon. In this era, the church was a preaching point, worship was perfunctory, simply leading up to the real substance of the gathering (the Sermon). In fact very little new music was being written for these churches, relying almost entirely on the great hymns of old. The general motto was come and listen. Given its cultural context likely its most effective ministry was it children’s ministry, as they were the ones who popularized the idea of Sunday School. Come and Listen, they said, be taught and Christ will be formed in you.
Contemporary Church
Along came the sixties (and as sick as I am of hearing those years, it was a time of change). Khakis became the unofficial wardrobe in the church, augmented by the ever popular denim shirt.
One of the primary draws to the contemporary church was worship. We saw an explosion of new music being written movements like Calvary Chapel, Vineyard, Maranatha ,and the entire CCM movement found its origin here. Choruses became the dominant worship element.
The motto became “Come and Watch” especially with the unparalleled growth and “success” of the Boomer Seeker churches like Willow Creek and Saddleback and their offspring. The autonomous observers was encouraged and celebrated. Come and Watch, kick the spiritual tires.
What’s Next?
What will the next church look like? Good question. The problem is we don’t know.
We do know that the church is becoming increasingly real the idea of dressing up to go to church is repellant, its “as you are.” The primary draw seems to be shifting to community they don’t come for message, nor the worship they come to be together. Worship is more encompassing, incorporating more artistic mediums than ever before. And messages become dialogues. With the longing being that we gather to experience. Experience God, community, truth, beauty, and worship.
So far there appear to be three primary attempts at addressing this shift.
1 . Church within Church
This is where a contemporary church pumps resources into a sub-ministry. In part because they recognize that as effective as their boomer ministry was they have been ineffective in connecting with the younger set.
A Church within Church is more than a college group and it is not limited to just singles or young marrieds, and those who attend its services may not even attend the “main” services of that church. It actually begins to function as a church.
Clearly this has some benefits. Resources. The Contemporary Church may well be the wealthiest church in North American history. However, leadership challenges seem to arise quickly as the value system of mother church and the younger sub-ministry often collide, and those holding the resources usually “win.”
2 . Revised Contemporary
This a stand alone church plant (new church) and has younger leadership, it is free leadership collision often connected with the church within church. The Revised Contemporary church takes the basic approach of the contemporary church and pushes it to be even more alternative. Maybe they add a distortion peddle to the guitar, use computer generated graphics and video. The pastor wears ripped jeans and a ball cap, uses lots of pop-culture references and is more irreverent in style (not message but style), etc.
The challenge with this attempt is that it adopts many of the basic ministry presumptions of the Contemporary Church without evaluating them. It assumes that to be a church it must grow to be large. The cultural mosaic of North America is rapidly changing. The contemporary church made the assumption that most people had a church background, and have marketed themselves accordingly, however to reach people today that cannot be assumed.
3 . Missional-Relational
Churches with this focus are springing up all over the nation. These churches are asking a lot of questions that make leaders in their respective denominations, seminaries and older churches scratch their heads, hoping “these young people will grow out of it.” They’re questioning the way the Contemporary Church has adopted the corporate world’s measurements of success. They’re asking the questions about what it is that makes a community of people a church. They wonder why the church has failed to apply missionary strategies on American soil, and are implementing various relational strategies to connect with culture.
God’s one plan for reaching this world is His community of followers His Church. We are positioning ourselves to make our maximum impact for God. We will ask the questions and we will hold without waver only to what the Bible defines as the church everything else is up for grabs. This is our Quest.
Peace, dwight
