Make Way for the Non-geographic Future Church
We are polishing our crystal ball again. This is what we see . . .
The Church of tomorrow will have only two sociological geographies — the local church and the worldwide church. Intermediary layers will be defined by local congregations as needed — not by hierarchies.
Denominations and regional authorities will become expensive drains on local churches with waning benefits.
They and national church offices — at least as we know them today — will become archaic, outliving their purpose and mission. Once the hub of thought leadership, educational/resource publishing, and social ministry implementation, they are already being phased out by economic realities. Any congregation can form alliances with a multitude of social causes locally, nationally and internationally. Any congregant can publish.
Congregations will become identified by their works which will make them more relevant and help them grow. If they are to survive they will find vitality — quickly!
Congregations will soon realize that the dollars they are sending to regional bodies are better spent in ways they can monitor and become involved with directly. Giving will improve when results are more visible.
This is all the result of the internet.
Every congregation has the same power at its fingertips. Soon churches will realize they will get more help and better advice if they bypass the systems of the past.
Part of this is driven by economics of scale. Business has a saying: “Go big or go home.”
The church will discover this, too.
In the past, each individual judicatory duplicated similar services supported by its own 100-200 congregations. Better services will be supplied by pooling resources of more churches than one regional body can support. Local churches will bypass judicatories and go directly to enterprising thought leaders who no longer need denominational affiliation to gain an ear.
The economic failure of judicatories will return talent now stagnating in management to work in congregations.
The best ideas will be too expensive for regional bodies to implement. They will, for a while, keep trying to do things the same way . . . and fail. Frustration will turn the tide.
Denominational lines will blur as the internet helps ideas cross traditional lines. Congregations will find their own sister congregations . . . and they could be anywhere.
In the past, denominations might have worried that doctrines and traditions would be compromised without layers of oversight. No longer! Everyone has access to the same technology. This will create its own checks and balances.
Turf wars are likely at first. They could be ugly. But the realization that hierarchies are no longer needed will begin to set in.
For a while, middle management judicatories will flex muscles, trying to rein in congregations as their power weakens. There will be casualties that will be an enduring shame…but a new church will emerge.
The local congregation will become more important than ever. It will be the local hands-on expression. They will display renewed vitality as they tap resources beyond the offering plate. They will identify mission and form alliances with like-minded organizations.
We’ve spent decades in interdenominational dialogue to achieve what the internet will achieve in just a few years!
The coming Church is going to be exciting!