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Fifth Estate

Imagine: A New Church for the New Age

2x2 is merging the First and Fifth Estates.The Church of the last five decades is doomed.

But that it is good news.

We have spent these post-World War years of prosperity building a model for success that only a small percentage of congregations can hope to sustain. Many congregations exist and serve amid this atmosphere of hopelessness. It is not uplifting.

There is no need to wallow in this failure, pointing blame at the people, society or the clergy.

It just doesn’t matter. The model of Church as contained in a building and managed by a person trained in theology is about to be replaced. It’s long impending doom is at last being recognized. It was born of an era when the larger church controlled wealth and a feudal mentality, providing for its support, was ingrained.

When we found ourselves living in capitalist, industrial, corporate economies, it all began to crumble. The maintenance expenses exceeded the means of the communities we intended to serve. People became less and less engaged as more and more was expected.

No need to mourn this passing! What is going to evolve is going to be so much better!

The changes will be enabled by the First Estate (the Church) harnessing the power of the Fifth Estate (the web).

Imagine.

Here are just a few ways the Church is going to be transformed.

STRUCTURE

OLD: A hierarchy manages all education, communication and publishing, assuring that doctrine and tradition are maintained.

NEW: Congregations will seek help beyond denominational lines. It will be readily available to them online at a fraction of the expense.

OLD: A hierarchy oversees the placement of qualified leaders, with long “settled” ministries being the measure of success, making sure their salaries and benefits meet prescribed standards. Meanwhile, these desirable, settled congregations are constantly urged to “transform.”

NEW: Congregations will forsake the single pastor model as poor use of their resources. They will seek qualified help for specific short-term challenges and form ongoing relationships with several pastors. Flexible teams of ministers will serve without affiliating with any one congregation.

MISSION

OLD: A centralized office seeks theologically trained candidates, immerses them in a culture, provides additional training, and places them and their families all over the world. Congregations participate by giving offerings. Missionaries return every few years and make a tour of congregations to solicit continued support.

NEW: Individual congregations will begin to make contact with like-spirited Christians all over the world online. Denomination will be reflected in their actions not in their management. Many members will correspond, share and pray for one another with weekly engagement. Members of all ages will be online pen pals with multiple Christian fellowships. Eventually, congregations will raise money to send a few members of the congregation to visit, strengthening bonds begun online. The network of online churches will crisscross the world.

WORSHIP

OLD: Large structures with a dedicated building, common liturgy and accepted “playlist” of hymns is replicated across the country every few miles. One certified theologian is given status to repeat the words of our Lord from the Bible. Church members participate in assigned roles. Their names are listed a month in advance in the bulletin.

NEW: The structure of worship will embrace many cultures. Multiple church members will lead. Sermons will be preached online by the best articulators of the Word. Local discussions will elaborate on the Word. Members will become accustomed to weekly, spontaneous participation. Published liturgies and hymnals will be passe.

EDUCATION

CURRENT: Sunday School begins at age three and ends at age nine with desperate attempts to fill in the gap between childhood and old age with confirmation, youth ministry, singles clubs, and adult forums, following expensive curricula supplied by church hierarchy. Less than five percent of the congregation participate.

NEW: Churches, via their web sites, will link members to meaningful online forums, supplementing them with local engagement either online or in church. Short daily learnings will replace hour-long classes. Congregations linked online will share their resources and traditions.

STEWARDSHIP

OLD: Church members are encouraged to pledge to the maintenance of their building and sustenance of their clergy. Regional bodies, seminaries, and various social service entities within the church beg for additional funds. The national church adds to the appeal for dollars supplied by the same small pool of people.

NEW: Church buildings will have to multi-task their usage in the community to afford their cost. Many communities will rent or borrow appropriate space in the neighborhood. Regional bodies will provide fewer direct services. Their staffs and budgets will be trimmed substantially. Church social service agencies will completely abandon church affiliation as they recognize that cord was cut when they began seeking public funding. Congregations will choose to support service agencies that resonate with their sense of mission, regardless of their affiliation with religion. This will be an opportunity for church members to personally witness in the secular environment.

CHURCH MEMBERSHIP

OLD: Members are expected to attend worship regularly and to live within an easy commute of a church building.

NEW: Members can be anywhere in the world and participate in community online. Online statistics will be published along with membership and giving numbers.

TODAY

Much of this is already happening. 2×2 is part of this evolution revolution and already experiencing many of these transformations.

 

22 Oct 2012

First Estate, Meet the Fifth Estate: A New Reformation

The Fifth EstateIn the Church, we are still shaking off the dust of the Middle Ages. Back then, as always, there was a crying need to organize society, partly due to unparalleled spread and power of Christianity.

  • Who would have the power?
  • Who would control the wealth?
  • Who would protect the wealth and power?
  • Who would pay for everything?

There was tension between church leaders and the people they relied upon to protect their impressive assets. This ragtag group of warriors would be most effective and reliable if they were given some official status and a smidgen of power.

Somebody came up with the idea of “estates.”

The First Estate included the clergy. They controlled much of the wealth, demanding contributions of the faithful. They paid NO taxes.

The Second Estate included the warriors that were to become the nobility. They were willing to risk their lives to protect the Church, and so, they were allowed some very nice tracts of land and the power to get the general population to work for them. They paid NO taxes.

The Third Estate was everyone else—about 97% of the population. THEY paid taxes.

As for upward mobility—it was next to impossible to enter the Second Estate by any means other than birth or marriage. Is it any wonder that there was no shortage of clergy in the Middle Ages?

Then came the printing press. The Fourth Estate was born. It was soon recognized that anyone who owned a printing press held power that had to be respected (and controlled, if possible). The press became the Fourth Estate.

Along came America and the power of the press was given constitutional protection.

Today we stand at the threshold of new possibilities and the birth of the Fifth Estate. The term seems to have started in Canada, referring to the media. It is evolving to include the power that lies in the hands of millions of unfettered individuals (the same 97% who have been supporting the power structure of both Estates One and Two for a thousand years).

Enter the power of the blog—The Fifth Estate.

This is a new form of power— a bit like the press but rawer and more independent, uncontrolled by any structure and empowered as much by the low cost as the technology..

  • Blogs are available to all.
  • Blogs do not require wealth and backing.
  • Blogs can create their own following.
  • Blogs are immediate.
  • Blogs have no cumbersome internal power structures.
  • Blogs are not restricted by the costs of print, marketing and circulation.
  • Blogs are not beholding to advertising for revenue.
  • Blogs are controlled by everyone’s ability to respond if they disagree.
  • Blogs are protected by the same Bill of Rights that protects religion and the press.

Anyone can become a thought leader in this new world. You won’t need a title or fancy degree.

The Fifth Estate will outpower every other Estate.

We have already seen the Fifth Estate affect government and international relations—swaying elections, inciting rebellion, changing the world.

We are beginning to see the Fifth Estate change education with free and easy access to course material once available only to the privileged.

Business has changed. Publishing has changed.

Will the Fifth Estate change the First Estate—the Church?

It will…if we start using the power at our fingertips.

The Church’s resistance to change—which begins at the top—will hamper it. Leaders will try to protect the status quo, which is their expertise. They will continue to rely on outdated communication techniques—20-minute sermons in cavernous, empty sanctuaries, newsletters filled with fluff, feel good web sites that invite little interaction or thought leadership.

One day soon, the power of the Fifth Estate will force open the doors and windows that have been sealed for centuries. The change is not going to be dictated by the seminaries or bishops or even the clergy. It is going to come from the bottom up and it is going to be truly transforming.

Are we ready?

photo credit: BottleLeaf via photopin cc
21 Oct 2012