Church’s Future – An Insight by Rainer

I love reading blogs – all type of blogs. I stay up on twitter and find so many nuggets of great information that it often is overwhelming. There are devotional blogs like David Jeremiah or James MacDonald. There are leadership articles (a lot of great leads on LinkedIn) like David Cathy and John Maxwell – and church leadership blogs from Them Rainer and more. There’s Bible study tidbits, cultural insights, sermon seeds and illustrations, and small group principles. I love Orange, Groeschel, LifeWay, Vanderbloemen, and so many others. There are actually too many to read so I often just file it away and get back to it later (I will let you know when I ever get back to them).  If you write one -send me the link – I will put it on  my to read list too!

So when I come across truly insightful nuggets, I want to share … so here is a share …

Rainer posted an Insights to the future of the church – Five Developments on the Horizon.

1. Shifts in the multisite model … Rainer calls it the single most profound change in congregations in the past century. The multisite model will be the catalyst for recovery of neighborhood churches.
2. More churches seeking to be acquired or merged in the multisite model … this fits with the first point. Smaller churches will see the healthy model and want to be part of it. This could end the struggling single site and enhance the larger multisite church family.
3. Return to some level of programmatic behavior … it was not too long ago many churches threw programs out because the programs had become an end unto themselves. But now many will return tho the strength that programs provided but with the understanding that they will focus on them working within the mission and vision of the church. And programs will free the leaders to use their time more productively.
4. Rise of Networks … this will not replace denominations but will focus on common ministry interests – and they will not be restricted to geographical bonds.
5. The attendance frequency becomes a greater focus … active member are attending less and less regularly (remember the perfect attendance pins – yeah, me neither). This issue will be addressed (too bad Rainer did not give suggestions on how to address it).

Okay, this is some good stuff – and great thoughts to ponder on. I know that The Village Church – who has done multisite very well – has started to address the first one and how it fits into their overall vision. I also think the multisite paradigm will have to face the issue of personality pastors no longer being as accepted as in the past decade – and what will happen when the present generation of mega church pastors retire or move to another phase of their ministry journey.

There are other issues – what do you think will be on the church’s horizon in the near future?

Original article here