Church Without Walls

One of my latest read's is George Barna's recent book Revolution.

In his book, Barna predicts that the local church is losing it's monopoly as the spiritual driver in America and will continue to do so in the coming decades. He predicts that by 2025, the local church's impact on individual spirituality will be cut in half.

So what is filling the gap? House church.

House church is an emerging phenomena in spirituality in America and is a hot issue of debate in Christan circles. This story from the LA Times nicely encapsulates the pros and cons of the house church phenomena. I refrain from calling the house church "trend" or the house church "movement" because I think it is too early to tell if this is a significant development or just a fad.

Of primary interest, house churches are definitely on the radar screen as method preferred by post-moderns.

The modern church is struggling to accept this new method, and probably is feeling threatened by this expansion of faith-building beyond the traditional paradigm we know as "church." Threatened by a loss of members, financial support and control.

I like the model outlined in the LA Times story. The Irvine, California-based New Song church has embraced the house church model, not by disbanding, but by making house churches the many spokes of a wheel, at the center of which is the New Song church. This seems like a reasonable "transition model". New Song hasn't thrown out the baby (the local church model) with the bath water. Instead, it is bravely testing new ground. We'll have to keep an eye on it.

This is one of many new methods that will emerge as Gen X and Gen Y'ers come into influential leadership positions in the church. Look for more and more innovation to emerge around social media being used to transmit the Gospel and make disciples.

Traditional church as we know must change. If it doesn't, it will become irrelevant. Rather than saying "no" to every new trend that comes along, the Church must engage in a respectful, patient dialogue. Some of these emerging trends will stick, because they will be effective and relevant. Rather than rejecting new methods because they are different, the Church needs to evaluate based on results rather than whether the method fits in the established paradigm.

The Church must resist getting in the business of determining if methods are Biblical. In his book, Barna hits a grand slam when he notes the paradigm of he local church isn't biblical or unbiblical--its abiblical. Yes, Virginia, even Sunday School is an abiblical method.

Instead, the Church should focus on making sure these new method's effectively leverage the message of the Gospel to produce results with impact. How can the Church adapt to aid in the success of the new method's that will emerge? Again, thoughtful, patient, respectful dialogue is necessary.

And for the post-moderns: a warning about becoming the very thing you distrust. One of the critics of the house church phenomena quoted in the LA Times notes that as (or if) this becomes more of a movement, house churches will naturally gain more structure and organization. If house church becomes an established method for Christianity, what will you/we do? Will you/we move on to the next "hip" method, or will post-modernity actually embrace and become the establishment it initially left in the search for relevance and authenticity?

What method will fill the gap at that point? God only knows.

In the meantime, if it is producing fruit--fruit that lasts--nurture that vine like there is no tomorrow!!!