This is interesting

Church: What Will It Look Like? by Ed Vitaglio

Let me share the following excerpts:

Excerpt 1: Research reveals the rumblings of a possible radical shift in the way many Americans think about religion and the Christian life. More and more adults -- even Christians -- believe that church involvement is unnecessary for an individual's spiritual development.

"Only 17% of adults said that 'a person's faith is meant to be developed mainly by involvement in a local church,'" said a Barna report. "Even the most devoted church-going groups -- such as evangelicals and born again Christians -- generally dismiss that notion: only one-third of all evangelicals and one out of five non-evangelical born again adults endorsed the concept."

In a 2005 Newsweek cover story, writer Jerry Adler found "a flowering of spirituality" in America that seemed to be occurring outside church walls. "Whatever is going on here, it's not an explosion of people going to church," Adler said.

Excerpt 2: The trend has tremendous ramifications for religious hierarchy, which Cox said is "crumbling fast." He said, "The notions of consumer choice and local control have stormed the religious realm, and decentralization of faith is now the order of the day. Religious leaders who once could command, instruct, and expel now must cajole, persuade, and compete."

When it comes to denominations, Cox added that "'brand loyalty' is a thing of the past."

Religion an Individual Pursuit?
Excerpt 3:What's going on? George Barna thinks many people are looking for an authenticity, passion and sense of community they find lacking in many churches.

"Americans remain unconvinced of the necessity of the collective faith experience," he said. "This is partially because the typical church model esteems attendance rather than interaction and immersion, partially due to the superficial experiences most believers have had in cell groups or Christian education classes, and partially attributable to our cultural bias toward independence and fluid relationships."

Challenges for the Church
Excerpt 4: It's not all bad news. Barna said a significant number of people appear to be leaving the organized church flock, but not for pagan or otherwise non-Christian religious pastures. Instead, they appear to be opting for a more informal pursuit of the Christian life through home churches.

It's a trend Barna thinks will accelerate. He believes that "by 2025 the local church will lose roughly half of its current 'market share' and that alternative forms of faith experience and expression will pick up the slack," home churches among them.

If the growing popularity of house churches is an indication that the institutional church model is not meeting the basic spiritual needs of Christians, perhaps some honest soul-searching on the part of church leaders is in order.

"Developing a biblical understanding of the preeminence of community life will take intentional leadership, strategic action and time," Barna said. In considering how to meet such needs, Barna's recommendations on another subject -- getting the unchurched back into church -- are relevant.

"These people tend to be less turned on by the music or preaching than by a sense of God's presence -- even though they don't quite know how to explain or understand it -- and by the feeling that they are visiting a group of people who are a genuine community of loving and accepting individuals," Barna said about the unchurched.

It may not be clear just yet if there is a genuine shift occurring in the religious life of America. But what is clear is that, if institutional churches want to remain relevant, they can no longer conduct business as usual.

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