Born Again Again

Ten church models for a new generation

I’m in a lot of conversations about why the denominational
church isn’t working. In some ways, I think of our churches like a crop of corn
that was planted at the same time. That field produced corn for 50 years—so much
wonderful corn that many of us were fat and happy. In our abundance, we forgot
to diversify and plant new fields. Now the corn is coming to the end of its
season, all at the same time.

In my denomination (PCUSA), 90% of our members are white and
most of them are over the age of 60. Many of our churches are rural and many of
the buildings were constructed in the 1950s. After 60 years of dutiful service, the structures are too large, too inefficient, and require too much maintenance for smaller,
aging members to keep up with. We're ministering in a country where younger generations are much more diverse and many of them move into urban areas. Many congregations plan to cut staff (including
the pastor) and hold on to the building until there’s only one person left standing. In fact, right now, half of our churches cannot afford pastors, so it's not difficult to imagine that we might be closing them in the next 20 years. 

The crop may be coming to end of its season, but the ground is not fallow. What are some other options? What about the communities
that are working? What about new communities? They tend to be small (much like our existing churches) but
they often don’t have the real estate and endowments to keep them going. They have to think of other ways to create space as well as other funding sources. I’m
going to list these… some are conservative, some are liberal, some have hardly
any beliefs at all. I’m giving them to you as models, not because I agree with
the theological content (or lack thereof), but because they’re worth
exploring.