Church Morph

Eddie Gibbs, professor at Fuller Seminary, has recently published a book called Church Morph:  How Megatrends are Reshaping Christian Communities.   In it, he states that the range of issues that churches are addressing today cannot be adequately addressed by simply tweaking here and there, adding programs, reworking organizational structures, or improving internal communications.  Our structures were designed for a different cultural context, in which change was more predictable and occurred at a slower pace.  Today, we live in a culture of discontinuous and often unpredictable change.  Our hierarchies paralyze initiative and are ponderous in responding to unanticipated challenges. 

Gibbs suggests that the morphing of the church relates to its transitions to a new identity as a missional presence in the West.  There is a growing realization that our challenges will not be adequately met by adding new programs to ensure our institutional survival.  It is time to cultivate a new missional imagination of what God is calling the church to be and to do.  Our changing cultural contexts now present unfamiliar challenges to most Western churches.   Part of our changing context is that most younger adults are abandoning program-driven churches in search of a more authentic spirituality.  Since most of our churches are program-driven, we have to begin to quickly learn a whole new paradigm of doing ministry.

For the church to morph into a post-Christendom context, it will need to adopt a different approach to ministry - from attraction to incarnational presence in the community.   The answers and solutions we seek will not be found by merely developing a new style of worship or programs to reach younger generations.  Churches are increasingly out of touch because they have not realized the comprehensive nature of the transitions and megatrends that are impacting every area of our lives.  An irreversible change is taking place under our noses, and many are missing it. 

In the long term, churches will either morph or become moribund.  The process will be gradual and the picture will be confusing.  But, those who get a sense of where the winds of the Holy Spirit are blowing, will follow Christ down some exciting new avenues of ministry.

What do you think?

Comments

[L. Lee]

Clark,

I enjoyed your post - thank you for making us aware of seeing what God is doing in the midst of the next generation.

Exactly what do you mean by "missional imagination" and "incarnational presence in the community".

Does this include a proclamation of the Gospel, teaching God's Word from Scripture,
spiritual nurture, leading people to Christ as savior?

I see a "younger generation" that is
bombarded with social action opportunities,
messages from their culture via the internet, peer pressure, TV and the like.
They form their thinking on these things.
They have not read the Bible, yet
they are hungry for TRUTH, forgiveness,
to know God, and to hear from God. Yes,
they want authentic spirituality as you put it!

A good question is: "How can we make people
hungry for God's word?" and feed that hunger!

[Clark Cowden]

L. Lee:
A missional imagination is simply that: the imagination of the people that gets stirred up by the Holy Spirit with a desire to be a part of the mission of God on earth. An incarnational presence in the community follows the example of Christ - the incarnation is about His coming and living amongst us in our world as God in the flesh. As disciples of Christ, we are called to follow in His steps and follow His example, by intentionally engaging our neighborhoods and communities as Jesus did.

This is more like a missionary model of ministry, where you want to proclaim the gospel in a community, but you know if you do it too soon, it will be rejected. There needs to be a time to listen to people's stories, understand the community, build relationships, develop a love for a place, and see what God is already doing there, while waiting for the time when the Spirit indicates it is right to put the gospel into words.

In one sense, there is nothing we can do to make people hungry for God's Word. That is not something we can control. We can't manipulate people, and only the Holy Spirit can make people hungry. Having said that, listening to people's stories, loving them, being vulnerable, opening up and sharing our stories and letting people see who God has made us to be, are things that Christ can use to make people hungry for what we have.

Clark Cowden

[L. Lee]

Thank you for this beautiful picture of how this might work. I see that listening to people's stories, being vulnerable to share our stories about what God has made us to be
and caring, loving is incarnational living in the place God has set us.
Being sensitive to the Holy Spirit is
a part of that as you said: "Missional imagination is being stirred up by the Holy Spirit"..... and
stepping out in faith and obedience to that stirring. That is so exciting.
I appreciate your post and ministry in helping the "church" move in that direction.

[Rev. Paulo de Tarso Ribeiro]

I am glad to participate and learn from you along this conversation. We had a good experience in Van Nuys (CA) San fernando Valley about 5 years ago.
We started up a kind of evangelistic effort using all the possible opportunities to reah out and evangelize people within our neighborhod. Model based on Acts 2:42 and 5:42, using Jesus' Ministry model (Luke 4:18-19).
The Holy Spirit presence and guidance we used to seek as we held Prayer Services, on a regular basis every week, and also developing leadership training to equipp leaders, so that we could use the small group home cells, all for the sake of outreach, evangelism and discipleship.
Rev. Juan Sarmiento and I, we had a great practical experience developing that model.
This is why I like Gibbs approach about the incarnational ministry model withing the community. The church has to be connected to the community, not only to provide Worship Services, but to help people in their daily needs. His new book is even better to envision the future of the church if we do not pay attention to the context aroud us. So, "holistic" ministry and contextualization really matters to keep the church up serving the community.

Rev. Paulo Ribeiro