The 21st Century Church: A Recap
This is the seventh and final post in the series “The 21st Century Church†here on BeDeviant.com. You can read the rest of the posts here.
This series has been one of the most engaging for me personally, but judging by the comments, the conversation, and the site traffic, it’s been engaging for you as well.
What has the discussion surrounding “The 21st Century Church” told us?
1. For starters, we learned that most churches need to get on board with online giving. Cash and checks are becoming the rarity, with many people preferring to “swipe the card” instead of “signing the check.” Reader Chad suggests: “What if the church had a kiosk(s) where there would be a debit card swiping machine to “pay” their offering?”
2. We stayed with the theme of income for a second post where reader Tracy stated, “I’m going to be honest, sometimes [as Christians] I think that we are supposed to be poor.” Do you agree?
3. Switching topics, Church communications was up next. How we communicate the reality of Christ says a lot about us, namely: Is Jesus a product to be peddled or a relationship to be had? Petey asked, “What do you do when you have hundreds of 60+ year olds in a large, multi-generational church who don’t use email and refuse to sign up for anything except in person or by the phone? Write ‘em off? Ignore them?” Well, do you?
4. The pastor: What is his or her role amongst the congregation? The current model leans towards the pastor being “all things to all people.” Does the new model of the pastorate look the same? The conversation got lively and many felt that it was time to see a change for those who feel called by God to shepherd a body of believers.
5. How a Church chooses to structure and order their worship service says a lot about the community the seek to build. With the technologcial shifts that are happening in our culture, how will these changes affect the service? Should they? If so, how? Reggie commented, “I love pushing the boundaries, though. Not just for the sake of pushing boundaries but for the sake of offering the ability for people to experience God in new and fresh ways.”
6. Finally, we wrapped up with the most-discussed post of the series, The Pastor’s Wife. (Many a-reader corrected me gracefully and informed me it should actually be “The Pastor’s Spouse”!) I was most impacted by the comments that so many people who have been burned by the church their spouse serves at left. The 21st century church owes it to those who are called to the ministry to re-think how we treat not only our ministers, but the people whom they are married to!
Like I said, this was one of the most rewarding series I’ve written to-date on BeDeviant.com. Thank you to all who read, commented, and participated. Culture is changing fast, the Church owes it to herself to learn this new language and respond in a culturally relevant way.
What changes do you want to see for the 21st Century Church?
Just a huge well done to you, Justin. This was a really great series, well-written, though-provoking, and the conversations were a lot of fun to be a part of.
Hats off.
Good to know that thinkers/writers such as yourself are wrestling with these issues. Glad to be part of the new generation stepping into leadership, to put compelled action to these thoughts.