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by Don Chapman
The next big thing in the church world is
a bunch of separate things.
Fragmentation is happening
everywhere.
You used to simply hear music on the radio,
then go to a record store and buy the music.
The music world has fragmented: you still
hear music on the radio, but you also hear
it as the background to your favorite TV
show, in video games, in commercials, on
satellite radio, on one of those cable TV
music channels and on the Internet. You buy
CDs at Best Buy, Circuit City, WalMart and
even StarBucks or you download MP3s online.
Look at TV - I grew up with ten channels,
now there are hundreds. That is, if you're
still watching TV and not surfing YouTube,
watching episodes online or buying DVD collections
of your favorite shows. You can even watch
broadcast TV whenever you want thanks to
TiVo (remember years ago when you'd plan
your week so you'd be home to catch your
favorite Thursday night sitcom at 8pm?)
It goes on and on in virtually
every sector.
It's when one main way
of doing things fragments
into a bunch of different
ways to do the
same thing.
The church is no different.
George Barna states in
a recent article that
"For decades, American
Christians, who
comprise more than four
of our every five
adults, assumed they had
one legitimate way
to practice their faith:
through involvement
in a conventional church.
But new research
shows that this mind set
is no longer prevalent
in the U.S." Here's the article.
You used to dress up in
your finest and attend
the local 1st Whatever
Church with your family
Sunday morning at 11am.
The choices are now
endless for the 21st century
Christian.
If you want to attend church
you have traditional,
blended, contemporary and
postmodern choices
on Saturday night, three
service options
on Sunday morning and some
on Sunday night.
Saddleback Church has eight
(yes, eight!)
service style options:
Classic, Gospel, Family,
Rock, Singles, Ohana (hula
music!) Spanish
and Traditional!
http://www.saddlebackfamily.com/story/5700.html
A few years ago they said
the megachurch
was on the way out in favor
of smaller, intimate
coffeehouse type gatherings.
Doesn't seem
to have happened - you
can attend your local
megachurch or be a part
of the latest rage:
the house church movement.
You don't even have to
physically go to church
for spiritual edification.
Barna's research
also shows that some people
who consider
themselves religious take
part in non-typical
religious activities. For
instance, there's
LifeChurch's Internet campus:
http://internet.lifechurch.tv/
...or you can watch church on TV, or even
listen to church podcasts. In a recent USAToday article I was quoted
about religious podcasts.
I have a friend who attends
a local church
mainly because his wife
and kids love it.
He doesn't get much out
of the sermons and
admits he gets "fed"
each week
by Erwin McManus's podcasts.
My friend's
physical body goes to church
here in Greenville
but his heart attends Mosaic
Church in LA.
It's now all about having
options and choices.
What's fascinating is how
quickly all of
this has happened. Trends
that used to take
decades, even centuries
to play out now happen
in months and years.
Remember, there was a time
when the printed
Bible was a novelty. When
did the first stained
glass appear? Who played
the first organ
prelude? There have been
technological innovations
in the church world for
2,000 years. These
days we don't have the
luxury of time to
absorb the changes (and
that's why the traditional
church down the street
who refuses to have
powerpoint, praise and
worship and a plexiglass
podium is probably dying
a quick death.)
What are some creative
ways your ministry
can adapt and have a voice
in this day and
age?
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