Here are half a dozen serious articles on the present life of the church. Frank Rees argues that Enabling congregations to become theological communities is absolutely essential for the church.
Is the Australian church healthy or sick? Peter Corney of The Institute of Contemporary Christian Leadership looks at the big picture and says the Australian Church is facing a serious crisis and unless it is dealt with then the ruin of the church will continue. The future of the church lies in our response to the following crises: the erosion of our integrity and credibility by the toleration of sexual abuse and disordered sexuality; the betrayal of historic Christianity by a theology that has involved a relentless accommodation to the contemporary culture; a failure to focus on our core values and purposes; and the crisis of leadership. See In the Ruins of the Church (5,200 words).
Then, in the first of four of his articles, Gil Cann asks a similar question at the congregational level: ‘How can you tell to tell if your church is sick (while it looks like it is in good health)? (1700 words) The answer has to do with the way that ministry is performed. Gil also looks at the way ‘belonging’ comes before ‘believing’ in today’s church. Consequently the church has to live as a family where people are accepted, where they feel they belong. See Belonging or believing? (1,200 words).
The church is, in a sense, the Kingdom under construction (1,100 words). The church, and every local church, is to the Kingdom of God what scaffolding is to a building. Churches are only a means to an end. So, says Gil Cann, don’t spend years trying to create the perfect organisational structure for your church. We must no longer be chaplains to Christendom but missionaries to paganism and new ‘scaffolding’ is needed for this. Part of this means Taking Monday Seriously (1,850 words). In this article Gil discusses the problem of the success of the contemporary service! Often they are not actually ‘contemporary’ because being truly contemporary means much more than style. It depends on how a church thinks and, for example, whether it takes seriously people’s lives on Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday…..
In Embracing the present (2,400 words) John Olsen asks how Christians can respond to the implications of changes in our social environment. How can we re-envisage the nature, structures and processes of church in order to effectively communicate the unchanged and unchanging gospel. Considering the implications of our new environment and context will help us begin to see how best to fulfil our calling in this present era. He discusses
- World views
- Christian maturity and equipping
- Congregational megatrends
- Leadership
- Learning in today’s culture
- The church’s opportunity
- Four responses
It has often been said that the Christian church has always been potentially, just one generation away from extinction. But now, with a generation of young people turning away from institutional expressions of Christianity, churches in the west face a challenge more urgent and radical than for many generations. In Church Next (1,700 words) Eddie Gibbs and Ian Coffey outline part of the changing scenario which has created this challenge.
