The Church of the Future
(Disclaimer: Western Church in these statements are aimed at the American expression of Christianity at large, but do not exclude the more traditional use of the term that includes European expressions as well)
Perhaps an increasingly obvious critique of the Church within Western culture is that there seems to be a fight to keep itself at the center of “popular” culture, rather than keeping itself distanced with a powerfully “prophetic” posture that challenges culture.
As the center of Christianity explodes in number and influence in the global south we see its advance spearheaded by the fastest growing faith movement in the world, the Pentecostal/Charismatic church (600+ million globally). Of which, our currently constructed Western framework has seemed to all but abandon in favor of expressions that attract larger crowds, but do little to galvanize cultural change.
With less than 15% of missionaries coming from the West now, and close to 75% of believers living in the global south it is safe to assume that ministries within the borders of Western society that are connected to these “minority” groups may play a key part in the future existence of the church of the West in the next century. Namely, the Multiethnic Church in the West.
As I look to further my language when constructively critiquing culture in America and mission in the West, I find that the more prophetic the messaging (meaning the revelatory insight given by God) rather than just a solely contextual approach is more evidently effective in seeing a culture shift. Our attempts to summersault “contextualizing” theology to postmodernism is both exhausting and the demise of a powerful church. The counter-cultural posture of the Church throughout history has been the reason for its persistent existence and effectiveness in every cultural context.
Furthermore, I doubt that there would be pushback in the understanding that true change comes from the transformative work of the Holy Spirit through the initial conviction of sin, and not the finessing of spirituality to fit into our lives from a mere human understanding.
As the “Cultural Wars” rage and Christianity in the West is pushed further and further to the periphery, there has to be an understanding of a broader more ecumenical and holistic expression that can (and will) be expressed by groups that are not usually associated with power positions within the church.
It’s more than just including “minorities” in our ministries, it’s the understanding that they represent the “majority” of the faith globally. This is the Church of the future. Or dare I say the Church of now.