Thursday, September 26, 2013

The Contemporary Church

How do you look at the church of today?  Do you long for the church of your childhood?  Do you desire the first century church would return?  Would you like the excitement of the Reformation era church?

In Vertical Church, James MacDonald has some harsh words for the American church of our generation.  His proposition that the church exists to demonstrate God's glory (verticality) runs opposed (in his mind) to the consumerstic approach (horizontality) of our franchise church society. (I must say that I would be shocked if the Harvest churches that are starting with the Vertical concept won't fall prey to the franchise trap as well.  We all copy better than we reproduce.)

I must tell you that I agree with him.  I am reading an article right now about the church in our era, and I agree with Russell Blanchard Smith in "Ministry in the Age of Design" that the franchise, cookie cutter model of the last 20+ years is a dying breed.  He calls our contemporary society "the age of design" calling for artisanal churches to meet the unique qualities of any context.   The skepticism created by square-peg-in-round-hole philosophies won't all such ideas to work with people who value authenticity over pragmatism or heritage.

What do you think about the church of today?

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