Back to the Future

Like most pastors I hope the new millennium will be gentler on my brand of Christianity (Presbyterian). In the last decade the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) lost 500 members a week. Not a year. Not a month. 500 a week! If this trend continues, Presbyterians will be extinct by the end of the century. (At least we fared better than the Methodists if not as well as the Episcopalians!)

I read all I can from church sociologists like Lyle Schaller, Bill Easum, and Tom Bandy, look at growing congregations around the USA, and attend conferences. I compiled (boiled down) my findings into a sermon series: Seven Marks of the Church of the New Millennium.

Mark 1: The Church of the New Millennium will center its life in the person of Jesus Christ.

Mark 2: The Church of the New Millennium will see the Scriptures as that which determines the  boundaries of the Christian faith.

Mark 3: The Church of the New Millennium will function as a seminary equipping her members for ministry.

Mark 4: The Church of the New Millennium will restore integrity to membership, linking discipleship with membership.

Mark 5: The Church of the New Millennium will offer worship experiences that make sense to people.

Mark 6: The Church of the New Millennium will be constantly open to the new thing God is doing, being careful not to put new wine into old wineskins.

Mark 7: The Church of the New Millennium will use small groups to build significant Christian community.

Interestingly, not one of these marks is new. Some marks come out of the Protestant Reformation. Each mark is deeply rooted in the Scriptures. In hindsight, I should have titled the series "Back to the Future" because the church that thrives in the future will simply recover her spiritual roots.

One of those roots is community. People who walk through church doors today are not looking to join an organization. They may have been looking for that a decade ago, but no longer. People who walk through church doors today are searching for intimacy, and churches that connect people to one another in deep, soulful ways will be around for the next generation. Churches that do not, will not.

One of the great organizations in my congregation is "Presbyterian Women." The average age is around 70. They have officers, monthly business meetings, by-laws, and they do great work. They have been a mission force for decades. But younger woman are not joining the group. What's the problem? Why aren't younger women joining? Because they are searching for intimacy, not an organization. They aren't interested in agendas and by-laws and business meetings. They are interested in relationships -- significant relationships. They want to go deep.

I read somewhere that there are four levels of friendships:

Level 1: Acquaintance.

• Based on occasional contacts

• Freedom to ask general questions; public information.

Level 2: Casual Friendship.

• Based on common interests, activities, concerns;

• Freedom to ask specific questions; opinions, ideas, wishes and goals.

Level 3: Close Friendship & Fellowship.

• Based on mutual life goals

• Freedom to suggest mutual projects toward reaching life goals.

Level 4: Intimate Friendship & Fellowship

• Based on commitment to the development of each other's character

• Freedom to correct each other.

Level three and four friendships are what most seek today, and they are not found. They are built. Churches that have a strategy for doing that (Hint: Small groups) will prosper in the future.

For the Group

1. A close childhood friend of mine was... One of the things we spent hours doing together was...

2. My first experience of significant spiritual community was...

3. Where I long for a greater sense of close or intimate community today is...

Dick Meyer is Senior Pastor of First Presbyterian Church, Maitland FL and author of two books, One Anothering, Vol 1 & 2.