Re-forming church

Over two decades ago, in The Once and Future Church, Loren Mead declared that the era of “Christendom” was over for mainline Protestants. Mead launched a discussion—which has only expanded since—about an emerging new paradigm of church life defined by local context and intentional, grassroots mission.

It was perhaps a vestige of late-modern thinking to imagine that something as coherent as a single paradigm would emerge. What has appeared instead is a host of ecclesial experiments drawing on a variety of reform movements within the church. These efforts are responding to the new ways in which people gather in community and attach themselves to institutions, as well as to the distinctive concerns and styles of baby boomers, Gen Xers, and the millennial generation.

Some church-growth consultants still tout the success of the megachurch model of outreach, insisting that congregations that want to reach the unchurched must ditch the hymnbook and liturgy in favor of polished rock bands and screen-projected texts. Others say that model is fatally tied to the ethos of the baby boomers and has little appeal to millennials, who value participatory worship and tight-knit community. Some analysts argue that the key to renewal is finding a vocabulary that resonates with the burgeoning “spiritual but not religious” cohort who are suspicious of all religious language and church structure. Other parts of the mainline church are energized by refocusing on tradition—one thinks, for example, of the work of the Center for Biblical Preaching at Luther Seminary, the influence of the website textweek.com, and the widespread interest in ancient liturgy and monastic practice.