Carey Nieuwhof gives 10 Predictions About the Future Church and Shifting Attendance Patterns:
This post is part 4 of a 5 part series on why people are attending church less often. Here are the other parts of the series (including two in-depth leadership podcast interviews):
3. The gathered church is here to stay
Read the comments on this blog or any other church leader blog and you would think that some Christians believe the best thing to do is to give up on Christian gatherings of any kind. This is naive.
While some will leave, it does not change the fact that the church has always gathered because the church is inherently communal. Additionally, what we can do gathered together far surpasses what we can do alone. Which is why there will always be an organized church of some form. So while our gatherings might shift and look different than they do today, Christians will always gather together to do more than we ever could on our own.
Read the other 9 predictions, including one on the internet and church, here. Agree or disagree?
posted by Ann Fontaine
All Content © 2017 Episcopal Café
The Bible gives testimony that Israel/Judah rarely had a pleasant life in the land they took from the Canaanites by military conquest, an action they then justified by claiming their god told them to do it. Modern Israel has a similar quandary even if blessed and backed by the United States. Not sure if God has yet chimed in on the modern conquest in his name.
whew.
'Church' as voluntary association. Not as hospital for sinners needing and thirsting for grace and New Life from the King of Kings.
Deuteronomy predicted that Israel would have a pleasant life in the Promised Land and seek their own way, even their own 'worship' (complementing their busy lives!).
"Gathering" is of a no-brainer, for traditions that celebrate Eucharist weekly.
A smart guy, that Jesus....