Differing Perspectives in the Church Growth Movement

In an article in The Chronicle Review, a "Magazine of Ideas" within The Chronicle of Higher Education, Johanna Drucker discusses the dilemma faced by Stanford University regarding the future of its library, and in essence the future of all libraries (see note). Our age of information has lessened the need for trips to an actual library, so financial and space constraints are forcing libraries to reconsider not only their function (what they do), but also their form (what they look like).

Concerning libraries, Drucker makes the statement, "Rather than envision a 'library of the future', it [the faculty plan at Stanford University] discusses the 'future of the library,' stressing continuity with an old entity rather than the creation of something brand-new. The distinction exposes what is at stake." While hardly a statement of worldview, Drucker does make a statement that dichotomizes two perspectives. This statement, applied to the church, may accurately describe the tension in church growth writing over the past 30 years. At the heart of the dilemma is whether or not believers envision a church of the future or worry about the future of the church. The latter naturally clings to contextualizing the traditions of the old while the former emphasizes the need for something completely new. As church leaders, I believe we must find ways to keep these perspectives from being on opposite ends of the church growth spectrum.

The function of the church must continue to be defined by Scripture, that of advancing the kingdom (I have intentionally left considerable denominational leeway in that statement). However, the form of the church, throughout history as always been culturally contextualized. These differences in perspective are not always generational, but I am reminded of an episode of Everybody Loves Raymond. Raymond, in seeking to gain his father's forgiveness for accidentally destroying jazz records thirty years ago, replaces the lost music with digitized cd versions. Raymond even bought a cd player so that his father could enjoy the clarity of the music he loved. The problem was that Frank (Raymond's father) wanted nothing to do with anything new. He simply wanted the old records back. He never gave the new medium a chance to prove itself, and opted instead, to continue to berate Raymond for destroying the albums in the first place.

Are we going to continue to complain about the lost mediums of ministry, or will we be willing to live out our faith in the newness of the changes in our culture? The Bible teaches us that even the gates of hell will not withstand the advances of the church (Matt 16:18). So I think I will not worry so much about the future of the church. Instead, I will try to think in terms of the church of the future.

Drucker, Johanna. "Blind Spots: Humanists must plan their digital future." The Chronicle of
Higher Education, 3 April 2009, sec. B, pp. 6-8.