Seems like every where I go people ask, “What do you think the church will look like in the 21st century?” There's just one problem to answering such a question. People who try to predict the future are usually wrong, or are thought to be a bit mad. Because I don't want to be remembered as either, I am tempted to say that there is only one sure answer to such a sweeping question. “It will be different.”

However, I doubt if such an answer would be satisfying to those church leaders trying to anticipate the future. So with the knowledge that some may think the following remarks come from either an egotist or a deranged mind, I'll take a stab at anticipating what the 21st century church will look like.

Notice I did not say predict. I can only observe what is happening today and anticipate what might be in the future. Anticipation is one of the keys to this article. My intention is not to predict it. If we are able to anticipate the future with some degree of proficiency, we can develop several scenarios of how to address the future now, instead of simply reacting to it as it happens. Such an approach is more intuitive than logical and cannot be documented with hard facts.

The first intuitive place to start is to list briefly the major, seven global shifts I see underway today, that have never happened before in Protestant history, and that have a direct baring on how the effective 21st century church will carry out God's mission.

Shift One: Evolutionary change is giving way to revolutionary thresholds.

Shift Two: The machine oriented, command and control, world of the Industrial Age is giving way to the Organic oriented, permission giving world of Postmodernism.

Shift Three: Communication and education are being replaced by the visual, experiential, and interactive world of virtual reality.

Shift Four: Planet Earth is now one big, but not so happy, planet of individual tribes.

Shift Five: The emergence of a generation who reject the notion of ultimate value.

Shift Six: Rational thought, located in the individual self of the Enlightenment is being replaced by the intuitive, paradoxical, and emotional awareness of multiple selves.

Shift Seven: A new world language has emerged -- Rock and Roll in all of its derivations.

The second intuitive place to begin is to examine many of the existing thriving churches of today. In our recent book, Growing Spiritual Redwoods, Tom Bandy and I suggest that it is possible to get a glimpse of the future church by visiting some of the great churches of today. We called these churches -- Spiritual Redwoods.

In this article I have chosen to focus on what is one of the fastest growing churches in the U.S. In February of 1998, I had the privilege of seeing the results of all seven of these shifts while working at New Hope Christian Fellowship in Honolulu, Hawaii. In two and one half years the church has grown from zero to over 4,000 in worship not counting children. The average age is 32, not counting the children. It is clearly the largest Protestant church in the Hawaiian Islands.

The third intuitive place to begin is the realization that the 21st century is shaping up to be very much like the first century in which Christianity began (with the exception of the wild card, technology) ...

• a one world (known world) mentality,
• the crossroad of culture and commerce,
• wide gaps between the rich and the poor,
• a belief in many gods,
• and a people who believed in the supernatural.

Whatever the 21st century church is, it will be more like the first century church than the 20th century church. The Spiritual Redwood of the future will develop community in a much more pagan and superstitious world than the rational one on which we are now closing the book. This church will lead from the heart, not the head.

From these three vantage points, we can paint the following broad picture of the probable Spiritual Redwood of the 21st century. What follows is by no means a complete picture of the future church.

Changes are occurring so rapidly and radically that the Spiritual Redwood of the 21st century church will be flexible and organic in nature. Consider how many radical changes I have witnessed in my life time -- Quantum Physics, Television, Air Conditioning, Commercial air travel, Space Travel, Computers, the Internet, and the splitting of the Atom to mention only a few of the biggies.

Each one of these by itself represents evolutionary change. Taken together, they have caused change itself to shift gears. Changes are occurring so often and so close together that one fuels the other, setting off a chain reaction of immense proportions. Neither yesterday, today, or tomorrow will ever be the same. This is first time in history such a statement could be made. Such times require churches that can respond swiftly and rethink the “hows” and “whys” of ministry without losing site of their identity or mission.

For example: New Hope Church has never owned nor intends to own any property. They would rather put as much money as possible into training the laity. A strong case can be made that the 21st century church will be more like the early Israelites who carried the Ark around with them from place to place instead of building a temple. Those churches that do purchase land will do so in multiples of 100 and 200 acres such as is being attempted by the Community Church of Joy in Phoenix who has just moved onto their 200 acre site.

The organic nature of this church will cause it to avoid using quick fixes or the fade of the day. Instead it will organize around its DNA -- it's understanding of its mission; it will adapt faster than the culture changes; it will prune the dead wood (antagonists) who drain it of its spiritual power; it will graft itself onto weaker churches who seek its help; it will plant new churches who have its DNA; and it will not seek to prop up dead churches.

The 21st century church will be clear about its mission. With the collapse of a world where the church was at the center (Christendom), addressing the needs of non-Christians is as important, if not more important, than the needs of Christians. The primary goal of Spiritual Redwoods is already to transform people into growing, deepening disciples of Jesus Christ. The type of worship service will not matter as long as it creates an environment in which people experience an authentic encounter with God. The mission is around inviting the lost, growing disciples, and sending healthy people back into the world to change it.

While worshiping at New hope, it was clear that every thing they did was to develop transformed people who worshiped God in every aspect of life. Because they are clear about their mission, and imprint that mission on the hearts of their leaders, New Hope has the ability to operate as a gracious, permission giving church in which people are empowered to live out their personal gifts without having to ask for permission.

The shift from an emphasis on print to visual, experiential, interactive, and virtual is already changing the face of education and worship in the future church. Instead of delivering a talking-head sermon about some abstract God, pastors and their teams create an environment in which people experience the uncontrollable presence of the Holy Spirit.

New Hope Church, like so many Spiritual Redwoods I see, uses large screens, presentation software and video enhanced presentations of songs, sermons, and announcement, and overflow rooms with large screen televisions.

The use of such technology is not a fad as some think. Nor are they a perversion of the gospel, or entertainment, as some contend. They are merely the logical replacement for, or extension of, the printed word which no one would contend against its use today, but many did at the beginning of the Reformation. Hymnals and print curriculum as we know it will not be the primary form of communicating God's presence in the future.

What we see today is the tip of this iceberg. Within 10 years, Spiritual Redwoods such as Ginghamsburg UMC in Tipp City, Ohio will be using some form of holographic imagery in worship and virtual reality in educational settings and training events. Computers will become a common site in the classroom. Can anyone still believe that children will come to know God as well by sitting at a desk listening to a teacher read from printed curriculum as they would by visiting the Old and New Testament worlds through the vehicle of virtual reality?

Before you jump to conclusions, the purpose of worship will still be biblical even though style will be radically different from that which developed as a result of the Protestant Reformation. Christians and non-Christians still yearn for an experience with the Holy. They have never wanted to just be spectators. Spectator worship in all of its present forms will disappear because true worship always solicits a response for those who worship.

The 21st century church will be lead mostly by pastors who received their training on the field rather than in the seminary classroom.

The pastor of New Hope has never been to seminary. All of the New Hope pastors, many of whom are called Interns, are getting on the job training instead of seminary training. Bill Hybels, the pastor of the largest Protestant church in North America, has one semester of seminary.

Many others have received training by a pastor while on the staff of a church as an intern and then are sent out with the churches blessing and a very few dollars to plant a church. Others will attend a Bible college located in, sponsored by, and taught by the staff of a local church. My estimate is that two-thirds of the pastors of the largest churches in North America have never been to seminary. Around the globe, the percentage is much higher.

The globalization of the world is causing revolutionary transitions in the concept of missions and denominationalism. Local church missions will be global as well as local. New Hope's goal is to raise up and send out pastors to every island in the Pacific, including Japan. At present, they are on target to begin several new churches a year.

Denominationalism will be present, but not important. Those churches, like New Hope, that have denominational affiliations, will not flaunt the relationship. Instead they will see their role as a missionary to their denomination.

The paradox of the global world is that in order to succeed churches have to decentralize. The larger and more diverse these churches become, the smaller they think. Their primary method of delivering ministry is through autonomous teams. Instead of a command and control form of management, they encourage an environment of permission giving and creative chaos. In such a world, Robert's Rules of Order may not have much meaning.

These are just a few of the hints I am already seeing about the church of future. If such a picture is even a close approximation, many of us have some growing to do.

Bill Easum is president and senior managing partner of Easum, Bandy & Associates. EBA prepares congregations and faith-based organizations for mission in the 21st century by training innovative leaders with a passion to grow disciples of Christ, and provides resources, services, and networks to equip faithful and effective Christian ministries. For more information, call (361) 749-5364 or write to easum@easumbandy.com.

The article is reprinted with permission from Net Results, a monthly journal of “New Ideas in Church Vitality.” For more information or to subscribe, phone (806) 762-8094; fax 806/762-8873; e-mail netresults@netresults.org.