Mark Sayers lays out a concise picture of the current "fractures" of the "church that is emerging". Jonny questions whether they are truly fractures or networks. I agree with Jonny, that while the distinctions are appearing (as expected) as proactivity replaces reactivity - as prescription replaces description - there is another dynamic that is larger than the sum of its parts.
First, in the future, there will be those who live in the inbetween, those who are acknowldged as part of the "body of Christ" but lurk in the space between the church that is and the church that is to come. They will be John the Baptists who by their very presence call us beyond orthodoxy and orthopraxy to orthoparadoxy (the mysterious "thin" space where right thinking meets right practicing). They will increase in number and legitimacy. They are the Brian McLarens, the Pete Rollinses, and the Bono's.
Second, we are all being asked to do more with less and discovering in the process that less IS more. What does this mean for church? Most of the world is saying less church is more church...unless it is "my" church, "my" pastor (read "personal chaplain").
Lastly, we must recognize the change in the role of clergy. In the US, pastor and priests arrived as "renaissance men" - scholars, civic leaders, philosophers, and historians, and congregants were students. Last century gave us pastors and priests as CEO's, and congregants were employees. This century will yield pastors as designers and artists who create safe but energizing environments for people to discover and renew themselves as creators and curates. They will transcend traditions and cross polinate as artists do. It's a merger of Pixar and Invisible Children with liturgy.
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