5 Prescriptions for Building Thriving Churches

I do not consider myself a prophet or a futurist. I am a local church pastor who longs to see the good news of Jesus permeate the church and transform our world from this day until Jesus comes again.

As I focus on the future of the church, I write with humility and hope. These five reflections are not meant to be predictive but optimistically prescriptive. I have a suspicion that our changing world needs a church that will look both the same and very different from the church of the past. My prayer is that these reflections help you dream and work toward a future where the spread of the gospel actually increases and expands in the church and the community around us.

1. Become a Multigenerational Church.

For most of the history of the church, congregations were made up of all generations. Small, medium and larger churches worshiped with the whole family of God. The movement toward separating everyone by age group is fairly new. Children, teens and even young adults can be part of a local congregation for years or a lifetime and never worship God with anyone other than their own specific age group. One of the sad results of this is watching many young adults walk away from the church when we finally invite them to be part of the whole family.

My prayer is that churches will still meet the needs of each unique age group, but that we will invite all ages to worship together. Once a young person can actually engage in praising God, why not plan services that touch all generations? In addition, embracing cross-generational discipleship where we invite mature believers who are parents, grandparents or singles to invest in the lives of people younger than them can be powerful.

Is it possible that one way to draw the next generation to Jesus and connect them in the family of God is to stop isolating them in groups of people who are all the same age? What if we planned dynamic age-based experiences and also were intentional about connecting the whole family of God in worship, discipleship and fun life experiences?

2. Resource Parents and Families to Be Disciplers.

Many parents who bring their children to church (or drop off their kids at church) have this erroneous idea that an hour or two of religious training will have a meaningful impact on their child.

Think about this: There are 168 hours in a week. Two hours of church stuff is just over 1% of the week. How in the world can the input of a pastor, youth leader or Sunday school teacher have a lasting and life-changing impact when 98.5% of their time is full immersion in family, media, school, friendships and more? To be clear, the Holy Spirit does use these moments to impact the next generation when they are in church, but there needs to be much more.

Imagine a future where the church sees a partnership with parents as a key part of their ministry. What would it look like if pastors and Sunday school teachers offered meaningful resources to parents and grandparents so that the home could become a place of spiritual training? What if youth leaders saw parents as partners in ministry to young people? The truth is, parents should always be the senior partners in the spiritual growth of their kids. When a youth leader spends time weekly connecting parents to resources for spiritual growth, we are moving toward a hopeful future.

3. Celebrate Smaller Community Churches.

Throughout church history, most congregations have been smaller and localized. Before online services everyone gathered together, and everyone in most churches meant 50 to 100 people. Guess what? This is still the case today. Very large churches can be a wonderful gift. Most churches in the U.S. and globally are still relatively small. It is time for us to celebrate the power and impact of small churches.

Evangelistic power is not based on church size. It is impacted by prayerfulness, faithfulness, friendliness, commitment to sound doctrine, focus on the community and not just those who are in the church, service in Jesus’ name, clear proclamation of the gospel, and more. None of these things are based on the size of a congregation.

“The only hope for the future church is to embrace and express both grace and truth like our Savior did.”

Sadly, many pastors of smaller churches feel guilty because they are not a “big church.” Many members of smaller churches feel like something is wrong with their congregation. They all hear so much about larger churches that they think they are falling short. But the truth is, small churches should be celebrated and blessed. As they passionately worship God, faithfully disciple believers and winsomely reach out to lost and wandering sheep, their community can be transformed. God is on the move through small churches, and we need to rejoice in this.

4. Embrace the Reality of Diaspora Churches.

We are one church in many locations. When the apostle Peter wrote to the church in his first epistle, he was addressing the exiles in the dispersion. The people of God were scattered due to the political and cultural turmoil they were facing. In a similar way, churches of all sizes today are often dispersed around a community, region or the country.

With the advent of worship, small groups, spiritual growth opportunities and more all available online, we are a dispersed people. It might not be ideal, but it is the reality. When I preach on a Sunday morning, I know that a woman named Sharon is watching from over an hour’s drive away. She moved to be near her family, but Shoreline is still her church home. I can look into the camera and know that a dear brother who is a cancer survivor is still very cautious about COVID-19. He lives near the church building, but for now, he worships online from home. I can picture specific military families who have been moved from Monterey to places in the world where there is not a strong Christian church, so they stay at Shoreline from the other side of the world. They are dispersed, but still part of a local congregation.

5. Build Grace and Truth Churches.

Jesus came in grace and truth. He expressed and extended compassion, tenderness, love and deep forgiveness. He also brought a body of unchanging truth that brings light, life and hope. Grace without truth is mushy sentimentality. Truth with no grace leads to dogmatic legalism. The only hope for the future church is to embrace and express both grace and truth like our Savior did when he walked on this planet.

We are in a time when grace is in short supply and people talk a lot about “my truth” but not about the truth. As followers of Jesus, we can never neglect either grace or truth. When our churches express tender and gentle grace toward broken people but still hold to the truth of Scripture without blushing or apologizing, we can minister like Jesus did. This will actually open the door for evangelism.

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Kevin Harney
Kevin Harneyhttp://KevinGHarney.com

Kevin Harney (KevinGHarney.com) is an Outreach magazine contributing editor, lead pastor of Shoreline Church in Monterey, California, and the founder and visionary leader of Organic Outreach International (OrganicOutreach.org). He is the author of the Organic Outreach trilogy and, most recently, Organic Disciples: Seven Ways to Grow Spiritually and Naturally Share Jesus, in addition to multiple studies and articles.

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