A Peek at the Church of the Future

As a child in the 1930s, I loved reading Buck Rogers’s futuristic science fiction comic books (1929–67) about trips to the moon and outer space even though I knew they were pure fantasy.

Today, they are realities.

I suspect some of you when you finish reading this blog post will say, “This is pure fantasy!” For the past thirty years, I have been studying “the church of the future,” and here are my predictions:

1. The foundation will be based on Jesus’s concept of agape: love of Creation, neighbor, and self. The idea that he “died for our sins” (a negative concept) will become history and be replaced with unconditional love for all, mixed with lots of forgiveness for self and others and a tremendous amount of caring for those in the hurting world.
2. The church’s theology will be a thing of the past. A precise definition of God will be unnecessary because any definition is limited by humanity’s limitations.
3. It will be interfaith and ecumenical because love is the basic concept of almost every religion, and all people will be loved unconditionally no matter where they are on their life’s journey.
4. There will be all sorts of ministers, but almost all of them will work on a volunteer basis.
5. House churches will be developed. Their membership will be small (no more megachurches), so there will be no need for volumes of rules, regulations, and bureaucracies.
6. The Agape Church’s primary ministry will be outreach to society’s many different needs. It will train volunteers to minister to all kinds of people in all sorts of situations.
7. There will be no church buildings with expansive landscapes. In their place will be church centers that more resemble malls or strip malls. Instead of stores, these will house offices of nonprofit organizations whose mission is to reach out to the hurting community. These nonprofits will also be looking for volunteers as people will be looking for opportunities to work with others in need. Each center will have one or more large meeting rooms where groups gather to hold denominational as well as interfaith worship services, open to all. These community centers will also offer lectures, classes, and entertainment opportunities to the community at reasonable costs.
8. One of the organization’s functions will be training people to conduct nonviolent demonstrations for just causes. Peaceful demonstrations are one of the most useful ways to push for change in our society.
9. All these centers will be set up as nonprofit organizations and run primarily by people who understand business, nonprofits, dealing with volunteers, and writing and obtaining grants. No group will be saddled with mortgages and the costs of maintaining expensive real estate. The money to support these centers will be provided by the nonprofit groups housed in the facilities as well as income from others using the facilities.

I hope this gives you the big picture. I plan to go into more detail in future blog posts.

What think ye?

Peace Love Joy Hope Kindness

Bil

Photo courtesy of Photo by Erika Giraud on Unsplash