The Times They are a Changin: Part Two
The first part of this blog was posted on September 19 of this year. I’m a bit late in adding Part Two, but better late than never.
The story of my first book, The Church Growth Handbook, is amusing. It took five years to get it published in 1990 because as the publisher said “We don’t think there is room for anymore books on church growth.” Can you believe that? In 1985-1999 there wasn’t room for any more church growth books! I would guess today there are more books written about how to grow a church in one year than in all of the decade of the 80’s.
My best-selling book to date was published in 1993, and continues to sell- Dancing With Dinosaurs. In this book I made some comments and predictions about the future. I made the following comments about what I saw happening over the next ten years. All of them have become true.
- We were reaching the end of the effectiveness of adult Sunday School. The official women’s organization of the Southern Baptist Church used the book a year or two later for their “study of the year” and the fir flew. I wish I had kept some of the not-so-nice comments I received.
- Small groups were becoming the future discipling method of the church. At the time there were a few books out about small groups and most new churches were still pushing adult Sunday School. Today, most church plants, including new Southern Baptist churches, prefer small groups that meet in homes over adult Sunday School. Websites such as http://smallgroups.com/ are now popular sites.
- The style of worship is drastically changing in growing churches. Just check out the church I attend off and on- Bay Area Fellowship. Concert driven worship is now prevalent in just about every thriving church in the U.S.
Now we are entering a dangerous, yet exciting, period in church history. Things are underway (church planting and multiple sites) that could spell a religious awakening AND things are underway (terrorism and nuclear threats) that could spell trouble for institutional Christianity. Either way God and the Church will do well; but I do have worries for democracy.
Anyway, keep a sharp eye out for the yin and yang described in the above paragraph.