Current Church Culture

From The Present Future by Reggie McNeal.

The current church culture in North America is on life support. It is living off the work, money, and energy of previous generations from a previous world order. The plug will be pulled when either the money runs out (80 percent of money given to congregations comes from people aged fifty-five and older) or when the remaining three-forths of a generation who are institutional loyalists die off or both.

Please don't hear what I am not saying. The death of the church culture as we know it will not be the death of the church. The church Jesus founded is good; it is right. The church established by Jesus will survive until he returns. The imminent demise under discussion is the collapse of the unique culture in North America that has come to be called "church". This church culture has become confused with biblical Christianity, both inside the church and out. In reality, the church culture in North American is a vestige of the original movement, an institutional expression of religion that is in part a civil religion and in part a culb where religious people can hang out with other people whose politics, worldview, and lifestyle match there. As he hung on the cross, Jesus probably never thought the impact of his sacrifice wold be reduced to an invitation for people to join and to support an institution.

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