What Future, Church?

When I posted Structuring for Discipleship last Monday, I thought 80 people might read it. Instead, it’s the most-read post on the blog this year (not that I’ve written many!) with more than 400 post views and more than 80 social media shares. Leaving aside email-only and RSS readers, more than one out of five people that read Structuring for Discipleship shared it. I’ve never seen that ratio before. When I pushed “publish” I felt like a voice crying in the wilderness. But apparently I was wrong – I’m less alone than I imagined.

I’m so encouraged by how many of you care about 21st century discipleship that I’m making a new resolution with this blog. I want to do more to encourage and equip people who care about the church’s future, with a continuing focus on the Episcopal Church. I will be posting more resources and how-tos, thinking strategically out loud, inviting you to observe my experiments, and generally trying to pay more attention here. (Nobody’s scheduled to be out of town for a while!) I think about this stuff all the time anyway, and if I can help you while I do, I pray the ministry of Christ will be extended.

So, first, thank you for reading, sharing, and letting me know that these words make a difference.

And now, let me

— oops, I mean, let me offer an invitation.

I’m going to start reading the latest book from the Pew Research Center, and if you want to read along, I’d love to have you join me. It’s called The Next America: Boomers, Millennials, and the Looming Generational Showdown. Doesn’t that sound like fun?

This isn’t Lenten reading – it’s just plain, ordinary reading, although there will probably be occasions to lament our sin. I don’t know anywhere in the church that demographic information is shared and discussed (do you?) so I thought I’d offer one. After all, everything we do is about people, and the “people situation” in the United States is changing rapidly.

I’ll give you a couple of weeks to get the book – it was just published on March 4th, so it should be available at libraries and bookstores. (Those are affiliate links up there – it would be sweet of you to click one!) We’ll begin the week of Monday, March 24th and end at the summer solstice, for no particular reason.

I’ll post a summary of the chapter and my thoughts about strategic implications for the church early in the week. As you read along I hope you’ll share your thoughts in the comments. If you don’t want to read along, you’re still welcome to comment on the summary and what others have shared. Of course, we’re looking for civil dialogue here.

I hope this won’t be the only posting I do on this site – I have a list of post topics about 40 items long, and projects that are in process that I’d love to share. So, as much as life allows, I’ll be here to encourage and inform.

Meanwhile, may God bless you with a fruitful Lent.