TWENTY FIRST CENTURY CHURCH
Envisioning a United Global Worship as Described in Revelation 7:9
The ultimate vision is a "casual non-membership group of people"[1] from every nation, tribe, people group, and language gathered to worship the Triune Creator God of Heaven and Earth. How can we begin to experience this divine assembly in our current age? At Indiana Wesleyan University, we believe it starts not by expanding our influence but by being faithful stewards of the Gospel, guided by the Holy Spirit to nurture what Christ will accomplish through His Church.
21st Century Church: The Epiphany Amid the Cacophony
The 21st-century Church is envisioned as a diverse, creative, and Christ-glorifying community. While reaching out across cultural boundaries is inherent to our mission, prioritizing genuine diversity poses a more significant challenge. Often, churches focus inwardly or adopt a preservationist stance, potentially leading to stagnation. The decline in church attendance and closures across North America, with estimates suggesting as many as 100,000 churches may shut their doors, underscores this issue.[2] A pivotal 2023 study revealed that confidence in organized religion plummeted from 65% in 1973 to just 31% in 2022, reflecting a deep-seated need for renewal.[3]
However, we believe Christ Jesus alone can restore faith and inspire creativity across communities. The 21CC initiative is dedicated to serving Christ Jesus in His healing and restorative mission.
Learning from the Future
Projecting ourselves into the future, we see a Church that has mastered an "outside-in" approach, focusing first on the needs of those around us. This shift towards being other-centered is critical for authentically sharing the Gospel. The 21CC initiative supports creating alongside others, not merely for them, engaging in strategic alliances across various sectors to empower and equip stakeholders to realize their creative potential. This global vision extends to enhancing our students’ abilities to thrive in a dynamic, technology-driven world, addressing ethical challenges, and preparing ministers to lead vibrant, economically sustainable communities.
Embracing Human-Centered Innovation
Leadership in the 21st-century Church will excel by adopting a human-centered design approach to deepen compassion and understand local and global community needs through empathetic listening, cultural interpretation, and participatory action research. This approach leverages collective intelligence for environmental restoration and socioeconomic improvement, preparing our communities for Christ’s return.
Restructuring for Sustainable Innovation Economies
What worked in the past may not suffice for the future. To counter spiritual stagnation and evangelistic lethargy, we must cultivate a deeply rooted and interconnected spiritual ecosystem. This includes keeping pace with rapid advances in the innovation economy across sectors like technology, media, and higher education. The 21CC initiative aims to foster relational proximity among churches, ministries, local talents, and businesses, facilitating a collaborative platform for addressing societal needs related to freedom, justice, environmental stewardship, family support, and workplace integrity.
Moreover, recognizing every individual as a creator within the talent exchange economy and providing access to emerging technologies will be pivotal. The creative economy is booming and is predicted to constitute 10% of global GDP by 2030.[4] Understanding and integrating into this economy is crucial for the Church’s relevance and mission.
Innovation as a Mission Strategy
Finally, enhancing the Church’s capacity for innovation involves adopting problem-solving, Christ-centric approaches that are community-oriented. The 21CC offers frameworks for designing organizational cultures that prioritize innovation, agile pedagogical methods, and strategic mission planning that is adaptable and responsive to the volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) world we navigate.
1 See Johannes P. Louw and Eugene Albert Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Semantic Domains (New York: United Bible Societies, 1996), 119, for an interpretation of “great multitude” in Rev 7:9-10 (ESV).
2 See, “Thousands of churches will likely close down. What happens to all that real estate?” https://religionnews.com/2024/03/15/thousands-of-churches-will-likely-close-down-what-happens-to-all-those-buildings/, accessed April 26, 2024. The question is raised whether we would have the same reaction to churches closing as compared to hearing that 100,000 schools or libraries were closing down in the United States over the next few years.
3 “How much….,” https://www.statista.com/statistics/245474/confidence-of-americans-in-organized-religion/........
4 “How much…., https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2023/05/16/how-the-growing-creative-economy-will-soon-devour-the-real-economy/?sh=2c06fb9a74bc