The Growing House Church Movement

If you have any doubt as to what the future church will look like, check out this article from the Daily Herald. The future is now. It has been estimated that millions of Gen-Xers are leaving the traditional churches of their parents and settling into house churches. House churches differ from the cell groups (also known as home groups, life groups, small groups etc.) of the 70's and 80's. They are not subgroups of local churches, but churches in and of themselves. Their attendance is rarely over a dozen people, but they are intimately connected and highly relational.

The article makes an interesting observation. Take away the baby boomers from your typical traditional church, and what do you have left? Most of the children of the baby boomers have deserted the churches of their parents. If the present "contemporary" church doesn't do something soon, the next generation will develop a new church expression parallel to the traditional church and eventually replacing it. This is not new, as the boomers did the same thing. They pretty much abandoned the church of their parents and created the present expression of "traditional" church. Out went the organs, and liturgy and in came the drums, electric guitars and casual atmosphere.

Traditional churches that will survive this trend are creating healthy small groups for people to join. These churches, although few in numbers, are growing at a healthy clip. They have found a way to tap into the need of the next generation and are successfully bridging them in. Each generation must make a commitment to creating new wineskins for new wine. After you read the article, post your own observations and thoughts.