I just listened to the audiobook version of The Present Future: Six Tough Questions for the Church by Reggie McNeal while I was traveling to New Orleans last week. I would highly recommend this book to everyone on any side of the culture/church issue. I pulled this quote out of the book. Do you think, as McNeal does, that the institutional church as we know it is on life-support? What cause could we have for hope in the future of traditional congregations?
” The current church culture in 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 either when the money runs out (80% of money given to congregations comes from people aged 55 or older.) or when the remaining 3/4ths 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.”