The Successful Church in the 21st Century
The successful church of the 21st Century will be a church of many colors. It’s membership will consist of peoples from every nation, every tongue, and every color. It will draw it’s theology from all the worlds great spiritual traditions, finding commonalties instead of focusing on differences. It will incorporate these commonalties of religious tradition into it’s own unique ideology, ritual, and practice. A successful church of the 21st Century will, thus be, truly Interfaith and not just simply Interdenominational.
A successful church of the 21st Century will be a place of spiritual learning and discovery. It will be a gathering point for all members of the community. It will promote the development of individual theology rather than enslave it’s members with the burdening yoke of archaic doctrines and meaningless rituals. Such a church will be a home for both rich and poor, young and old, firm and infirm. It will be a physical place in which people meet people but, more importantly, a place in which human spirits meet human spirits.
The successful church of the 21st Century will be a place for the gathering of family, meaning, both family in the traditional sense and family in the nontraditional sense. It will be a place in which traditional couples commit to each other and it will also be a place in which nontraditional couples commit to each other. It will be a place for ALL people and, thus, the successful church of the 21st Century will be a place of INclusiveness and not one of EXclusiveness.
A successful church of the 21st Century will actively and purposefully reach out to the excluded, to the marginalized, and to the cast out in global society. It will reach out unto both “saint” and “sinner” alike. It will be a place of rejuvenation and refuge for the tired and hopeless. And such a church will be a great beacon of Light in a world that is becoming increasingly dark.
The successful church of the 21st Century will address the issues which concern peoples daily lives and the issues which concern the world at large. Clergy in such a church will come down out of their ivory towers realizing that “yes” they are in the world but not of the world BUT they must be proactive in the world nevertheless. The spiritual leaders of such a church in the 21st Century will not run and hide their heads in the sand but they shall stand courageous as they stand up for the rights of every human being on the face of planet earth.
The successful church of the 21st Century will incorporate both modern and new music. It will draw both from tradition and non-tradition. It will mix the old with the new and the new with the old. It will draw it’s teachings from not only the old but also from the new revelations because it will very much realize that spirituality and spiritual growth, like creation, are ongoing things not yet finished.
Finally but not lastly, The successful church of the 21st Century will be a place for giving, sharing, and for taking. It will stay far from a place of hoarding. It’s clergy will be true ministers and shepherds, both meaning, “teacher” and not “overlord”. It will be a holy and sacred place and it shall be a place overflowing with spiritual enlightenment and unconditional love. And in such a church of the 21st Century there shall be no fear because in such a place the universal Law of Love shall be truly active.
This is the church that will emerge in the 21st Century. This is the church that will survive into the next millennium and the next. Prejudice and exclusion shall have no place in it. Hatred and self righteousness shall find no where to hide within it. Greed and deception will flee from it and such a church will lead humanity into a true Brotherhood and Sisterhood of Light.
To some of you this may seem but only a simple fantasy but alas it is already dawning in many churches, temples, mosques, and synagogues all around the world:
