The Church isn't dying, it's just under 40

Last night at our Pub Theology entitled "Church for the Under 40 Crowd,” we discussed the ways the Xers, Millennials, and “Boomlets” are positioned to change the Church. We thought about the particulars of being under 40 at this time and place, and our relations to the Church. We then went on to dream about what the “Next Church” will look like.

And somewhere along that ride we came to the conclusion that the Church isn’t dying (contrary to what many experts both inside and outside the Church will say), it’s just dealing with all the same stuff that the under 40 crowd is dealing with—wage stagnation and instability of all kinds, most notably unstable schedules.

We concluded that the best thing pastors can do (as opposed to run after each new fad or become the new hyper-manager/cruise director) is to be with the people pastorally through every change. Also, congregations ought to do more “one off” events, fully aware that some of them will fail and that's okay.