Failure or Change??

There can be no doubt that things are changing in the mainline Christian denominations in the UK, though that is nothing new. Talk of declining and ageing memberships has been around for over a century. However, there is a reasonable case to be made that things are getting to a critical place in many congregations.

It is also true that there are many new and exciting things happening. Words like missional, pioneer, fresh expressions and emerging are increasingly common in our conversation. So one of the questions to be confronted is as to how we should see things. As Steven Croft, "Jesus' People - What the Church Should Do Next?", published seven years ago now but still relevant - "As I have travelled the country over the last five years listening to how people read this changing situation, I have found two very different accounts being presented to me again and again of where we are and how we arrived. One focuses on failure and the other on change. I have come to the conclusion that the first is deeply flawed and the second much more hopeful."

I agree; but what that means is that we need to change.