The Coming Death of National Denomoinations, Part One – George Bullard’s Posterous.
While this is not “new” news, more people are pointing to it – denominations are going extinct and mostly doing it by their own choice. The economy has been a recent factor, but unlike natural selection, many denominations and congregations are choosing to be dinosaurs when they have the ability to adapt to the 21st Century. Despite the “faith of our fathers” defense and “taking a stand for pure doctrine”, the issue is not fidelity to the core confessions of the Christian faith – the issue is choosing particularly North American manifestations of Christianity as being normative for all times and all places. Whether its fundamentalist Evangelicalism or Protestant Liberalism/Activism, neither do much to create a coalition of program congregations rather than discipleship communities.
Until the denominations figure out what relational authenticity and faith formation for discipleship, the larger structure will decline and local congregations will be left to decide if they want to march off the cliff with the administration.
And some say I’m an optimist.