The Present Future: Six Tough Questions for the Church

I love this book. I ask my entire mission and worship committee to read it and had the name and ISBN # printed in our church news letter for the rest of the congregation. The author doesn't mince words. He wants to stop judging the success or failure of our churches and missions by the number of attendees. Stop talking the talk- without walking the walk. Stop trying to "fill the pews" and instead go out and show people what it means to have a personal relationship with the creator, God, Lord of all. The congregations in my region have been contemplating consolidating into one church building. This would allow them to put their people and money and efforts into one "pot" and thus offer more diverse programs, etc. I felt in my heart that this was not a good idea. "The Present Future" came into my hands during the period of time when I was praying for guidance on this issue. Mr. McNeal spoke to my concerns, and helped me see a new perspective. Suddenly I was able to see the,"cruise ship" mentality that a big church offers, with coffee shops, work-out areas, and varieties of programs and entertainment. The "church " becomes about the members and not about God. He talks about the "cruise ship" churches taking members from the smaller churches,("fishing from the same bathtub", as one minister in our area calls it). Mr. McNeal speaks to becoming missional churches. Going to where the people are, rather than wanting them to come to the church. He urges us to stop using "church speak" that an unchurched christian might not understand. It was in one of his first chapters when he talked of Christians who were leaving their churches to "preserve" their christianity that I realized this was an important book. I highly suggest reading,"The Present Future" as a resource for real christian, missional church growth.

If you are a church leader with your head in the sand, ignoring the postmodern revolution in our culture, or unwilling to change methods to communicate the message, you will not like Reggie McNeal. He will jerk you up by the neck and shout in your face to wake up and smell the coffee. This book is frightening for church leaders to read, but it is also highly motivating. The man knows what he is talking about, and we had better listen! So what is he talking about? He tries to get church leaders to understand that the modern culture is gone, the postmodern culture is here, and the church is quickly losing the next generation (although the generation is still interested in spiritual things). McNeal says that by asking how we can build a better church we are asking the wrong questions. The traditional church will continue to decline and even disappear, but the movement of Christ will survive and even thrive. McNeal urges Christians to shift from building the local church to extending the kingdom, to shift from wearing out church workers with church work to releasing them to infiltrate the culture with the gospel, to shift from "Bible study" to "spiritual formation" by applying the Bible to real life, to shift from planning to preparation, and to dare to train bold new leaders. I read this book quickly, in about two days. I want to go back and read over it again and again. This is a book to give to all of your church leadership team and have them read it and discuss it together-- you can be sure it will be a lively discussion that could revolutionize your church. On a personal note, I spent a day with Reggie McNeal and about two dozen pastors at a conference in Springfield, Georgia, and I found him to be just as stimulating and passionate in person. I was sharing with him about how we were running out of space for Sunday School classes, and he urged me that instead of thinking about building more classrooms, to have classes meet in local restaurants and garages and let the people's faith spill out and influence the unchurched people they will meet who come into the businesses on Sunday. He definitely thinks outside of the box.

Take a new look at all you do in at church, through the lens that Reggie McNeal provides. I've been trying to 'see' this way sincde reading The Present Future for the second time. It is frustrating to realize how church/club-oriented we are. Our structure and traditions are designed to meet the needs of the church (club) and not the needs of individuals. Now, we try to consider FIRST how we're impacting our community with the mission of Jesus, and how people's lives are being transformed; then consider how it affects the church. If we can make the transition, God will use us more effectively.

There was so much good stuff in this book, that I could practically underline everything I read. I was constantly shaking my head in silent laughter while at the same time nodding assent to the assertions made that how we Christians 'do church' must be re-evaluated and how that some long-held assumptions must be discarded. As a staunch local church advocate, it would have been easy, at first, to label the author as a loose-cannon with an authority problem (the pharisee within me was saying what's wrong with the way we do church ?? - the church in America has been cranking along just fine, thank you very much, for the last 200 years - why should we change ??)... but there's no denying that the church in America is changing - the younger generation does not learn the same way or see life in exactly the same light as do their grandfathers, yet we blindly 'do church' the same way we did it 50-60 years ago. By the way, how's that been working for ya?? Perhaps some will say it works just fine, but many of us are not finding that to be true. We tend to get wrapped around the axle with making the church grow (all to God's glory, of course - and it looks good on the resume) and making good church members (here's your new member packet detailing all the essentials you'll need to know on being a productive, obedient church member) verses encouraging members of the kingdom to have a vibrant love-relationship with Jesus, help them develop the gifts God has given them, and then turn them loose on the culture at large. No, we 'church people' initially tell them to "come just as you are", but once they're are in the church, we'll strap them with rules, regulations & obligations (i.e. attend all services & don't forget tithing!!). We teach them that we, as the leadership, know what's best for them, teach them to submit to leadership, how we'll decide when they're ready to be used, how we'll decide what the ministries they should or should not be involved in, teach them that all their energies are for 'serving the church' - almost a total focus within the four walls of the church building with only a glancing nod to the lost community around us. Reggie wants us to start thinking in 'Missional' terms vs 'club member' terms - to engage the community vs a 'hold the fort' mentality - that the church is indeed a place for pastors to equip the flock for ministry (please see Jesus as an example) - but that ministry must further the advancement of the Kingdom of God, not just the infrastructure of the local church. I can't recommend this book enough to jolt us from our complacent 'church as usual' philosophy. You may not agree with everything he writes, but Reggie will give you something new to think about. He asserts that old methods of doing church will not work for the 21st century church. We better wake up and smell the coffee in an age where the church is ever being pushed to the sidelines in the culture as irrelevant.

I am reading this book the second time as I write this review, not just because it is a book with good points and hard truths, but it is a book that will challenge your perspective on your personal views of the church, and will either leave you thinking what I can do to help the church move forward, or set you to think that that the church is too set in her ways to move forward anymore. Just let an unchurched person read this book too and see what he thinks about it. Just as Martin Luther nailed his thesis on the door of the church that started the reformation, this book is liken to Luther's thesis on the modern day institutional church, and the question is what we are going to do about it! This is a must read if you want to see what the next reformation for the church is to be like, but don't just read it, do something about it. McNeal warns from the start that if you like the church that you are in the way it is, then maybe this is not the book for you. What he writes is a hard pill to swallow, but it is one that we must. Reading it a second time, it feels like I am reading it for the first because it is like a "standard" to assess where the church is at. Will you be a "next reformation" Christian?