Envisioning Christianity in a Post-Church Age

I recently caught Bruce Springsteen’s Magic tour down in Detroit. When he came out onto the totally blackened stage, he screamed, “Is anybody alive out there?…I said, Is anybody alive out there?”For him, that line was an obvious reference to his latest hit, “Radio Nowhere," which asks that very same thing in its oft’ repeated chorus. As a pastor and preacher in a very traditional church, I’ve often wanted to scream that “Radio Nowhere” line from the pulpit. “Is anybody alive out there?”

I’ve never done it…at least not yet. But I’ve always wanted to…because I’ve always wanted to know.

Or have I? I mean, do I really want to know the answer to that question? Can I “handle the truth?” to quote Jack Nicholson in A Few Good Men. It’s a scary thing to consider, isn’t it - whether the people to whom I - and countless other pastors - are pouring out our souls week after week are even alive enough to hear what we're saying, much less act upon or be changed by it.

As a pastor, I’ve struggled for years with the life and health of the Church. In so many ways, it seems like this institution with which I’ve always had a love/hate relationship is on life-support. When will it breathe its last breath? I guess it depends on whose predictions you buy into. But I’m pretty convinced that the Church’s last rites will be delivered in my lifetime. (I’m 46, so do the math.)

And so I’ve begun to spend more and more time trying to envision what communities of Christ followers will look like, once the Church, as we’ve always known it, is gone. I’m writing a book called The Way of Jesus: Reforming Communities in Christ’s Image, and I’ve created this blog – faith4tomorrow – because I want to connect with people who are willing to have this difficult but necessary conversation about the impending death of the Church and the nature of the resurrection that I hope will follow it.


Here are some of the questions I’m in the process of asking, questions for which I’d love to hear your answers…

What might Christian communities look like if they are not churches?

What is or should be at the core of a community that seeks to live like Jesus?

Can we even envision a community of Christians that exists without a building – NOT just temporarily without a building but permanently without a building?

What kind of Christian community would genuinely attract the authentically “spiritual but not religious” and others who have written off the Church?


I hope you will join me in this conversation and spread the word to anyone you know who might be interested in such an open-ended, exciting journey. You can learn more about me by visiting my website at www.booksandbridges.com or checking out my previous book, The Gospel According to Rock.