The Church on The Horizon (part 1 of 4)

Ever since the 2018 GSS (General Social Survey) report, some have sounded alarms concerned about the health of the Christian church. Ryan Burge, in his book "The Nones," was the first to arrive on the scene. The concern was that the near future of the church, or the church on the horizon, was a dying church. Church leaders and researchers examined the decline of the church in Europe and began to notice similarities in the United States. The younger generations were not engaging the church like their predecessors. The COVID-19 pandemic made the problem worse at a time when the Western church was struggling with scandals, a surge of those deconstructing their faith, and the rise of the Exvangelicals. Some even claimed there was no hope that the Western church might rebound, citing a four-decade rise, from 5% to 23%, of individuals claiming no religion.

Photo by Emil Karlsen on Unsplash

Today, just a few years later, the alarm bells are silent. Life has returned to normal after the COVID-19 pandemic. Reports like the 2025 Pew Research "Religious Landscape Study" and "The Quiet Revival" from the UK Bible Society suggest that the church is not declining and may even be growing, leading many to suggest that the reports of the church's potential demise are gravely mistaken.  

The good news is that the Christian church isn't going away until Jesus returns! The not-so-good news is that the church on the horizon often looks a little pale, tired, and out of focus. It is good news when we hear reports that church attendance in the United States is not in decline, or that there is a quiet revival among men and Gen Z in the United Kingdom. It is not enough to fear negative trends or hope in positive trends. The church must revive, which means the church must change by reimagining and reembracing its forms and functions, reinventing the way it leads, and reinviting people to engage in the urgent mission of Jesus.

In this four-part miniseries, we will look at what it means to reimagine and reembrace the forms and functions of the church. Next, we will explore what leadership looks like for a group of people called to live lives of purpose. Finally, we will discuss mobilizing the church as a movement engaged in the urgent mission of Jesus.

I invite you to take a deeper dive into these discussions in my upcoming book, REVIVE: Leading Change – Igniting Movement. REVIVE launches on July 28th on Kindle and on July 29th in paperback. Pre-order your Kindle version today!

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