What will the church of 2022 look like? It is a question we posed to our designers after speaking with pastors and leaders across the country. In our future-focused conversations with the people on the front-lines, we heard words like: missional, multi-site, poly-site, shared, immersive, urban, global, simple, palette, incubator, narrator, aircraft carrier, community center, epicenter, launching pad, middle ground, flexible, digital, scalable, sustainable, efficient, connection and connected.
The designers heard what the pastors had to say, then went to work. The teams divided into different groups each with its own challenge. The Flexible Church team worked to develop a concept that would be easily adaptable over time. The Found Church team was tasked to find something easy and scalable that could be set up anywhere at any time. The Global Church team was tasked at creating something affordable and adaptable to the needs of under-resourced countries. The Re-Birthed Church team was tasked to breathe life into old church buildings centered in neighborhoods. And the Urban Church team was charged with coming up with solutions for the hearts of our cities.
Jae Lee, Tom Greenwood, Rick DelMonte, Michael Kaiser, Jayson Kabala, John Jacobson, Ik Joo Lee, Scott Sumsion, Abigail Steck, Mark Mathews, David Holt
The results–quite frankly–surprised us. They are wildly creative, meet needs, are viable, and just within reach. We hope you will join in the dialogue as we continue to explore.
