I dislike movies that deal with time-travel. I get confused very quickly. I can never enjoy the plot while a mountain of questions fills my mind. If someone goes back in time, is the past their past or their future? Does the present change when altering significant events, and if so, how does this change our memories? Does altering the past create a new timeline? And what about travelling into the future? Can you even travel into the future? Does the future even exist? Does seeing the future mean it is written and predetermined, or can we still exercise free will?

Even now I’m getting a headache.

I bring this up because the other day someone asked me, “How are you preparing for the church of the future?  It took me a while to articulate a response, mostly because I had to piece together what was being asked. When someone refers to the “the church of the future” what exactly is being referenced?  Is the future church lying behind some hidden veil, with only the faithful keen able to discern its shape? Is the future church equal to my preferences or is it dependent upon societal trends and demographic shifts?

Throughout my years in ministry, I’ve seen the church try all sorts of programs and ideas with this thought in mind. If we strike the right balance between system and strategy, we will prepare for the future church. I remember one church in my area attempting a flurry of innovative services like the U2charist, the Seussarist, and the BeyonceMass. The rhetoric behind such endeavors was that the next generation of Christian people aren’t attracted to traditional worship or passe liturgical forms, they need creativity and innovation. Yet these one-off events never build lasting relationships. Has anyone ever joined a church because the Eucharistic prayer rhymed like The Cat in the Hat?

What exactly is the church of the future? Is it a church with drums and guitars, synth machines and strobe lights? If so, then let’s jettison the organs and ditch the choir robes. Does the future church even meet in church buildings anymore? If not, let’s sell our properties, invest our funds, and wait for the day when the new church arrives.  Of course, many people relate the future church to the existence and participation of young people. But is the future church a church of young people? Because time-travel is fickle, and the young people today will be the old people of the future, so who exactly are we referring to?

The point is we do not embrace the future church by cracking some secret code of ministerial success. The future church is not dependant on inventive ministries or demographic targeting. These things rarely have any effect beyond superficial intrigue. Trying to prepare for some amorphous abstraction called ‘the future church’ is nothing more than guess work. Moreso, it takes our focus off what the Spirit of God is doing today.

The fact is, we can get so busy trying to plan for the church of the future that we fail to engage the church of today. We can get so preoccupied by trying to address the future needs of the future church that we never address the people or issues around us. When we really think about it, the future church can only be built upon the strength of todays church. Thus, it is not the future church that we should prepare for. Instead, we should put our time, effort, and energy into responding to God’s activity in our midst.

The future church can only emerge from a church today that dares to recognise Christ is in their midst. When we are open to the Christ’s presence, and the work of the Spirit, then our worship and witness become authentic and attractive. We naturally engage in new forms of ministry as the Spirit’s leads us. As we respond to the Spirit we begin to reach out to our communities in sensitive and practical ways. This, in turn, becomes interesting to those around us.

It is the actions of the church today that determine who we will be in the future. The future church is not contingent upon present-day spiritual fads. The future Christian community can only emerge from a community today that remains steadfast in faith, hope, and love. This is the ministry we are called to and the life we are to live.