Planting Churches Among the City's Poor - Volume 2

P ART II: C HURCH P LANTING T OOLKIT • 273

g. Trend #7: Finding true meaning – Americans accelerated openness to understanding themselves in terms of sacrifice and surrender, p. 47 3. These trends have unleashed a “massive shift in emphasis . . . Specifically, I expect that only about one-third of the popula tion will rely upon a local congregation as the primary or exclusive means for experiencing and expressing their faith; one-third will do so through alternative forms of a faith based community; and one-third will realize their faith through the media, the arts, and other cultural institutions,” p. 49. a. (Note: The family will remain the central conduit for faith experience and expression to only about 5% of the population!) b. “You don’t have to like this transition, but you must deal with it,” p. 50 (either defensively and negatively, or with the hope of learning, breakthrough).

4. God is active today in the midst of bringing about transformation through spiritual mini-movements .

a. They are reaching literally millions of people, p. 54.

b. They are diverse (e.g., home schooling, house churches, biblical worldview groups, marketplace ministries, spiritual discipline networks, Christian creative arts guilds, etc.).

c. They are flying below the radar screen of much popular Christian knowledge.

(1) Their numbers are small

(2) They are disorganized and disunited

(3) They are not connected to the local church, which is against the pervasive mindset of many that all legitimate spiritual activity must flow through a local church, p. 55.