Why are there so many different kinds of churches and is that a good thing? Aren’t we all just shooting for the same goal?

A Fuller Seminary School of World Missions professor that I had in the 1980s used to say when talking about churches and reformation and renewal. “It’s easier to have a baby than it is to raise the dead…” I think because of the seemingly easier path of just starting over, there are many times that we in the church world have simply jumped into starting something new, rather than doing the hard work of changing an existing unhealthy structure or system. Entrepreneurs, reformers, pioneers, and reactionaries are always creating new or different churches. As a result, we have hundreds of them starting all the time.

What starts with a dream or a vision, or a clear set of absolutes can, over time, shift as the realities of building a church set in. When someone comes from a certain type of church, with already established infrastructure, denominational support, accountability, or resources, those people can somewhat romantically think that just opening up immediately creates a “church” Instead, God, in His mercy to the initial team and in His desire to see people actually transformed through a new mission, usually slows down the results enough to do work IN the church planting team almost more than He is doing work THROUGH the church planting team. When this more foundational character formation and purification of core values takes place, the team and leadership have some real questions to answer. For instance: “What is the most important thing about this new church?” “What do you value so much that you will give up other things to see this value come to life?” “What is it in you that needs to be given up, to see God move in this vision?” “What unique thing is God calling this new church to?” “Are you running to a vision, or away from a problem?”

When people start out thinking about beginning a church, they may have an idea about what they want it to be, and it may turn out way different than they intended. Certain types of churches have strengths and weaknesses. Each type is imperfect because it is made up of imperfect people. What happens over time is not always intentional. Pastors who begin with humility and pure motive can get hurt. Or, a church can become more successful than its leaders’ character is ready to become. Leaders can offend one another or still be reactive in certain situations. Churches are sociological Petri dishes, growing all sorts of experimental viral interactions, some fantastic, some toxic and harmful. All the while, God’s desire to connect people to Himself and bring people into the family is going to keep happening. Sometimes we can misinterpret people being reached or touched, in God’s mercy, for approval of our methods or character. If a leader and the core people are not intentionally staying connected to the center set of values and priorities and structurally limiting themselves in areas where they can get off course, the enemy will work to create seeds of weakness inside every new church effort. Over time, these weaknesses can affect the mission and intent, and the enemy has succeeded. In this long discussion, I will go through eleven types of churches, and six hybrid types of churches that I think have developed in our culture today. See if you can identify the churches you have attended. It could be a hybrid of many models, so look toward the end to find out hybrids. There are some closing remarks at the end. This is a long read, so come back and visit when you have time to unpack each type:

Attractional Churches:  Seeker/Needs/Culture

These churches mainly focus on attracting groups of people, if possible, to reach them. They use several different ways to attract crowds, and hopefully, get them a connection to God. I think the events of Pentecost or some of Paul’s sermons to different places perhaps is a factor in building this kind of model. There is emotional and sociological power in people being around one another, focusing on or celebrating an idea. Sporting Events are a great example. People want to attend a winning team’s big events partially because of the environment and the emotional power of the crowd. In an attractional church, the hope is that people begin to connect somehow, and community develops. These churches can be great front doors for people coming to Christ.

• Cultural Interface Attractional Churches (Progressive and Evangelistic) – These churches are built to attract certain people. They are usually built around some cultural bridge to those types of people. They can be oriented around several cultural interfaces or laser-focused on just one specific culture.
  • Progressive Culture – less emphasis on personal salvation/atonement/law/Biblical authority. More emphasis on adjusting worldview and paradigms
    • LGBTQ – Focus on love and relationship as high value / Identity as accepted / re-interpret orthodoxy
    • Social Issues / Justice / Systemic and Class Sin / Oppression
    • Unchurched/Universalists – all-loving God addressing shame as a bigger issue than sin
  • Un/DeChurched Culture – geared toward salvation with less emphasis on sin/money/politics.  Focus on relating to Un/De-Churched and building acceptance bridges from church to these cultures
• Worship can be more self-focused, with a combination of acknowledgment of one’s situation along with declarations of victory over difficulty.  Occasionally, worship will focus on an attribute of God but is usually framed in how that affects people.
• Show/Event-Driven Attractional Churches – these churches spend many of their resources on the weekend experience and the presentation events. Innovation is primarily in the area of new and unique ways to attract more people.
  • Music – stylistically consistent – stars on stage
  • Speakers/Messages are key:  Either inspirational or therapeutic/practical
  • Gathering Focus for Events
• Program / Felt Need Attractional Churches – these churches use specific felt needs in a community to attract to the events. Whether focusing on kids in a suburban, young family area, or other needs, these churches spend their resources building needs fulfillment into their attractional model.
  • Kids Programming Focus
  • Age-Specific Programming Focus
  • Affinity/Common Interest Groups as attractions
• Strengths:
  • Good access point for the de-churched or un-churched
  • Programming around felt needs connects with the community
  • Outward focused on certain aspects of church
  • Good initial serving opportunities around events and gatherings
• Weaknesses:
  • Too much initial connection, not enough relational transformation
  • Missional only for increasing attendance at their attractions
  • Weaker Discipleship
  • Biblical Leadership Development may suffer as only initial significant roles are supporting events and gatherings.
  • Business / Management Style diminishes pastoral care or individuality.
  • Difficult to adjust and change because of the programmatic and stylistic inertia.
  • Smaller expressions of this style are not as compelling, driving the size need up because this model is largely built on the crowd adding credibility to the message.  An attractional model that doesn’t attract doesn’t work.
  • There is a temptation to place a higher value on certain Spiritual gifts, and the church can be lacking in valuing certain Spiritual fruits.
  • The way in is the way on. If cultural acquiescence took place to get them in, is there authority to later call for the transformation of either behavior or wrong beliefs?
  • Reaching/Outward focus can neglect the internal needs of already attending members.

Missional Churches

These churches are all about whatever mission or cause they identify and coalesce around. Whether it be evangelistic or some other missional focus, To be a part of a missional church, a person will always know what everyone is about and what they value.

• Evangelism Focus Missional Churches
  • Living out a calling to save the world – Emphasis on each person’s calling to go and make disciples.
  • Personally calling members to share their faith in the marketplace – Emphasis on training evangelists.
  • Messages either geared toward salvation or toward calling believers to “go” – Huddle for mission purposes.
• Relief/Cause Missional Churches
  • Serving the Community/City with practical support – Programs geared at needs outward.
  • Local Direct Aid or programs for the disadvantaged – Unconditional Giving away
  • Relief or Cause Ministries primarily directed outward – Solving an ill / Rescuing a victim / Going on mission together.
• Corporate gatherings can focus worship on God’s call to go, our mandate to reach, or our responses to those calls.
• Nation / World / Cross-Cultural Focus Missional Churches
  • Sending/Supporting Missionaries
  • Local Focus on refugees
  • World-Wide Church Planting
  • Strategic Local Church Planting Focus
• Strengths
  • Good outward focus
  • Great Commission Emphasis
  • Community is built around a strong shared missional theme.
  • People are called to be outside themselves, and others focused.
• Weaknesses
  • Focusing outward too much can neglect the internal “one another” aspect of a church community.
  • Can create a performance culture about being used by God as the basis for value.
  • An outward focus can neglect actual transformational discipleship in the seeming successes of the missional reach.
  • Relationships and recruiting can become utilitarian rather than the goal – I need you. Therefore you are my friend.
  • The end can justify any means – the risk of integrity mismatch justified by achieving missional goals. Yes – we stepped on a few people and hurt them, but we were on a mission to accomplish this important Godly goal.

Sacramental/Liturgical Churches

• Maintaining and Protecting the Sacredness of the Traditional Historical Experience
  • Mainline Denominations – continued focus on their heritage and returned to successful reformation traditions.
  • Catholic Experiences – connected to the powerful centralized message as “the church.”
  • Orthodox Experiences – counterclaim as the true unadulterated church
• Worship is ordered and focused on reliving previous experiences that have become traditions.
• Stuck Churches Holding on to the Past.
  • Previous revivals started church movements that stayed in their form – Thinking that form and practice brought the revival or awakening.
    • Sects:  Amish/Mennonites/Anabaptist – Staying in a culturally protected time warp that is needed to stop the outside influences of cultural decay
    • Pentecostals / Charismatics – Continuing the form that originally brought the Spirit and longing to go back to a time where God moved. Hence, sticking to a liturgical formula, albeit in a more contemporary form than mainline/Catholic/etc.
    • Prophetic / Latter Rain Movements – the passion of past prophetic calls to anticipate a future outpouring builds faith, then continues to repeat a pattern of hearing a prophetic projection about a future outpouring that builds faith. At the same time, keeping the original form and structure to the passion while simply replacing the prophetic vision with a new one.
• Strengths
  • Predictability and Stability – Usually a measure of sameness from church to church
  • Certain experiences have holy echoes – Remembrances from historical Spirit-infused times.
  • Generational Connectedness – Families and family stories keep people.
  • Structurally and Governmentally Stable and Predictable
  • Reformation History Churches usually have institutional openness and accessibility to governance because of the rejection of the closed, hierarchical models their denominations reformed.
• Weaknesses
  • Form over effectiveness
  • Tradition is the highest value.
  • The mission is the protection of form rather than outcomes.
  • Minimal cultural awareness that can border on cultural animosity.
  • Structural and governance rigidity also can be a hindrance to the mission.

Relational Churches

• Teaching/Ministry geared toward a vertical relationship with God and a horizontal relationship with one another.
  • Right relationships with one another come from a relationship with God.
  • God wants a relationship with us, and we need a relationship with Him.
  • We need relationships with one another.
• Worship is primarily focused on love, relationship, and the Father’s heart or kinship with one another or with Jesus.
• Focus on deepening relational community and love.
  • Small groups
  • House Churches
  • Shared Meals
• Emphasis on Pastoral Care and Community Care
  • Tight relational networks create awareness of pastoral needs.
  • Sharing one another’s burdens is an expectation of participation.
  • Paid staff incentivized around improving connectedness and care.
• Theology and Christology and Soteriology are worded in relational terms.
  • God is relational – All of Scripture is God’s love story.
  • The heart of the Father for His creation
  • Christ’s work was to restore relationship through His sacrifice.
  • Christ modeled relationship and a demonstration of discipleship through relationship
  • Grace and Salvation are restorations of a broken relationship.
• Strengths
  • When properly built, people feel connected and loved.
  • Biblically based.
  • Strong care systems keep people from falling through the cracks.
  • If allowed to, each person can feel significant and contribute to the community – body life possibilities begin to take place, with each person having a specific role and part to play.
• Weaknesses
  • Can become self-centered and not open to new people.
  • Can become stuck in patterns of relating and not grow.
  • Can become so relational that there are few transformational “tensions” or growth challenges.
  • Can be led by strong individuals that build a hub and spoke orbits around themselves and do not know how to multiply and equip and release others.

Experiential Churches

• Focus on Worship or Worship/Prayer Experiences
  • Holy Spirit/Passion is important, especially during gatherings.
  • Knowledge/Sign gifts Emphasized as evidence of the Holy Spirit is present.
  • Extended worship with usually free-form moments or sessions included or interspersed throughout.
• Encountering God at the moment is the focus of discipleship.
  • Teaching is geared toward learning how to operate in gifts and partner with the Holy Spirit.
  • Occasional teaching/discipleship is geared toward authority and covenants/promises.
  • Some teaching can be taking accounts in scripture and using them as a type and metaphor for the current moment or season, calling people to embrace truth based on the type of metaphor.
  • Building faith to believe that God is present is emphasized.
• Prophecy and Anticipation can also be a focus.
  • Usually prophecy about a coming outpouring/blessing/revival/wave of The Spirit.
  • Worship can be focused on the anticipated blessing or ushering in the Kingdom.
  • Time is usually given to allow gifts of The Spirit to function and be exercised.
• Strengths
  • Holy Spirit is allowed room to operate.
  • A measure of faith is built through corporate passion and fervency.
  • People are encouraged to stir up gifts.
  • Dependence on God usually means a diminishing dependence on self.
• Weaknesses
  • Members can emphasize certain spiritual gifts over others.
  • Transforming relationship groups are secondary to corporate gatherings.
  • Little transparency and authenticity may take place as people focus on being spiritual.
  • Performance culture can happen built around spirituality and passion.

Therapeutic / Healing / Recovery Churches

• Focus on Jesus as the healer and community to help carry it out.
  • Communities are important around certain healing or recovery pathways.
  • The connections are usually around healing meetings and encounters
• Practical teaching geared toward successful living and freedom.
  • Teaching around honest assessments and admission of need
  • Ministry is usually more in-depth and healing community-based.
• Focus on stories of freedom from addictions and painful cycles or trauma.
  • The power of the testimony is one of the shared values.
  • Everyone is broken and in need of healing.
• Worship is usually more intimate and broken, emphasizing honestly acknowledging sin or the inability to save ourselves.
• Strengths
  • Encouragement of honest assessments is healthy.
  • Grace is usually a strong element of these types of communities.
  • Accountable relationships are a vital component.
• Weaknesses
  • Can have a weakness in not enough focus on what happens after overcoming addiction. What has God redeemed you for?
  • It will deal with an initial draw into the community and initial repentance or freedom but leave transformation undone if too shallow.
  • So much focus on healing and self-care that individuals do not know how to relate otherwise.
  • Patterns of or cycles of healing events can become rigid and so prescriptive that the group will miss innovation and allowance for God to do a new thing.

Apostolic Reformational Churches and Church Networks

(not all are part of the N.A.R., but may function this way in structure due to the leadership of a single apostolic leader, or a leader and prophets alongside)

• There is a value to restoring the Five Offices in Ephesians 4 (Apostle/Prophet/Evangelist/Shepherd/Teacher)
  • A hierarchy of office as well
  • While restoring these offices, focus on God is doing a new thing.
  • Prophets take on varying responsibilities, while Apostles are primarily leaders.
  • Less emphasis on teachers unless they also are apostolic or prophetic.
  • Insights and revelation come to the leaders/apostles and prophets that may be supplemental to scripture.
  • Spiritual strategy is seen in warfare terms led by the chief architects who get insights from God.
• Ushering in the Kingdom – Now more than Not Yet.
  • Christology and Soteriology that the person of Jesus was modeling a man who was fully submitted and then accomplished all the work necessary for the immediate realization of the fullness of the Kingdom now.
  • Emphasis on faith as a currency
  • The work of the Holy Spirit is for now.
  • The revelation of new truths continues because of the Kingdom here and now paradigm.
• Worship is passionately calling upon the Spirit to move and declaring victorious blessing or accomplishment.
• Establishing God’s dominion over the “Seven Mountains.”
  • Spiritual warfare strategically placing Christ-followers and adherents to the teaching of the modern-day apostles and prophets in places to begin to take over and influence and change these seven areas of life in today’s culture and society.
    • Media
    • Government
    • Education
    • Economy
    • Family
    • Religion
    • Arts and Entertainment
  • Belief in eschatology that society, culture, etc., will be redeemed and perfected to usher in returning a victorious Jesus as Lord.
• Strengths
  • Passionate, sold-out culture.
  • Willingness to allow the Holy Spirit to lead as He sees fit is good.
  • Restoration of biblical truths can be healthy.
  • Usually, a willingness to break ineffective systems and rebuild them can be helpful.
• Weaknesses
  • Reliance on revelation through a small group can be dangerous.
  • Authoritarianism and protection of office can be a temptation for apostles and prophets.
  • The temptation for the apostle and prophet to monetize their position and keep themselves more of the financial blessing and resources.
  • Can create a breeding ground for narcissism in leaders.
  • If not careful, scripture can take a back seat to new revelation.
  • Requires passion, but is it misplaced?
  • Potential for too much emphasis on prophecies and not much accountability to whether the prophecies are true. Many projected things do not happen, need to be “reinterpreted” considering failed timelines, etc.

Transactional / Covenantal Churches

• Focus is on the promises of God and His Covenants with us
  • Teaching around how God sees “His people.”
  • Usually projecting of Israel now being The Church
  • Use of metaphorical types and new revelations from biblical stories.
  • New Covenant is more fulfillment of the Old Covenant with different requirements.
  • Old Testament projections of principles and promises.
• Focus that the establishment of the blessings of the covenants has already occurred on the cross and through the resurrection.
  • All healing is available to any believer now.
  • Blessings are waiting to be unlocked but are already available.
  • Power and authority have already been granted to a believer.
  • Restoration of God’s intended orders and purposes and covenants is a fact that now must be realized by a believer.
• Focus on what you can do to receive His blessings in the Covenant System.
  • Unlocking of blessing
  • Realization of the fullness of the Kingdom in your life now
  • Can be focused on hyper-grace and only look forward to hopeful faith.
  • Confession is more a declaration of a blessing than an acknowledgment of sin.
• Focus on the Restoration of Israel as part of the return of the Kingdom.
  • Prophetic interpretations around Israel
  • Geopolitical prophetic insights usually a factor in teaching or culture
  • The interconnectedness between Israel of old, The Church today, and the 1948 established country of Israel.
• Worship is focused more on declarations of blessing and acknowledgment of God’s work.
• Emphasis on faith as currency
  • Faith is something a believer possesses and can use.
  • The exercise of faith has a binding power in the transactional system with God.
  • Faith can be developed, cultivated, and grown to take advantage of the already provided blessings in these covenants.
• Strengths
  • Faith is a high value.
  • Passion and fervency are cultivated.
  • Members spend significant times in the study of scripture, looking for keys to unlocking.
  • Believers willingly accept the power of the Holy Spirit.
• Weaknesses
  • Faith is its own power that can be wielded by the believer with or without God’s leadership.
  • Less emphasis on the tension of the now and the not yet nature of the Kingdom
  • Misunderstandings can arise when something prayed for does not happen.
  • Emphasis on a prophetic revelation regarding Israel and geopolitical can lead to speculation, disillusionment, and efforts to bring about political outcomes that may or may not be God.

Political Churches

• Denominational/Tribe Politics – Focused on influence within a denomination or movement.
  • Focused on historical structures of denominations and movements.
  • Positions in power and leveraging influence inside the movement.
  • High value in having denominational/movement leadership leading this local church.
• Left-leaning, agenda churches – Focused on promoting a specific progressive agenda.
  • Societal change comes through justice, equality, equity.
  • Understanding oppression is usually systemic and tied to classes or intersections of a person’s history and makeup.
  • Re-interpretation of scripture in light of liberation from oppressions
  • High emphasis on behavior as it relates to core values.
  • Right thoughts and spoken words are more important than personal value systems.
  • Culture of repentance for history and identity must be repeatedly returned to as a matter of being.
  • Political expediency to achieve an end supersedes personal piety and responsibility.
• Conservative, agenda churches – Focused on holding the line against culture politically.
  • Societal change comes through the restoration of first principles.
  • Political leadership is a spiritual calling.
  • Behavior is corporate and governmental, usually not personal.
  • Culture and Society will be maintained by order and commitment to laws and principles.
  • Biblical emphasis can be on salvation, or covenant/blessing, or the Kingdom, but translates back to national and community blessing as much as an individual blessing.
• Strengths
  • Shared values create strong internal ties.
  • Emphasis on Justice or Core Values can be helpful.
• Weaknesses
  • Much focus on individual effort and behavior toward the cause rather than motivation and following the Lord’s leading.
  • The end justifies any means which can lead to hurtful actions in attempting to accomplish corporate goals.
  • By their very nature, these churches can be exclusionary rather than welcoming and inclusive. Even with stated values like inclusion, the political agendas supersede any willingness to lovingly engage one who may disagree or not hold similar political views.
  • Around election time or during a political crisis, communities can become increasingly “us and them” focused and increase the level of conflict, hatred, and disunity.

Confessional and Theological Focused Churches

• Focus on Biblical Knowledge
  • Emphasis on teaching as the highest value. Usually expository in teaching practice. Traditional interpretations that mirror long-held historical or traditional viewpoints.
  • Teaching emphasis is usually centered on a core person/teacher or a tight rotation of teachers.
  • Transformation usually is centered on understanding.
  • Theology is an important value, and people are encouraged to understand the right views of God.
  • A high value of scripture as inspiration and revelation
• Focus on Orthodoxy and Creeds
  • Traditional Orthodox beliefs are consistently retold.
  • Historic creeds are used or placed in statements of beliefs.
• Focus on learning the truth
  • Note-taking, outlines, and study are emphasized.
  • Small groups are focused on learning and encouraging knowledge.
  • Kids programs are strongly biblical education oriented.
• Focus on Sin Nature / Repentance / Understanding of Soteriology (The work of salvation)
  • Growing in understanding of truth should overcome the flesh.
  • Salvation and repentance come through metanoia, meaning the changing of thinking.
  • High emphasis on truth producing less sin and right behavior.
• Focus on being right
  • Theological purity is important.
  • Practice is rooted in principles that are tightly held.
  • Scripture is the center and primary authority.
  • Traditional views are seen as important. New revelation or insights are less important.
• Strengths
  • A high value of scripture keeps the church rooted in truth.
  • Emphasis on learning and knowledge give strength to the foundations of member’s beliefs.
  • Predictable, stable, orthodoxy
  • A culture of discipleship around learning how to understand scripture is helpful.
• Weaknesses
  • Relationships can be secondary.
  • Grace can be lacking because a high value on right-thinking creates a divide.
  • In a high right-believing/truth environment, an emphasis on knowledge can diminish authenticity and humility.
  • Emphasis on scripture only as the revelation can diminish the activity of the Holy Spirit at the moment.
  • Transformation is difficult because eventually, knowledge without relational encouragement increases shame when failing to do what one knows is true and right.

Transformational Churches

• Changed lives are the focus.
  • Goals are oriented around the results in people’s lives.
  • Missional focus is on bringing transformation to others.
• Testimonial power of new life
  • The power is in the story – building a relatable example to follow “This is what I did, or what happened.”
  • Before and after is important. “Before I was this, now I am/ my family is / we are this.”
• Seeker/Evangelistic transformational churches focus on the initial salvation and the initial giving up of the old self.
  • Baptisms and stories geared toward the initial rush of freedom are emphasized.
  • The lost have been found, and the parables and stories of the initial embrace of truth are focused on.
  • Teaching can be practical, as it leads to a measure of knowledge and, therefore, transformation.
  • Reduced emphasis on the entirety of scripture, key verses that are reaching/changing verses is emphasized.
• More in-depth transformational churches focus on long-term faithfulness and walking out discipleship.
  • Discipleship is geared toward replication, faithfulness, and fruitfulness.
  • Can be self-focused and not outward or missional.
  • Healthy transformation can happen in connected communities of grace and truthful accountability with love.
• Change can be personal, cultural, societal, or all of these.
  • Focus on transformation can lead to missional efforts in any one of these areas.
  • Some transformational churches are systemic and strategic in their efforts to bring about change.
• Focus can be on the power of God to transform or on the will of a person to commit to transformation.
  • Dual focus or on one or the other
    • The sovereignty of God is the power to change a life. More Calvinistic, less personal effort, except to believe/receive/acknowledge.
    • A Focus on the will to be willing to change in oneself. More Arminian, more choice, more willful side selection
• Strengths
  • Value to see life’s change can be positive.
  • Measuring change in life as a goal of the church is innovative.
  • If there is a healthy balance of grace/seeker salvation transformation and longer-term believer faithfulness, it can be a powerful mix.
  • Emphasizing testimonies of the work of God in one’s life can be encouraging to others.
  • If done in a community of grace, with love, there is potential for this type of church to build long-term relational discipleship groups and models.
• Weaknesses
  • If there is an over-emphasis on personal effort, grace can suffer.
  • If there is an over-emphasis on behavior modification (reduction in sin), humility and authenticity can suffer.
  • If there is an over-emphasis on change for change’s sake, a culture of performance can be developed that diminishes the unmerited grace that God freely gives.

Hybrid Combinations of the Above Church Types

• Attractional Apostolic Leader with an Emphasis on Experiential Transactional Churches
  • The church may have come from a Transactional – Faith background with a single, apostolic leader but has developed because of a large enough attractional experience to become a hybrid of attractional, experiential, with an apostolic leader who emphasizes transactional faith-currency living.
  • These churches may also emphasize transformation. It is almost always related to a new understanding of the apostolic leader’s teaching or interpretation of scripture that has unlocked more faith or blessing.
  • These are usually some of the fastest-growing and/or largest giving churches.
  • These churches may as well talk about healing, recovery, and redemption.  It is most often discussed as the result of a member learning to walk in the authority of a believer, in faith, or overcoming the work of Satan.
• Attractional Apostolic Leader with an Emphasis on Theological or Confessional Churches
  • The church may have been a solidly Confessional/Theological church that focused on being right doctrinally. Still, because of its success, and the longevity or power of the central senior teacher, it has become attractional and apostolic in function, even while the church more than likely doesn’t recognize the office or present-day gifting of an apostle.
  • These churches may have had a longer, traditional, theological, or confessional history. Still, because of the teacher’s strength, even the polity or governance of these churches can shift to new structures functionally following the leadership of the apostolic leader.
  • The central teacher may become a superstar that is hard to follow, and transition to a new teacher may or may not go well, leading the apostolic leader to stay well beyond their profitable.
• Attractional Apostolic Leader with an Emphasis on Cultural Relevance and Mission Churches
  • The church may have an outreach focus, but the primary outreach goal is to get people in the culture to accept an invitation to hear the preaching of the apostolic attractional leader, who is the bridge between the truth and the culture.
  • These churches may emphasize grace, willingness to accept unchristian behaviors and patterns in the lives of even active members, cultural relevance, and an aversion to speaking out about societal ills or political issues.
  • These churches are usually led by a strong central, functionally apostolic leader, who dresses and carries themselves in culturally current ways.  The strong, central leader will also publicly discuss or demonstrate how they are in touch with current cultural trends.  Clothing, Media Consumption, Alcohol or Affinity for Drug Use, Social Justice, Relationships with Celebrities, or perceived Sinners add cultural credibility to the apostolic leader and further the missional reach.
• Missional and Political Liturgical Churches
  • Church has a strong mission / outward focus, but as a liturgical/traditional church, it tries to hold on to earlier forms of worship and liturgy.  It has decided to “reach” through its missional focus, a segment of people who align politically with the church’s leadership.  These churches may be mainline denominational churches that have become progressive or staunch evangelical churches that have become more conservative.  Either way, they hold to their liturgies, their mission, AND their politics.
  • These churches may experience an initial decline when they move into a specific political emphasis but eventually purify their culture and community. That clarity of emphasis ends up becoming somewhat attractive to certain types of people who align with that cultural emphasis. 
  • An attractional, apostolic leader could lead these churches, but the emphasis is not nearly as strong on the leader’s insight. Instead, the emphasis is on the specific political bent.

• Relational Therapeutic Experiential Liturgy Churches
  • Church has a strong relational connectedness, usually around recovery or therapy.  The church may have specific experiences of healing models that it uses almost as a liturgy to repeat the healing experiences of the past.
  • The relationship is initially grace-based, with a shift sometimes coming to performance-based relationship, upon the foundation of accepting and adopting the healing or therapeutic model.  Resistance to the model and the liturgy around the therapy usually results in an assessment that the person “is not one of ours” or does not belong in this community.
  • Churches like this usually have less emphasis on a specific teaching superstar and more emphasis on their adopted liturgy and methods, which may have come from a previous teaching superstar.
  • These churches can be offshoots of attractional or other churches where believers who strongly adhere to the healing model adopted come together around a “mission” to heal the outside world.
  • In some cases, these churches build a “wounded healer” or “wounded warrior” identity that rallies people around a common overcoming victim motif.  These “wounded healers” then carry out the ministry in a humble way externally, with the risk of a darker, internal rigidity about healing that gives them more confidence in the process and less humility in dealing with those who question the process.
• Relational Specific Mission Liturgical Churches
  • Church has a historical connection to families in a community and has well-developed sets of supportive relationships.
  • The mission for these churches is almost always away from the immediate community, with a focus on some relief or reaching effort going on in a faraway place.  It gives the members a sense of accomplishing a mission while protecting the local community from encountering the immediate world.
  • The relationships of support in these churches have strong ties to pastoral care and connect around shared experiences.  Meals, support, visiting, checking in on one another are a given and a high priority in these communities.
  • Many of these churches have traditional, liturgical services that would be described as “predictable and reassuring,” if not boring and/or non-culturally aware.
  • Occasionally, these churches undergo identity challenges as new leaders attempt to bring current cultural trends into the church.  Some will say, “Who took my church?” when this happens, as the traditions are upset and changed.  The strong relational networks act as a protector of the traditions and, in some cases, can eventually ostracize the change agents.
  • Most of these churches are in decline and only attract new believers who have a historical affinity to relational connectedness or traditional liturgy.

Conclusions

All the while, God the Father, in His great mercy, is drawing, working, orchestrating, and moving in His people. When Jesus said “I will build MY CHURCH” He meant it. I think we need to look in a different direction, to find out what the Father is uniquely doing in our communities and begin to be followers of His way, and let Him lead. We need the Heart of the Father, the Lordship of the Son, and the Power of the Spirit to create, build, lead, and empower all of us to be the church that God desires.

Come and join. – Comment if you want to dialog.