What will a fresh Christianity look like in America?…Sunday worship will have less denominational flavor and more interaction among local constituents. Traditional resources like prayer books and hymnals will give way to local idioms and creative resources. Leaders will be locals, not hires from afar.

First, it will have multiple faces, not just a few bearing denominational labels like Presbyterian and Baptist or styles like Pentecostal. Some faces will be familiar, some not.

Yes, we will see Sunday worship, with people sitting in pews facing a preacher and singing hymns. But that Sunday paradigm will cease to draw the big numbers or to justify a primary claim on funding.

Where it continues, Sunday worship will have less denominational flavor and more interaction among local constituents. Traditional resources like prayer books and hymnals will give way to local idioms and creative resources. Leaders will be locals, not hires from afar. They will be both ordained and lay, probably younger than today’s cadre of middle-aged clergy, and not beholden to the traditions of national denominations.

Sunday worship will cease to define the faith community. People will connect with each other in multiple ways, from neighborhood circles to online venues to special interests like a particular mission thrust. There will be less focus on uniformity and consistency, and more freedom to see what emerges from the stewpot.

I foresee less focus on institutions led by trained experts, and more attention to fluid relationships facilitated by assertive and visionary leaders. These leaders will be gifted in personal suasion and in technology, and their work will be to nurture a relational context, not to preserve denominational tradition.

Look for less focus on familiar forms of authority like the Bible and ecclesiastical tradition. Instead, Christianity 2.0 will move away from expertise-based systems and arguments over right opinion, and focus more on creating circles of friends seeking God’s presence and help, both in daily life and in the world beyond personal experience. Bottom line: less intellectualism, more intuition.

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