Hope for Big City Churches
The success of the mega church in the suburbs has a direct correlation to percentage of Americans who moved there. In 1960 only 31 percent of Americans lived in the suburbs. Today 51 percent of Americans live in the suburbs.
But trends are changing. Just look at the urban renewal plans of almost every major city. Fortune editor Leigh Gallagher points out that many millennials are intimidated by the upkeep of big houses, would rather eat pizza around a kitchen island than throw formal dinner parties, and prefer public transportation to cars (it's greener).
This is good news for churches that never left the cities. That is, if they are willing to become incarnational in their ministries. They can not expect to reach the unchurched who are currently in their neighborhoods if they continue to cater to the preferences and desires of dead and dying who lives in those same neighborhoods 40-50 years ago.
Clearly, there is a real opportunity for ministry that lay before us.
But trends are changing. Just look at the urban renewal plans of almost every major city. Fortune editor Leigh Gallagher points out that many millennials are intimidated by the upkeep of big houses, would rather eat pizza around a kitchen island than throw formal dinner parties, and prefer public transportation to cars (it's greener).
This is good news for churches that never left the cities. That is, if they are willing to become incarnational in their ministries. They can not expect to reach the unchurched who are currently in their neighborhoods if they continue to cater to the preferences and desires of dead and dying who lives in those same neighborhoods 40-50 years ago.
Clearly, there is a real opportunity for ministry that lay before us.
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