Books

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When I tell people that I write today for the church of tomorrow, I’m often asked how I think the church will look in the future. No one has a crystal ball, but I like to give people the following ideas to consider.

The church of tomorrow will have an age-to-age clock to inform her thinking in addition to humanity’s 24-hour clock. This age to age perspective will emerge from the seven thunders that are embedded within the text of Genesis 1. The clock of seven thunders will give the church a much larger view of time and biblical history from an anthropological perspective.

The church of tomorrow will speak with a common spiritual language in her heart. This common language will come from the images of Creation embedded as a key within the text of Genesis 1. The key of seven thunders will purify the lips of people’s, nations, languages, and kings. A common tongue will allow everyone to stand shoulder to shoulder while calling on the name of God. 

The church of tomorrow will teach the art of net-making in order to meet human need in her local neighborhoods. Her new image will reflect the image of a net of 144,000. 

The clock, the key, and the net are three loaves of bread that will nourish the church of tomorrow as she continues her homeward journey from the cross to the morning star. Adopting the clock, the key, and the net will require an unprecedented transfiguration in the minds and hearts of the followers of Jesus. We should welcome the changes that are taking place without fear or hesitation, thanking God for guiding the human spirit on our pilgrimage through time.

I broadly define the church universal as the collective human spirit. The walled model of the church of yesterday is slowly dying to her old image. In my mind, her death has already occurred. Therefore, I write for those who are ready to move beyond the current image of church into a new reality. My books speak directly to future generations of people who will build and shape the church’s new image in the world.

That said, the church of tomorrow will cease to be defined as a building or an institution. As Christianity moves into the future, the followers of Jesus’ teachings will no longer be confined to rules of membership or standardized litmus tests of specific beliefs. Institutional walls will crumble, doors will fling open and chains will break loose. The church will become a massive movement of “a people” standing shoulder to shoulder. The movement will speak only of love, grace, and mercy while addressing all aspects of human need at a grassroots level of human existence.  

(My research attaches an additional lens of light, color, imagery and timekeeping to the historical-critical method of biblical scholarship.)