Church 2.0

The 21st-century church needs a landing place for "spiritual immigrants."

From the outside, it's easy to mistake Soulation.org as an apologetics blog. Some of this is self-inflicted; Dale & Jonalyn Fincher, the site's cofounders, often describe themselves as apologists. To be honest, I can't blame them. "Apologetics" is a label the broader faith community will accept. And (double bonus), it puts Dale in the same category as one of his heroes, C.S. Lewis.

But let's not judge this blog by its cover. It's way more than just a run-of-the-mill "convert the skeptics" site. If you ask me, Dale & Jonalyn have created a 21st-century church. They might take issue with that label, but they do agree with another label that struck me when I hung out with them in January: A spiritual Ellis Island. A place that welcomes spiritual immigrants.

Dale pointed out in our conversation that there's "so much confusion over what a 'church' is today." I think he's right. In the Winter 2013 issue of Leadership Journal I wrote about my friend Tim Schuster, pastor and co-founder of the innovative Midtown Church. Tim observed that when we say "church planting" what we often mean is "starting a worship service." Admittedly Soulation pushes—hard—on the boundaries of what we might think of as church, and, for good measure, pushes some serious buttons, too. (You thought GLBT issues were tough? Try counseling Christians with bondage fetishes.)

I imagine members of the earliest churches would have a hard time recognizing their 20th-century great, great grandchildren as "church." Sound systems? Movies? Chairs even! So I'm not surprised if 20th-century church folk might have a hard time recognizing the beta versions of 21st-century church. The Millennials among us might call this Church 2.0. Read more