Weird Church: Welcome to the Twenty-First Century

by Beth Ann Estock

Many of the old school churches are on life support—but don't think for a minute that they're the headline story of twenty-first-century Christianity. There's a new church in town. Rising from the ashes. A gift to coming generations! And it is so beautiful, so elegant, so Spirit-driven. Once your eyes focus and you are able to see it, you will send up a hearty prayer of thanks that you lived to see it!

In the post-Christendom era, nothing in the world of organized religion works the way it used to work. While some are beginning to give up hope for the future of faith, Weird Church offers a clear vision of a good future, so long as church leaders are willing to live into a few critical shifts.

Utilizing Spiral Dynamics as a means of framing the current changes in North American culture, authors Paul Nixon and Beth Estock offer a rip-roaring forecast of where the church is going as we race toward the mid-century!

This book is a wake-up call for those who still think church revitalization is simply a matter of doing better the things that used to come so easily. However, for the innovators whose ministries cannot fully be measured or understood by the old paradigms of members and money, Weird Church offers compelling vindication and encouragement that may cause them to stand and cheer! A must-read for anybody who is designing Christian ministry for the new world that is rapidly emerging around us.

Genres: Religion, Nonfiction

254 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 16, 2016

Reviews

[Bob Gross · Rating 5 out of 5]

After laying the foundation, providing a framework of cultural shifts, the authors offer several snapshots that, collectively, provide a glimpse of what the Christian church might look like in 2050. Good food for thought.

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. This book, largely written for mainline audiences, is clear about the fact that we are entering post-Christendom and so churches will dramatically change. The first half of the book is skim-able—the authors rely on a slightly strange framework that doesn’t quite satisfy. Other books on this topic, such as Glanville’s Improvising Church, Byasse and Lockhart’s Better Than Brunch, or even Taylor’s A Secular Age, are better.

But the second half of the book is terrific—about twenty short sketches of the genres of churches we might expect going forward. I found these models refreshing, helpful, and clarifying.

[Doug Browne · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Church in the 21st century will have many different forms. All of them are church, but none of them exhaust the question, "What is church?"

[Larry Oksten · Rating 3 out of 5]

A challenging and inspiring book about who we were, are, and could be as the church. While some are building large buildings and working under in an old paradigm others are learning how to do micro church.

[Kerri · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is hampered somewhat by its constant reference to the Spiral Dynamics framework...but even so, has some valuable lessons for leaders and congregations.

[Sandy H · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have very mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand, it does offer ideas for how "church" can be redefined for the current times. On the other hand, it has an extremely negative and judgmental tone, as if all that came before is, by definition, wrong and misguided. It offers a very brief description in the introduction that what has come before was shaped by its time, but then goes on to use negative, often extremely brutal, language in regards towards any type of church that doesn't fit into the authors' description of what church should be and needs to be in the future. Excuse me, isn't that a blue or orange way of thinking about the next church, even if you're trying to describe what's green? (You'll have to read the book to understand the color references.) There are all sorts of ways of being formulaic, and the authors seem to have stumbled right into it even as they're railing against formula.

And Holy Moses, they must have had *some* kind of run-in with denominational officials in their past because this category holds a special place in their wrath. Yep, I'm feeling sensitive there as I am, indeed, a denominational official, although clearly not of a denomination they reference as I don't have the power or authority with churches I serve as they describe being held by others in the book. Still, denominations and judicatories are filled with good people trying to do good things. The authors have, instead, drawn every denominational official as Elmer Gantry. Whether or not denominations as an institution have much of a life span left is something that's been debated for the last forty or fifty years--it's not news. Make no mistake: those of us who are in these denominational institutions are having long and deep conversations about this very topic. Because some people and congregations are still working within that institution doesn't automatically make them the misguided, self-serving, money-grubbing yahoos the authors suggest (only slightly using better terms than I have here).

That being said, the last few short chapters of the book that describe things going on in the world of faith community are filled with interesting examples that would spark necessary conversation in a lot of our current churches who are struggling to know how to become more vibrant again. I'm not sure I felt like the book had quite enough of that helpful, "let's think together on these things" aspect.

While it could certainly be said that I have a particular perspective on this book because I am the very denominational official they take to task, of course, in my own ministry I rarely find it helpful to good offer advice and suggestions to people while verbally heaping abuse against any who would think differently. I'm honestly really torn as to whether I'd recommend this book or not.

[Harry Allagree · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's been 4 years since this book was published, so some of the info the authors give has probably changed a bit. In general, I agree with their overall estimate that by mid-century, 2050, American Christianity & the Church will look vastly different. There's no question that we are "experiencing a vast and unprecedented exodus of Americans from organized religion..." -- and have been doing so for some time now. No question that all the signs of an "emergency" are glaring as a lot of churches continue trying to operate as they "always" have. Beth Ann Estock & Paul Nixon are both engaged in faith communities who are trying to cope with this in new ways. They used the term "weird Church" as the possible point to which we're currently trending. They offer some 18 "snapshots into the future": a "diversity of paradigms for church that will strive side by side in the years ahead!"

The list of paradigms are worthy of reading & much reflection. In many of them, however, I see a good bit of what's currently happening in many churches being done already. None of them, probably, as the authors note, will last forever, but it seems to me that some are much more viable than others which the authors suggest. One of the paradigms, "The Spiritual Theme Park", seems to me to amount to nothing but a reincarnation of some of the worst things in American culture, brought together and tagged as a phony "church" endeavor -- a megachurch on steroids!

None of us, including the authors, know how Church will look like in the next 30 years. There are so many variables. About the most one might say is that what most churches are generally doing now needs to be thoughtfully & prayerfully re-invented, & that will take place less in the buildings than out among the diversity of people outside the building.

[Doranne Long · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading Weird Church. We have been living through, and watching, church history unfolding. As a baby boomer, I was raised in Protestant churches; we raised our children in churches until they entered their teens. Our grands and great grands are not particularly involved with any organized religion. I am aware of the trend towards spirituality rather than religion and the dying of churches, especially as we baby boomers age, fade away from churches, and/or die. This book shares these historical trends, and offers us visions of future churches, which may be more inclusive and community supportive.

[Melinda Mitchell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely a must read for anyone leading a church in the twenty-first century. The introduction gives a spectrum of colors as a guide for where people are today and how they are moving into other understandings of church--it's important to keep that section bookmarked as it is referred to. The first half of the book shows how we got to where we are now, and the death of Christendom. The second half goes over a variety of models of how the church is existing now, and where we might be headed.

[Marie Laidig · Rating 4 out of 5]

Time to rethink those old denominations and traditions. The church as we grew up with is quickly fading from our landscape.

[Holly Bray · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the look back and look forward this book provided. I saw myself in some of the descriptions and saw some interesting opportunities for the church as it moves forward.

[William Burr · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some excellent points

[Diann · Rating 3 out of 5]

The authors outline the spiral theory of evolution and applies it to church. They then tell of churches who are going outside their normal mode of being in order to do something extraordinary (for them). In the age of declining congregations, it is encouraging to see that no matter where a church is on the spectrum, there is hope for growth and transformation.

[Greg D · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding and insightful look into what is becoming of today's churches and what tomorrow's churches will look like. Using what the authors call "Spiral Dynamics" to categorize the different psychological and sociological development of people and society, it is determined what kind of church styles/formats various people and their groups are put off by and drawn to. Most of today's secularized, unchurched, and disenfranchised-with-church crowd fall into a category of people that have no interest in what has been the historical and traditional models of church community. As a result, Weird Church provides examples of what a variety of different (and sometimes weird) community styles, while remaining distinctly Christian, but synchretistic, ecumenical, spiritual, and socially minded can and will look like. Weird Church calls on those who are think-out-of-the-box types to help pioneer such communities utilizing some of the resources the book has to offer.

This book particularly hit home with me as a Christian who is unfulfilled and disenfranchised with the rather dull and entertainment-driven, denominational, institutional churches of today. I for quite some time have been longing for a church community that is not centered around a building (and its costs) and looking for something more deeper and real. A church that doesn't have musical instruments as its centerpiece and a seminary-trained pastor who claims to have all the answers. Rather a group of people using their own gifts and talents to not only edify the church body, but a focus on serving and loving others outside of the community. A church that is inclusive, ecumenical, and Spirit-led. And, Weird Church gives us a glimpse of what this type of community can, and does, look like.

I highly recommend this book to those who are longing for something so much different, deeper, and real, but also to those who desire to pioneer something a community like this. What a wonderful, fresh, new perspective Weird Church has provided and I look forward to praying about seeking and pioneering a community of faith seekers and Jesus followers that may look... plain weird.

[Mona Bomgaars · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed the introductory section and am looking forward to having one of the authors, Nixon, speak in church this Sunday.
This is written primarily for church members in a discussion group.

[Karyl Carlson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting take on the future of organized religion.