Trends

A list of trends identified through the Easum Bandy Advanced Forums:

Team ministries replacing charismatic leadership Developing cultures of equipping where every level of the congregation is seens as potential leader Church planting movements underway throughout the world and now in the US Alternate styles of church configuration such as house church, cell church, cyber church Emergence of multiple site churches and use of satellite video Emergence of just plain evil spiritual warfare Continual decline of mainline and most established sideline (example would be Brethern) Continual decline of seminary education Rise of bivocational pastors The rapid rise of evangelical, supernatural, prayer filled fanatics (in the best sense of the word)

Noticably absent is any mention of the megachurch movement. Easum says of megachurches:

I think their days are coming to an end…I am seeing far more smaller new congregations than I am megachurches. They will still be around and more of them, but they will not dominate the landscape. The only reason they do now is because in the US size is all that matters…I’m seeing a few large megachurches doing well, but many seem to have peaked.