 
Book Reviews Five Challenges for the Once and Future Church by Loren B. Mead Reviewed by Robert P. Mills |
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| Those whose involvement in the
life of the Church extends beyond the local congregation know that it
faces enormous challenges as it prepares to begin its third millennium.
Those who have read Loren Mead’s previous works on this topic will
not be surprised to learn that here Mead ably articulates five of those
challenges. Each the topic of one chapter, those challenges are: 1) to transfer the ownership of the church, 2) to find new structures to carry our faith, 3) to discover a passionate spirituality, 4) to feed the world’s need for community, and 5) to become an apostolic people. Chapter 1, of special interest to lay readers, discusses overcoming clericalism, the fact that “In America the church is owned by its clergy.” Far from wanting to diminish the role of pastors, Mead hopes to return pastors to the role of being “the religious leader, encouraging and strengthening local leadership” so that laity may discover “new ways in which their ministry is fully owned by themselves, not continually dependent upon the clergy.” Succeeding chapters similarly identify challenges and suggest solutions. Looking at Mead as something of a pioneer (an image he uses concerning new structures), we can see that he has marked out possible trails for others in the Church to explore. Certainly some should be avoided. Others may, or may not, prove fruitful. And on occasion he has surely found a path for the faithful to follow. Evangelicals will find Mead’s diagnoses more valuable than his prescriptions. All readers would do well to keep in mind Mead’s own admonition, “Please remember. Many pioneers get lost. But if they do not go out in front and blaze trails, other people will not find their way.” . |
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