This article by David Lose (pronounced L-O-se with a long O) is very good and presents us all with some great talking points.
- What does church at Saint Paul in Columbus look like in a "post-denominational' and "post-Christian" context?
- How do we Lutherans see ourselves and how does everyone else see us? This question is especially important while considering how non-Christians or inactive Christians view us here at Saint Paul.
- This one I thought particularly important, "Inordinate amounts of funding are spent on maintaining denominational structures and bureaucracies, money that could be spent on mission." How do we justify spending money on that which helps not mission? As Christians, mission is priority one. That means all other things are secondary. So here's a good question: what takes priority in your congregation?
See where that takes you for the day.
Remember, the promise is: "...and I will be with you...even until the end of the age." The end of denominationalism is the beginning of a new thing that God is doing. Worry not about the future there are enough things to worry about today.
P.S., Let's change some vocabulary. I have heard many people ask, "What religion are you?" The answer to that question would be "Christian". However, the question many are really asking is, "From which denomination do you come?" The answer there would be "Lutheran".
There is one true faith and that is Christianity. However, Christians come in various forms...these are called denominations. Just like a dollar is a dollar, there are several different "denominations" of dollars, like fives, tens, fifties, and hundreds. Don't take that parallel too far though. I would say that each denomination of Christianity holds a bit of the truth of the One True Faith.
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