Several years ago I read a book that struck a nerve, but I did with it what I do all too often. After reading it, I just put it on the shelf and seemingly forgot about it. Well, I forgot until the other day when I was writing my article for the church newsletter. Then as I was writing, it hit me. I frantically started digging through my shelves for the book that had no name.

Right in front of me, there was a single Once and Future Churchbook that was somewhat out-of-place on the shelf. Five Challenges of the Once and Future Church was the title. It took only a couple of sentences for me to realize that this was the book for which I had been searching. There are a couple of things about this book that really intrigued me.

The first was the word challenge. I’m a bit of an adrenaline junky so this challenge idea peaked my interest. While the second is the idea of once and future church. Once? What does that mean? Is the church a thing of the past? This post is the first in a series that will deal with this book.
We’ll look at the five challenges that Loren B. Mead brings to light in this short, easy read. So let’s dive in…

The first challenge Mead brings up is that of ownership. So who owns the church anyway? Many of us, with as much theological vigor as we can muster, will shout God! God owns the church! I completely agree and I believe Loren would too. But the problem he brings up is not one of who do we believe owns the church? The real issue is who do we act is in charge of the church? Unfortunately that’s a totally different story.

While we believe that God is the owner of the church and that the people gathered together are the church, all too often we live as if the clergy are the ones in charge. This is challenge #1. We need to transfer ownership of the church from the clergy to the people. Mead goes on to explain that we’ve centered the power and authority in the office of the pastor, and little is being done to change it. Little is being done because the people don’t mind the pastor doing it all and the clergy don’t mind being the ones with the final say.

But for the church to have the force it had once upon a time, the ownership needs to shift back to the hands of the people. When we realize that God has given His Spirit over to us, to live in us, to empower us, to guide and direct us, we see that we are the ones who make up the church. We are the church. This image of church is woven throughout the book of Acts in the New Testament. The followers of Jesus owned the ministry. They knew that God had chosen them to carry out his mission in the world. They believed that the very presence of the risen Jesus was dwelling inside them. They never went alone because Jesus was with them and they were together in ministry. They had all things in common.

What needs to happen for the ministry of the church to have the thrust it once had is for the church, the people, to claim ownership once again. We, as the church, need to embrace the presence of Christ in us that empowers us to bring Christ into our daily lives. Where we go, there the church of Christ goes. In order to overcome challenge #1, we’ll need to give up our ego and start looking at His kingdom.