Intersected

From Ed Stetzer’s talk “The Dangerous Church in 2020.”

Cautions

1. Don’t Believe the Hype.
2. Be more cynical.
3. Be People of Issachar (1 Chronicles 12:32).
   – There are trends we can and should watch.
   –   Skate Where the Puck Is.

From a Cultural Perspective The Dangerous Church Will Have:

1. Seized Economic Opportunity
   Economic growth and evangelical church growth are counter cyclical.
2. Addressed Sexual Brokenness
   Churches that thrive will have addresses issues of homosexuality, marriage, pornography, and other sexual issues and they will have done so in biblical ways– not simply caving in to the culture.
3. Wrestled with Gender Inclusion
   Now, no matter where you are on the issue, we need to have a clear and biblical reason, that is consistently and graciously applied, to explain our position.
4. Faced Increasing Intolerance
   And, it won’t be because of our solely religious convictions, but because of the outworking of those positions in moral stands. These will increasingly cause the world to find the church intolerable.

From a Cultural Perspective The Dangerous Church Will Have:

1. Navigated the Post-Seeker Context
   Today, we live in a post seeker context. And, with the decline in models typically associated with seeker ministry, the dangerous church will have found new ways (in addition to the old) to reach those who are far from God.
2. Regained Confidence in the Gospel
   The dangerous church will have worked through the confusion and set a stake in the ground for a more robust biblically discerned gospel.  
3. Addressed Evangelical Confusion
   But, I believe the dangerous church will have successfully navigated the malaise in contemporary evangelicalism and worked through much of the confusion of what a believer should be.
4. Rethought Discipleship
5. Worked Through Denominational Catharsis
   Dangerous churches in denominations will have helped them rethink how denominations function. And, Lyle Schaller when he says in A Mainline Turnaround that they will focus more on helping churches do evangelism and missions and less on maintaining the denominational machinery.  
6. Found Networking Strategies
   Churches are finding ways to team together, which is good, but they also need to be careful. I speak at many of these networks and sometimes they end up just cloning themselves.
7. Implemented New Innovations

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