21 Bridges to the Twenty-First Century

The past five decades have altered the role of the churches. The third millennium will bring an even more radically different context for ministry. How the parish minister meets the challenge of that change is the subject of this latest book by best-selling author Lyle E. Schaller. Schaller makes the statistics speak by discussing four dozen factors that will provide challenges and opportunities in the next millennium. These include the emergence of thousands of new independent congregations, economic factors that affect rural congregations, the inability of most churches to be truly inclusive, the fact that the church has replaced the home and school as the primary channel for learning values, the growth of the Christian day school, the almost total disappearance of the geographical parish, the increasing competition for communication, the change in women's role in the community. "Change is the dominant theme of this book. The response of church leaders to the changes identified here will shape the future of their institutions. More important, however, these responses will determine who will be most effective in proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ in the early decades of the millennium".