The Religion News Service has published an opinion piece by Tom Ehrich on faith movements to watch in 2015. Ehrich predicts three developments:
1. Going beyond the comforts of childhood:
This will be year 50 in the decline of American mainline Protestantism. The decline is a source of pain and anxiety among church leaders. Church doors are closing faster than they are opening…
…Gone — or going — are those who remember when Sunday worship was enough, when being in church was comfortable and fun (mainly because we were children), when we had the world’s respect and when belonging didn’t require much.
Now fresh ideas and younger leaders can operate more freely, taking us beyond comforts of childhood.
2. Moving beyond hypocrisy:
Conservative Christianity is a complex phenomenon, and much of what it does, such as missionary work, is extraordinarily good. But a core hypocrisy is out in the open. …
Progressive Christianity is no less complex. …
3. Celebrating individual faith:
… Now individual spirituality is replacing corporate (or group) religion. People are taking responsibility for their beliefs. As in the saying often ridiculed but in fact wise: “I am spiritual but not religious.”
Ehrich predicts a “different, disconcerting, but lively, transformational and faithful” year ahead. You can read the whole article here, then share with us your own predictions for the religious life of 2015.