Comments on: 7 Mega-Trends Facing the Church

By: Jonathan Dodson

Jonathan Dodson — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 00:27:53 +0000

Thanks, Tim! I have bookmarked Global Talk and will do a post on it soon!

By: Timothy Tennent

Timothy Tennent — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 19:09:48 +0000

Greetings, Jonathan from Asbury Theological Seminary. We are announcing a major initiative here to Asbury to “engage the world.” It is exciting stuff. I think Asbury is on the way. You might want to check out the stuff I am writing on my blog. It is subscribable (my twitter, too) but you can get to it right off of the home page of http://www.asburyseminary.edu
May God bless you in your work. It won’t be too long before Jonathan Dodson will be “the most important person you don’t know.”

By: Jonathan Dodson

Jonathan Dodson — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 02:50:59 +0000

Many have been influenced by teh Charismatic movement, though not all.

By: Thoughts on future trends that will face the Church… :: Controlled Chaos - Todd Terry’s Personal Blog

Tue, 11 Aug 2009 19:36:39 +0000

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By: The Critical Cleric

The Critical Cleric — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 14:24:31 +0000

Thanks for these insights. Would it be correct to say that the majority of the “independents” are actually individuals of the pentecostal/charismatic persuasion. I’ve heard statistics that pentecostalism (evangelical and otherwise) is the fastest growing Christian group in the world, so thats why I’m asking the question? Also, I wonder if the non-institutional structure of the “independents” has something to do with their appeal? In my assessment many institutional structures are often to rigid and lack the fluidity needed to have impact globally. I could be wrong though.

By: Paul Wilkinson

Paul Wilkinson — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 23:12:00 +0000

Hmmmm. In the Catholic, Mainline Protestant (and I suspect Orthodox) traditions, one isn’t raised with the expectation that some day they just might wake up and decide to start their own church. The majority of church-planting initiatives tend to be Evangelical in flavor, even if they borrow elements from the other traditions.

I know it defeats the purpose if someone says, “We’re independent;” to inquire further with, “Yes, but independent what? Nonetheless, I suspect most of these are independent-Evangelical in one form or another.

By: Jonathan Dodson

Jonathan Dodson — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 17:33:45 +0000

The emerging "fourth branch" is Independent, a product of rapid growth of the Majority Church in Asia and Africa. The various churches have no claim or historic connection to Protestant, Catholic, or Orthodox tradition. These independents range in theological orthodoxy and cultural expression. According to the World Christian Enyclopedia, in the opening decade of the 21st century there are 1.1 billion Roman Catholics, 432 million independents, followed by 386 million Protestants and 252 million Orthodox. Tennent points out that, although it is early to detect a theological center or commonality among independents, they undoubtedly will organize at some level this century, exercising an inordinate influence on Christianity.

By: pjtibayan

pjtibayan — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 16:40:49 +0000

What is the 4th branch of Christianity? Is it Pentecostalism?