One vision of the future of the church

"I imagine our congregations becoming smaller, not bigger, yet teeming with the life of his body.  And I hope there are more of them, so many of them in fact, that they become the alternative to the Starbucks of our day.  I hope our churches become known for servanthood in the neighborhoods and warm hospitality that invites strangers into our homes.  I pray that the home of every evangelical person becomes an incubator of evangelism, inviting strangers to the gospel out of their lostness and into the love and grace of life in our Lord Jesus Christ.  I imagine real fellowship in our congregations, the kind that shares joys and suffering and potluck meals.  I pray our leaders take on the form of humble servants who sit, listen, and suffer with real people through many years of leading them through this life in Jesus Christ.  I hope we leave behind the CEO models of leadership.  I look for our worship services to become liturgical places that form our people into faithful participants in the life of God."

-- David E. Fitch, The Great Giveaway:  Reclaiming the Mission of the Church..., pg 229.