THE COMING CHURCH SPLIT
(Thursday) Keith Drury has posted about "the coming church split," arguing that the third great ecclesiastical schism will be between the churches of the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. I think he is pretty much right. Philip Jenkins has been making the same argument for the past few years.

HOWEVER, two things are almost ignored in most of these discussions. First, while the church in the south is growing rapidly it is not necessarily growing in depth. Will they be able to sustain their growth and influence without sinking down some roots? Or will things shift as soon as something else more flashy and exciting comes along?

Secondly, will that something else be the American-style materialism that is expanding as rapidly as the gospel? As the rest of the world comes under the influence of Western music and media will it, too, go down the Laodicean road? Will the church in Africa and Asia in 2025 be significantly different from the church in the US?