The 21st Century Has Arrived!
By Lyle E. Schaller

On October 19, 1879, Thomas A. Edison concluded the carbon filament was the best way to create light from electricity. During the next seven decades, the cost of lighting the interior of a building plunged. Electric lights were installed in a variety of stores, offices, schools, and homes. Frequently the installation process included this warning:

THIS ROOM IS EQUIPPED WITH EDISON ELECTRIC LIGHTING. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO LIGHT WITH A MATCH! SIMPLY TURN THE KEY ON THE WALL BY THE DOOR. THE USE OF ELECTRICITY FOR LIGHTING IS IN NO WAY HARMFUL TO HEALTH, NOR DOES IT AFFECT THE SOUNDNESS OF SLEEP.

Among the consequences were the large number of congregations that rejected this new invention, the acceptance of the lighting of public streets, and a reduction in the number of homes and church buildings destroyed by fire. By the mid-1930s, the use of electricity had become commonplace in rural America.

One moral of that story is radical change normally is accompanied by fear, resistance, and a need to give people time to talk themselves into a new way of life.

What Did the 20th Century Bring?
The first several decades of the new century that began in 1901 required Americans to adapt to the impact of technology. A short list included the telephone, electricity, radio, gasoline-powered motor vehicles, the growth in employment in manufacturing, and the urbanization of the population. By 1990, only one-fourth of all Americans resided in rural communities, while another one-fourth lived in central cities and the other half were suburbanites. The most dramatic change was the impact of technology on agriculture. One consequence was the farm population plunged from 30 percent of the total number of residents in 1920 to less than 2 percent today.

One major consequence was the increase in the size of institutions, the number of "customers," and the paid staff naturally generated an increase in the level of complexity and the degree of anonymity. That created a fertile breeding ground for the emergence of a variety of caucuses, special interest groups, and hobbies in each of several denominations. By the mid-1960s, intradenominational quarreling was beginning to replace missions and evangelism as a popular subject of conversation in American Protestantism.

During the first quarter of the 20th century, denominationally affiliated congregations and denominational agencies dominated the American Protestant landscape. In the post-World War II era, a rapidly growing number of independent Protestant congregations began to compete with the denominationally affiliated churches for future constituents. That same entrepreneurial spirit brought by the babies born after 1950 also produced the creation of new parachurch organizations, publishing houses, retreat centers, and other ministries designed to resource congregational leaders.

By the early 1990s, it was becoming increasingly obvious that the generations reared with electricity in nearly every home had become accustomed to rapid technological changes such as air travel, television, the computer, the Internet, and high school parking lots covered with hundreds of student-driven motor vehicles. They brought new agendas to church. One led to replacing the old teacher-centered adult Sunday school class with a peer-led discussion group that facilitated meeting and making new friends - a process that led to the creation of mutual support systems and facilitated the building of personal social networks.

What Will the 21st Century Bring?
It already is apparent that this new century will bring the new. That umbrella sentence includes new models of financial institutions, new responsibilities for most levels of government, new forms of communication, new producers of new consumer goods, new Christian congregations, new ways to equip Christians for ministry, new architectural designs for places of worship, new global relationships of congregations, new versions of the house church, and, most significant, a new generation of Christian churchgoers.

This new emphasis on the importance of interpersonal relationships is forcing changes in the staffing of larger Protestant congregations. The youth director has been replaced by a new focus on ministries with families that include teenagers. The young adult Sunday school class has been replaced by a group designed for engaged couples and newlyweds on how to build a healthy, happy, and enduring marriage. The pedagogical shift from teaching to learning has led to the replacement of the director of Christian education by a staff person who focuses on the creation and nurture of new learning communities.

The shift from a producer-driven economy of the 1950s to a consumer-driven culture of the last two or three decades has eroded the old pattern of inherited institutional loyalties. One consequence is competition created by German and Japanese motor vehicle manufacturers. Another is the competition created by the creation of the Southwest Airlines. A third is migration of "Cradle Catholics" and children reared by parents in a mainline Protestant congregation to a new independent church.

The celebration of the fifth anniversary of the founding of Religious Product News illustrates several facets of what the 21st century will bring. First, it is a new resource for congregational leaders. Second, it is not the creation of a denominational system. It is the creation of a group of lay Christians.

Third, the design reflects a huge change from the early 1950s. The arrival of color television taught us that photographs in color are more powerful channels of communication than are words printed in black ink on white paper. Fourth, that also illustrated the choices articulated in the 20th century in terms of "either-or" are being replaced by "both-and."

Fifth, one expression of that growing demand for choices is in the design of the room where Christians gather for the corporate worship of God. In the 1950s, members of the building committee traveled to other churches to see different designs. A dozen issues of Religious Product News now enable them to see 12 different designs without leaving home.

Sixth, the 20th century taught publishers that magazines should be financed from subscriptions paid for by the recipients with a modest supplement from advertising. The Internet has taught younger generations that information should be free or paid for by advertisers.

Seventh, specialists have been replacing the generalists in the practice of education, medicine, law, and scores of other vocations. In the 20th century, one monthly magazine could carry the descriptions of all the equipment, furnishings, and other resources a congregation could need. Specialization has required Religious Product News to be supplemented by four other specialized periodicals.

Eighth, and perhaps most important, the arrival of Religious Product News is one more symbol that the Christian marketplace that was almost completely controlled in the early 1950s by national religious bodies has become a free market.

Copyright 2008 by Lyle E. Schaller