The church in the western world is undergoing significant transition and it isn’t yet clear what the church of the future will look like, so says Eddie Gibbs in churchmorph: how megatrends are reshaping christian communities.

Gibbs identifies five trends of today’s western world. The transition from modernity to post-modernity; the transition from the industrial to the information age; the transition from Christendom to post-Christendom contexts; the transition from production initiatives to consumer awareness; and the transition from religious identity to spiritual exploration (p.19).

Gibbs briefly explains and introduces each of these five ‘mega-trends’ and then looks at a variety of responses from the church including missional church, the emergent church, the new reformed movement, the current impact of mega-churches, the new monastic movements, urban (as opposed to suburban) churches, expanding ‘apostolic’ networks and the alternative worship movement.

Under each of those headings brief introductions are given to major or prominent players in each of those areas. Most are brief but a few Gibbs expands where he has taken a particular interest.

It’s reasonably interesting as an overview and if the big picture is your thing then this is worth a read, although it really needs following up in 10 years time to revisit and assess the impact and significance of these movements. Which withered and died, which blossomed and grew, who were the flash in the pan five-year wonders that are now fading into the gloom?

You could take some issue with the themes themselves and argue for the inclusion of others; no mention is made, for example, in the south and eastern shift of Christianity’s power base and so this book remains a resolutely western one. It is western societies issues and the western churches response and then mainly the Anglo-Saxon ones at that, that are considered.

I felt the book lost a little focus by not really asking whether some of these movements were consciously engaging with the mega-trends that Gibbs identified. Some snappy articulation of their theological response would have made it clear that the church is being proactive. As it is I was left with the distinct impression that the church is being almost unconsciously shaped by these vast forces which they little understand or recognise.

As a sociological overview it’s interesting. I recognise I’m in the missional camp with some emergent tendencies while being allied to a new apostolic network; which may mean I’ve not thought things through properly! But I’m not quite sure what the application or outcome of this book is: what do I do with this information, what use is it to me? And I’m not sure of the answer to that question.