A recent guest speaker at our church talked about the need to change the model we follow, expanding beyond the Sunday-Wednesday framework to spread the gospel.

That isn't a revolutionary message in this post-modern age, yet translating that into nuts-and-bolts, daily reality poses a challenge that will last for years.

Take the book by demographer George Barna, "Revolution." Published in the fall of 2005, it raised a lot of hackles in the church.

Among other things, it forecast a 50 percent drop in church attendance by 2025. It also advocated more house churches and informal networks to break out of stodgy, tradition-bound religion.

Many criticized Barna for departing from New Testament norms of church government, although he raised numerous complex issues that congregations will grapple with over the next two decades.

House church isn't exclusive worship form

Ironically, though, in a recent report updating the status of house churches, Barna noted that just 4 of every 10 regular house church attenders (42 percent) rely exclusively on that as their primary church experience.

Nor is meeting in a home instead of a building a panacea for the formality eschewed by many house church attendees.

In a story I wrote last year about this movement, a former pastor and proponent of small, community-based meetings, warned that many house churches aren't sound.

"A house church can be a more formalized congregational structure," he noted. "It's just smaller and in a home. I would say a lot of house churches are incredibly unhealthy. They're led by people who have their ego all twisted up. If it's manipulative, the smaller the environment the more dangerous it is."

Before dismissing house churches, though, consider Barna's finding that their adherents are more likely to experience faith-driven transformation and prioritize their relationship with God.

According to the author, those who attend a conventional church are generally content to show up and accept whatever the church has on its agenda.

"We found that most conventional church-goers have no desire to help improve their congregation's ministry, nor do they feel a need to increase their personal spiritual responsibility," Barna said.

Broadening our horizons

Before tying yourself into knots of anger at such statements, consider the numerous signs of churches expanding past sanctuaries lined with padded pews (or chairs), whether it includes stained glass or a windowless, multi-purpose room setting.

In "The Forgotten Ways," a book I recently reviewed on this site, author Alan Hirsch writes of a church in Australia that sold its buildings to invest in a shopping mall so it could have a presence in the marketplace.

A few months ago I learned of a similar experiment in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where a church purchased the shopping center where it meets. This location has opened numerous doors with non-believers.

Lately, churches in New Orleans that have attracted newcomers have used unconventional means to reach out, including broadcasting a worship service over a loudspeaker. That touch prompted a service with 6 people to balloon to 60.

No matter what the form or venue, the Church faces tough challenges in the years ahead. Seeking to meet the needs of a lost world will demand shedding our traditional resistance to change. The message is the same, but its delivery will have to be as familiar in coffee shops and malls as in front of an organ or piano.