There has been much talk about GenX and their different approach to faith and worship in the U.S., but it is in Europe that this generation is reported to be starting many small informal fellowships removed from traditional churches and denominations, according to Religion Today.com.
With ministry names such as Tribal Generation, Jesus Freak, 24-7 [see July-August 2000 RW for more on this movement], and Culture Shift, these fellowships meet in homes, coffee shops, industrial complexes, parks and other unconventional places. These fellowships tend to spawn other worship groups, creating “clusters” throughout a region.
These small groups stress personal relationships, and avoid the formality associated with traditional services and denominational hierarchies. These new churches appear to be spreading in Western Europe. The missions news service Dawn estimates that there are about 2,000 such fellowships in Denmark, England, Germany, Ireland, Norway, Scotland, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. Similar groups are sprouting up in Africa, Asia, and the Americas.
These groups are invisible to clergy and established churches as they can’t “see any [way it] fits with their services on Sunday morning,” says Wolfgang Fernandez of DAWN.
