Similar groups seem to form every day, offering ministries that often undercut local-church support for older programs offered by denomination bureaucracies. More people are serving in short-term mission projects, often organized by local churches, across the United States and around the world. Decreasing support for church hierarchies is forcing cuts in many traditional missions programs. Desk-top publishing and the Internet is changing the shape of religious education, giving more power to entrepreneurs and bleeding power from old church corporations. Soon, church leaders of all stripes will use the World Wide Web to find materials they believe will fit the precise needs of their local congregations.
Seminaries everywhere are under siege.
Critics say they are too expensive and produce men and women who can read academic papers, but can't read the writing on a local-church wall. Also, denominational civil wars have led to the birth of numerous smaller seminaries. Old networks are dying. It's all a matter of priorities, he said. We're not going to be a nondenominational church.