I have heard some variation of this concern from church leaders throughout the Western world, “We just don’t have enough church planters!”

In the last 6 months, I have met with hundreds and hundres of church leaders in Australia, Europe and the United States. I have spoken with leaders from almost every denomination and network and the number one concern I hear over and over is this: “Our pipeline of potential church planters has dried up.”

For two weeks I zig-zagged across Europe spending time in 6 countries and 8 cities. My overall take away is that going to Europe is like a trip into the future for an American. Much of what they are experiencing is either post-Christian or pre-Christian and I would estimate that in the United States we are 8-10 years behind them. So, when I am in Europe, particularly Western Europe, I pay real close attention to what is working and what is not working in the church because I believe it gives me a glimpse of what will and will not work in the not-too-distant future of the American church!

Here are 4 observations about what is happening in Europe and what I believe is just ahead for us in the United States…

Looking back, it was exactly a year ago that our leadership team decided I should make two versions of the same video knowing only one of them would be sent to our entire church. The first video would say that we were sticking to our normal schedule with 26 services at multiple locations across Chicagoland. And the second version would inform our church that all our facilities would be closed and that we were moving everything online.