Our religious landscape is in the midst of massive change. For the first time, participation in religious organizations in the United States has dropped below 50%, declining more than twenty percent in just the last twenty years! While the traditional Sunday, programmatic church model is still valuable for many, it is working for less and less of the population, especially among younger generations.
It seems the status quo of top-down, consumeristic Christianity has left many feeling disillusioned, bored, and burnt out, or simply, left out. A growing majority views church as unrelatable and unappealing, or even harmful and hypocritical. Many Christians themselves are struggling to reconcile their faith with the racism, patriarchy, exclusion, and abuses of power that seem endemic to much of Western Christianity.
Our world is hurting and broken. People are divided, disconnected, and lonely. Now, more than ever, we are in need of a bold and systematic rethinking of how we do church and spiritual community in our world today.
A church is not a building, brand, or organization, or even a weekly religious service. At its essence, a "church" is a community of people practicing love for God, love for one another, and love for neighbor. And if the practice of love is the goal, then we believe anyone can do church anywhere!
To be clear, we’re not starting a church. We’re creating a whole new way of being and doing church — a new model altogether. Our mission is to make spiritual community more accessible to all.
We're seeking to develop an online platform that brings local people together for face-to-face mutual relationships, shared spiritual practices, and collaboration for the common good (love, healing, and justice work). Our platform would equip and empower people to do “church” wherever they are without all the complications and costly overhead of buildings and paid staff. Most importantly, people will be free to take ownership of their own spiritual journeys, co-creating community on their own terms (who, what, when, where, and how) while connecting to a diverse network that shares knowledge, resources, and expertise.
Once fully developed, our online platform would support a whole new approach to church by functioning in four ways:
Ultimately, we're proposing an alternative ecclesiology for the Church that makes better sense for an increasingly diverse and connected world. We're envisioning a fundamentally different approach to “church” that lowers barriers, flattens hierarchies, and embodies a fresh expression of Christian spirituality that is radically loving and inclusive, oriented towards equity and justice, and marked by theological humility.
New Wine Collective is building a collaborative community gathered around a bold purpose: to tackle systemic problems within Christianity and to find new solutions together. We aim to convene a thoughtful, creative, and practical conversation about the next iteration of Christianity that brings together many perspectives and disciplines. New Wine Collective is for people from all walks of life who want to see innovative thinking result in action and a better way forward for all. If you would like to learn more about the collaborative community we're building, please email us at contact@newwinecollective.org.
You can take part in the creation of a new approach to church that can help heal the world and radically change the spiritual and social landscape. New Wine Collective, Inc. is a 501c3 non-profit organization relying on the generosity of donors to support our mission during our initial three-year start-up phase. We are currently seeking funding to develop the first full-featured version of our online platform. To learn about giving to New Wine Collective, please click here.
Jesus said people do not pour new wine into old wineskins… they pour new wine into new wineskins. (Matt. 9:17)
New Wine represents the radically new spirituality Christ embodied that transcended and challenged the religious structures of his day. New wine requires new wineskins–new forms and practices that serve as containers for a new way of relating to God, to one another, and to the world.
A Collective is a group of people working toward a common goal or purpose that does not rely on internal established hierarchies. In a collective, leadership is flexible, shared, and collaborative.
Our logo represents our positioning as a movement occupying liminal, “in between” spaces, on the threshold between the now and the not yet. We are situated as a bridge between spheres—on the inside edge of religion and spirituality, yet accessible and compatible with broader culture. We dwell in the margins of both, where we find common ground and new possibilities of change.
Overlapping circles resembling a Venn diagram represent inclusion and connection. A secondary symbol is viewed from above as a wine glass without walls, signifying openness and freedom from constraints and unnecessary structures.
Email us at contact@newwinecollective.org
