Why indeed!?
Rhrosty.

What is a 'futurist' and a 'thought leader' ? Please, don't tell me he's just another aimless academic ?

"But if all the Uniting Church aged care, child care, schools and university colleges etc were brought together into one corporation and then quoted on the Australian Stock Exchange, it would be larger than 90 per cent of the companies listed."
Not so amazing when you consider that churches don't pay tax.
Presumably, without the state teat—or life support system—the Uniting Church would already have faded away.

o sung wu,

Keith Suter is a thinker and not an aimless academic.

I first attended a series of his lectures way back in 1981, Keith doesn't push his ideas but leads people to think, outside and inside the square.
I have found him to be a person who will listen to the other side of an argument and, most importantly, consider it.

In contrast I once raised the theories of Thor Heyerdhal with an eminent Professor of Anthropology at Sydney Uni. I was summarily dismissed with "Bull$hit! All bull$hit!!"

Hi there IS MISE...

I stand corrected my friend. I must admit the word 'futurist' worried me somewhat, particularly as I'm very much a pragmatic person ? Still we live and learn ? That's what life's all about eh ?

I checked out the author's website, and he certainly seems to be a very intelligent guy.
I have to wonder then why he felt the need to complete a PhD on the future of the Uniting Church?
Surely there are more interesting and useful subjects to do a PhD on?

Nobody has yet seen a major religious institution collapse from voluntary withdrawal of its members, but if current trends continue over time it's going to be happening a lot. I don't see anything to object to in studying it; on the contrary, developing a body of knowledge about what's likely to happen, how and when may allow us to avoid a good deal of suffering and distress in the future.

But since Dr Suter has not attempted to assign a probability to his scenarios, let me suggest that the most likely outcome is one in which the church's large property assets end up in the hands of a small number of shrewd operators, and its liabilities and obligations are farmed out to the taxpayer and an ever-dwindling number of overworked volunteers. 'Twas ever thus.

A great business opportunity would be to sell [futuristic] bulk licenses to sin. It would even be good business to sell licenses for Jews and Muslims to eat pork, etc. One sin however should never be licensed or forgiven: to print your own licenses!

This would not be strange for the Uniting Church which in 1997 decided to allow premarital sex and even encourage pre-marriage co-habiting in an attempt to restore its dwindling popularity: many other Christians moved to the Uniting Church as a result, but a few of its original followers left as a result too: that's business, you can't satisfy everyone!

Having been to many churches, both conventional and Pentecostal, I feel the Uniting Church is far more in keeping with Jesus's teachings. By staying true to itself and not being swayed by people who want churches the more traditional rigid way and not going to other extreme it has ability to become more viable.