Third Church

The Third Church is the term used to describe the recent rise of Christianity outside the Western world, contrasted with the rapid decline in church attendance in North America and Europe. This phenomenon is also referred to as the "Southern Church," as the geographic center of this movement lies in the southern hemisphere. The term is derived from the three major shifts in global Christianity since its inception in the 1st century.

Broadly defined, these periods can be described as follows:

• First Church: the Eastern church, 0-1000 AD
• Second Church: the Western church, 1000-2000 AD
• Third Church: the Southern church, 2000 AD to present

Criticisms

There are still many Christians living in Middle Eastern nations and that they never entirely disappeared from their native lands. The Four Marks of the Church define the Church as One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic. Therefore, the Church has a universality that is not peculiar to geographic areas or historical time frames.

• Phillip Jenkins. The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity. New York: Oxford, 2002. ISBN 0195168917.
• Walbert Buhlman. The Coming of the Third Church: An Analysis of the Present and Future of the Church. Maryknoll: Orbis, 1977. ISBN 0883440709.

The Third Church is also a term used by Robert Alexander in 2011. This term refers to the idea that Jesus spoke the truth. Paul took that truth and made a church out of it. The first church was the Roman Catholic church that established the church as only method of salvation. The second church was the protestant church that rejected the church as the means to salvation but established the Bible as the means to salvation. The third church refers to the return to the words of Jesus. Saying that the kingdom is within you.

Robert Alexander launched www.TheInnerChurch.com in 2011 and has plans for a book with the same title.

References

www.theinnerchurch.com