A small but meaningful part of my ministry is creating short devotional videos. I genuinely enjoy the challenge of taking big theological ideas and distilling them into something brief and accessible. Even when no-one comments or likes a video, I still love the process. And often, the real conversations happen later when someone mentions a video weeks afterward and shares how it stayed with them or a thought they had when they watched it.
Recently, someone commented on a video to say that he lives with a disability and has been searching for an online church community he can engage with. He asked for details, and I gladly shared our church’s information.
Then another person jumped into the comment section with a very different message: “Forget the church. Just focus on Jesus.” That sentiment isn’t new. Over the years, I’ve heard countless variations of it: “I love Jesus, but I’m not really into church.” “I watch online, but I don’t want to be part of a church community.” “I just want teaching—I don’t need the rest.”
To be clear, online church matters. Accessibility matters. Teaching matters. But beneath these comments is a deeper discomfort many people feel toward the church itself.
In Australia, as in much of the Western world, the word church often carries negative associations—hypocrisy, harm, irrelevance, institutional failure. And honestly, we can’t ignore that. The global church has made real mistakes and some of those wounds are still very present in people’s memories.
So the question becomes unavoidable: What do we do with the church when so much feels broken?
Why Jesus and the church can’t be separated
I struggle to embrace the idea of “Jesus without the church”, and here’s why. I’m happily married. Recently, my wife and I celebrated 11 years of marriage. So I’d find it deeply strange if someone approached me and said, “I love your teaching. I want to learn from you . . . but I don’t really like your wife.” That wouldn’t work. Not because my wife is an accessory to my life, but because we are one. To reject her would be to reject me.
The New Testament uses that same language to describe Jesus and the church. The church is His bride. His body. His chosen means of presence in the world. In Matthew 16:18, Jesus says, “I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.” Jesus believes in the church. He loves the church. He commits Himself to building it.
The word church comes from the Greek ekklesia, which simply means a gathered or called-out people. In the ancient world, it referred to citizens who gathered to seek the good of their city—to ask, what does our community need, and how can we meet those needs?
Jesus deliberately chose that word. The church is meant to be a people who look outward—toward the world’s pain, need and longing—and ask how they can reflect the love of God there.
With that vision in mind, I believe there are five things the world desperately needs from the church in 2026.
1. A lonely world needs a loving church
We are living through what many researchers now call a loneliness epidemic. In Australia, studies suggest that more than 40 per cent of young people describe themselves as generally lonely. Researchers speak of a growing friendship recession: in 1990, about one-third of people reported having 10 or more close friends (outside family). By 2021, that number had dropped to around 13 per cent.
Fewer deep friendships. Less community. More isolation.
For churchgoers, this can be easy to miss. Many of us experience built-in community from our weekly gatherings, shared meals, familiar faces. But even within churches, people can feel unseen and unknown.
The early church offers a compelling alternative. “Every day they continued to meet together . . . They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts . . . And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved” (Acts 2:46,47). They gathered frequently. They shared meals. They opened their homes. And people were drawn into that love.
The church is uniquely positioned to respond to loneliness, not with programs alone, but with genuine presence. With radical hospitality. With a willingness to notice those on the margins. A lonely world doesn’t need a perfect church. It needs a loving one.
2. A fake world needs an authentic church
We are increasingly surrounded by questions of what is real. AI-generated images, videos and text blur the line between truth and fabrication. Studies show that many people lack confidence in distinguishing reality from digital imitation—and that uncertainty is bleeding into everyday life.
Trust is declining. Scepticism is rising. People are constantly asking: Is this person genuine? Is there a catch? Is this real, or am I being manipulated? In that environment, authenticity becomes countercultural. The church should be a place where masks come off. Where faith isn’t performative. Where joy and struggle coexist. Not oversharing or pretending everything is fine, but honest, grounded faith that says: I am not perfect but Jesus is with me.
The early believers shared life closely. They ate together daily. And when you do life that closely, authenticity isn’t optional, it’s inevitable. In a fake world, the church must be unmistakably real.
3. An anxious world needs a courageous church
Anxiety is everywhere. Around 40 per cent of Australians report struggling with general anxiety, and younger generations increasingly express fear about the future—fear that shapes decisions about careers, relationships and even whether to have children.
Worry itself isn’t the enemy. It’s a normal human response. The problem arises when anxiety moves from the passenger seat into the driver’s seat. The church is called to model a different posture—not denial, but courage.
Philippians 4:6,7, written to a church community, says, “Do not be anxious about anything . . . And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
Courage doesn’t mean pretending the world isn’t broken. It means stepping into uncertainty with confidence that God is present, active and faithful. An anxious world needs a church that lives and loves without fear.
4. A divided world needs a united church
Across the globe, people increasingly describe their societies as deeply divided—politically, economically, culturally. Everything feels polarised. Every issue demands a side. Every opinion becomes a label. The church is called to something radically different.
Ephesians 4:3-5 reminds us to “Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace . . . There is one body and one Spirit . . . one Lord, one faith, one baptism.”
Unity does not mean uniformity. The early church was incredibly diverse—Jew and Gentile, rich and poor, free and enslaved. What united them wasn’t agreement on everything, but shared allegiance to Jesus.
That unity was so unusual it confused the surrounding culture. People didn’t know what category to place them in. Eventually, they called them Christians—little Christs.
In a divided world, a united church is a living witness to another way of being human.
5. A bleak world needs a hopeful church
Hope is in short supply. Recent Australian surveys suggest that only 19 per cent of people feel hopeful about the future, while nearly half describe themselves as low in hope. That should shake us. The Christian story is, at its core, a story of hope. Not naive optimism but confident expectation that God is not finished with this world.
Jesus has come. Jesus is present. Jesus will come again. That hope changes how we live, how we suffer, how we love and how we imagine the future. A bleak world doesn’t need more despair echoed back to it. It needs a church willing to say through words and actions there is still hope.
Looking ahead
As we journey through these challenging times, the invitation is simple: will we be the church the world needs? A loving church. An authentic church. A courageous church. A united church. A hope-filled church. Not because we have it all together but because we belong to Jesus, and He is still building His church.
Josh Stothers is the associate pastor and chaplain at Kellyville church and Hills Adventist College (NSW).
