When we ponder the "fate of the church," we should bear in mind two facts, or perhaps better, vague observations or suspicions that seem to point to phenomena both true and solid.

First, given the cultural legacy of the New Testament, it is very hard to imagine a world of the future in which no one at all is grabbed by the story of Jesus Christ (perhaps best told in Mark's gospel), and no one finds hope, strength and comfort in reading it. Whether such people of the future, who are grabbed and comforted by Jesus, will look much like what we tend to call "Christians," we can't know, and shouldn't really care. It's up to the Spirit, really.

Second, Christians have evolved into beings who are curiously obsessively conservative regarding continuity vs. change in time. Our nostalgia can be overwhelming, and morbid. Perhaps this conservatism is an idol. Jesus, for his part, thought the end was coming soon; nothing in his ministry was meant to last. Let's be aware of this obsession of ours.