Four years ago, my pastor left our church and moved 45 minutes away to plant a congregation. Thankfully, he had a family of six, so that more than doubled the waiting group of five people. My wife and I decided to join the group because we're church-planting junkies; if we're not sitting on folding chairs, we don't know how to worship! Still, it had been some time since our church fit in a living room and served Holy Communion from a card table.

I figured the new church would soon be like the former one, for it had the same senior pastor, the same worship style, a similar location, and, including our family, 10 of the same people.

I was wrong, hilariously wrong.

The church has become radically different from its ancestor. Their demographics, passions, and projects diverge widely, even wildly. One example: They have a ministry for home-schooling families; we have one for Gen-Y professionals.

The churches stand as a case study for Lyle Schaller's point that churches are progressively becoming ...