There
is a crisis in the North American church. The way we once did things, no longer
works. We cling to models that were faithful 75 years ago, models of ministry that
brought Gospel to millions, for generations flowing from the post-World War Two
era. But now, my faith tradition, broadly speaking the mainline tradition—denominations
associated with European Protestantism, who have structures in place to weed out bad
actors and hold leaders to account—are heading to statistical non-existence in
a decade or so.
It is
imperative that the mainline tradition,
to move beyond its way of being from decades past, grapple with the world
as it is. This especially means grappling with the four Ds: Disestablishment,
Decentralization, Demographic Shift, and most importantly, Disenchantment.
Disestablishment:
When
the Baltimore Colts were a team, or so I’ve heard, they were only allowed to
play football after a certain time on Sunday, on order of the Archbishop of
Baltimore. Then when Baltimore got a new team, the Baltimore Ravens, the
Archbishop went to the owner of the team to schedule when the team could play
on Sundays, and he was gently shown the door.
As
the above story illustrates, something has fundamentally shifted in how
American society treats Christianity. While America has never had an official
state religion, we have often informally acted in ways that centered the
Christian faith. This is an insight Theologian Douglas John Hall has famously
pointed out in his own country, Canada. There were once a host of
cultural norms that assisted the church, and the church has grown to rely on
them. In fact, often the Church returned the favor, teaching American cultural
values instead of the gospel. As long as the Church was vaguely “nice” a bunch
of social organizations would help it out.
For a
variety of reasons (Bowling
Alone dynamics, the end of the Cold War and the rise of the War on
Terror, etc.) that reality came to an end. Some in the Church are desperately
trying to claw our way back into the halls of power, others despair. I would
suggest the whole situation is an opportunity.
We can now reconsider all those
formal and informal cultural connections and start again. The Church has been
given an opportunity to rethink how we make partnerships. One of the places
doing this sort of work, at least on a building use level, is Partners for Sacred Places in Philly.
The Mainline needs to intentionally remake connections with new partners. We
need to re-imagine our place in society and find where the Holy Spirit is
already acting in our neighborhoods (is that not the whole story of the book of
Acts)!
Decentralization:
Once,
or so I have been told, the world was centralized. Everyone received news from
a single trusted newscaster, desks in schools all faced forward looking at a
teacher, organizations were very hierarchical, a top-down kind of thing. The
Church too functioned in this way, top down, facing forward in your pews,
trusting the Pastor as the authority on the Faith. And this all worked quite
swimmingly, at least for a time.
Now
everyone gets their news from information silos, classrooms are modular and
virtual, and organizations are taught to value decentralized, democratic,
“leaderless” leadership, as most clearly articulated by the book The
Starfish and the Spider. And probably most noticeable, the internet has
flattened the world.
And
the Church has changed, some. The ELCA constitution uplifts lay
leadership and democratic principles in a way predecessor bodies did not. When
Covid came around we managed to get most of our congregations onto the
internet. But we’re still struggling with this.
I can’t help but think of a very
confused Roman Catholic who attended my congregation for a time. He had
discovered from some amalgamation of the “History” Channel and chat rooms on
the internet that the difference between Protestants and Catholics was that
Protestants acknowledged that the Apostle Paul was a werewolf (that was the
thorn in his flesh). When I burst his bubble, he wasn’t fazed. He decided I was
a centralized authority figure--so suspect--who was hiding “the Truth.” Then he started attending an “Entrepreneurial”
Church down the street where the Pastor agreed that mainline Churches often
hide things from “the people.”
So, what do we do in a flat,
leaderless, democratic, virtual, world? We harness it. We recognize that 12
disciples, inspired by the testimony of Mary and her crew, and empowered by the
Holy Spirit, changed the world. “Oh no, we have small churches” can be
transformed into “Wow, we have small teams of empowered people excited to be
the Church in the world!”
Imagine if we took seriously the
Church’s duty to equip and encourage lay folks! Imagine if we embraced holy
experimentation, every congregation had a solid and sustainable internet
ministry, and we met out in the world, becoming seeds thrown out into the world
doing Kin(g)dom work!
Demographics:
The ELCA, and many Mainline
denominations, identify as white and middle class. And there was a time when
that seemed to serve us well. After the world wars European refugees poured
into our country looking for Churches where they could belong and become American
at a pace that was comfortable. In the heyday of the Mainline, middle-class
jobs paid well and offered opportunities for women not to work. This meant
congregations had access to lots of funds and volunteer hours.
To be clear the above description
was never that neat, just talk to old timers, especially the women and
immigrants, or talk to non-white Lutherans, they have a whole different story
to tell. But, granting the above story, it didn’t last.
On one hand, immigration from
traditionally Lutheran countries tapered off. On the other hand, being middle
class shifted. Those who think of themselves as Middle Class are now time poor,
and financially poorer, than early generations, just read Reich, or Steve
Bannon for that matter. Hence new members aren’t beating down the doors,
there are fewer volunteers, and donations are down.
Luckily what is a “traditionally”
Lutheran country has changed. Ethiopia has the second largest Lutheran
population in the world, followed by Tanzania. For that matter, Guyana
has a thriving Lutheran tradition,
and if you’ve ever been to a Guyanese wedding, the first thing you notice is
how racially diverse the country is. So, sometimes I tell folk, invite anyone
who looks Guyanese to Church, because that’s a way of saying, invite everyone!
Throw away those preconceived notions of what a Lutheran looks like!
For that matter, we need to take a
hard look at what middle class practices of the past serve us well, and which
don’t. And, the impoverishment of the Mainline should refocus us on poverty and
point us to how Church is done by impoverished people!
Disenchantment:
Finally, behind all
the above there is a larger challenge we face, Disenchantment, as described by Richard
Beck. The way the average American lives makes it hard to believe in God at
all. Our habits and focuses point us to the material and secular things of this
world. We have trained ourselves to notice the ball, but miss
the gorilla.
So, what to do? Reenchant the
world! Encourage:
Holy Friendships—prayer partners and chancing “God
Conversations”
The Romance of the Faith—passionate preaching,
feeling as well as thinking, encouraging people to reflect on their own faith
stories,
and the wisdom therein.
Practice Gratitude—reflect on the “roses and thorns”
of your day, and give thanks for the roses,
Embracing Beauty—paint murals on churches, reflect on
iconography, create new pretty singable music.
Conclusion:
As
we bring Gospel to God’s world, I pray we do so clear eyed, ministering to the
world as it is, not as it once was, or as we would like it to be. Interpreting
our ministry in light of the 4Ds may help us to not fall back into nostalgia. Facing
the world as it is can be a challenge, but might bring forward previously
unseen opportunities. Seeing our world more clearly might allow us to see the
Spirit at work, patiently waiting for us to join in.
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