I want to write a book.
In truth, I am always wanting to write a book. I have, in fact, written several books, some of which were actually published. And I have now a manuscript ready to send to the publisher: The Great Amen: Launching and Leading the Academy of Preachers (2022, hopefully).
But the book I really want to write would carry a title something like The Church We Need; and by “we” I mean those of us in the United States reeling from decades of declining numbers in the pews and wrestling with how to relate to the centers of culture power.
What has been dominant throughout my half century of gospel work is dissolving before our eyes. Martha Simmons posted this week: “The great discussion of the next ten years will be WHAT SHALL WE DO WITH EMPTY CHURCH BULDINGS?” A member of the church where I preach is an architect and he said to me recently, “Most of what we do these days is advise megachurches on how to offload property and downsize operations.”
Sociologist Robert P. Jones wrote a book entitled, The End of White Christian America. The statistics that come at us with unrelenting force confirm that the entire Christian establishment in the United States is in peril.
I’m thinking all the time: what’s next?
For most of my life, White Evangelical Christianity (hereafter WEC) has been ascendant in these United States. Part of its allure was connected to Billy Graham and his incredible popularity; and part was derived from the network of para-church organizations like Campus Crusade for Christ, American Bible Society, and Focus on the Family.
Cultural issues like integration, abortion, and homosexuality rocked American society and the American church. WEC stood firm against all three for as long as they could; then convictions about these matters went underground until the rise of Donald Trump when they roared back with a vengeance. In a move that shocked everyone, WEC claimed Trump as their own and hoped he would lead them back to the future (by which they meant, white, straight, and in control (of women, that is, in all aspects of their lives).
Throughout these years, WEC claimed a quarter of the American population. Roman Catholics claimed another quarter and they also were against women in the pulpit, gays in the church, and abortion in the clinics. They were, to be fair, more open to integration in their school and churches, especially as the number of internationals serving as priests in America expanded dramatically.
But the Catholics were reeling from the sexual abuse scandal and the departure of as many as a third of their adherents. Were it not for the regular influx of Hispanic people, the situation would be even worse than it is.
Mainline Protestant Christians, once the dominant version of our faith, has been in numerical decline for more than 50 years. Only the last two years give these folk any relief, with data pointing toward a slight uptick in their numbers. Is out-and-out liberalism the future of Christianity in America?
In and around these three major expressions of Christianity are smaller, denser, and (in some cases) more compelling versions of our ancient-modern faith.
The question is not so much: “Where is authentic Christian living being embodied, explained, and exported into a community today?” but more fundamentally: “Of what does authentic Christian faith and practice consist?”
What part of our tradition—broadly imagined—needs to survive and thrive for Christian Community to flourish?
Or even more important: What elements of believing, behaving, and belonging in the name and spirit of Jesus are necessary for the human community to flourish?
That question assumes, of course, that our religion (or some religion) will be of great significance in the movement of human culture toward a healthy and humane future. Many people will question this assumption, and with good reason. Others are convinced the future is full of disaster and void of hope.
But because I think life, truth, justice, peace, and beauty flow naturally and essentially from the faith and practice centered around Jesus, I push back against this negativity. I believe in the future of the human community, and I believe Christian Community has much to contribute, much that it must contribute.
This is what I want to write about…as soon as I figure out what I want to say. And that will involve reading, observing, conversing (especially in The Meetinghouse), thinking, preaching (especially at Providence Church), and testing my ideas with friends (especially with The Trinity Group) and foes alike.
I’d like to hear from you. What artists, books, congregations, events, ideas, institutions, leaders, or movements do I need to pay attention to? Tell me what you think. Use the email form below, or call me, or just come for a visit here in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. It is a beautiful time of year!!
(October 2021)
