‘It’s a lie from the pit of hell’.
This is a quote from the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church - the Most Rev. Sean Rowe, speaking at the Episcopal Parish Network conference in Charlotte last week.
Church decline, he went on to say - as 'a final word, and a final story’ is ‘not the teaching of Jesus’.
This quote got a lot of press - I’ve read it in at least three articles this week, plus I heard it from people I knew who were there at the conference (held in the city near where I live).
Bp. Rowe was answering a question about the decline - and predicted death - of the mainline church.
But he answered a question about the Body of Christ.
I completely agree - with my whole life - that the church itself is not disappearing.
I also believe that the way we do church - the mainline institutional structure - is, in fact, collapsing.
And that it may survive in some form - but it will not look anything like it does today (or more accurately, anything it look liked 50 years ago, which is where our imagination tends to get stuck).
There is danger in conflating the continuation of the church itself with the insistence on a certain expression of it.
The danger I see: we miss where God is actually calling us to death and resurrection.
Not our own re-construction of the church the way we remember it.
Not even our own re-imagination of ministry (which is my work!).
The actual adventure of being part of something that God is re-creating - something we cannot see yet. That is not ours to see yet.
And that if we keep insisting that particular denominations and congregations must live on into the future - and framing that as ‘the church’ - then we may be missing what God is leading us toward.
So how do we walk that line?
How do we move forward faithfully - trying new things, while holding to the tradition - while still having the humility to know that, in the words of Thomas Merton:
I have no idea where I am going.
I do not see the road ahead of me.
I cannot know for certain where it will end.
I ask myself these questions every day.
Part of the re-imagination journey for me has been to create a ‘gym for your soul’.
Technically, this is just a modern branch of it. As far back as the fourth century, Christian monastics have been describing a life of faith as ‘spiritual gymnastics’ - ascesis (ἄσκησις).
We don’t think our way into believing - we practice. We actively take part in life with God.
I see so many parallels between the first century and the 21st - it calls me to lean all the way back to the first Christians to find pathways into the church of the future.
‘The decline is how we frame our next spiritual step forward’.
Bp. Rowe said this in the same conversation at the EPN conference.
I think he’s absolutely right about that.
We can’t let our fear push us into denial - and at the same time, we can’t let it push us into believing that we’re just going to do the same things we’ve always done, and God’s going to miraculously restore us.
I can see three ways to faithfully follow where God is leading us during this spiritually adventurous time…
1. Evaluate how we are ‘Communities of Practice’
This takes brutal honesty - but it’s worth it.
How much of our time and resources as a community are we actually spending in worship, prayer, formation of disciples and evangelism?
And how much time and resources are we spending in meetings: committees and commissions and planning and budget and communications, etc.
’Where you treasure is, your heart will be also’. (Matthew 6:21)
This does not just apply to our bank accounts.
How much ‘church’ is in our church? And what can we do to change this?
2. Ask ourselves how invested we are in saving this place.
Are we working so hard just to save this building, this particular congregation, this denomination - versus how invested we are in following Jesus. Wherever that leads.
If the numbers keep showing that we’ll have to shut our doors soon - maybe we need to shut our doors.
Not in defeat. In the firm belief in resurrection (isn’t God always opening windows when we shut doors???).
3. Consider that the collapse of the institutional church is an invitation from God to move into the unknown future.
We in the mainline church spend so much energy trying to convince ourselves and others that our congregations and denominations are not in trouble.
What if we just put that down?
Maybe we don’t have to push against it, but instead greet the (undeniable) statistics with curiosity. Even joy.
Why? Because God is calling us to something new. Because we are in the resurrection business.
We know death is not the end. So we shouldn’t have to fear our own.
In my own ministry, I talk about how the Future of Church is agile.
How we must cultivate the ability to adapt to the environment - technologically, organizationally.
I think we also need to learn to be agile theologically.
Not in the sense of changing what we believe - but in rediscovering it. And with it, the true sense that we are not in charge, but we are following God’s call in all things.
With all the fear, trembling, awe and wonder this brings with it.
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I'm so grateful for the ways you have challenged me and supported me these last few months!! The future has always been murky, but traveling along with others who help us stay focused on God's faithfulness helps tremendously!
Come on!!! Sure, Friday is awful but SUNDAY is coming!!!!