A Cultural Shift

We are living through several epic cultural shifts. Since the demise of the five-hundred-year Protestant-Christian cultural consensus in recent years, almost every denominational group has shrunk in size, especially in participation from younger people. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, churches saw fewer young families with children. The loss of America’s “mainline” Protestant churches is significant for the country in terms of the faith development of Americans and the way politically diverse churches helped hold us together as church families through moments of national division.

Until the turn of the century, it looked as if the United States might dodge the collapse of denominational Christianity seen in Canada, Australia, and Europe. But now, the U.S. is catching up with the cultural attitudes toward organized religion in those places. In the aftermath of this collapse, varying scenarios may await us:

1. A new spiritual "Great Awakening" might converge with other cultural movements to create a new kind of Protestantism in this century. Possibly growing out of a global crisis, such an awakening will be something we have not seen for almost a century.
2. A new way of relating to the gospel could emerge from the ashes of the old denominational traditions and institutions.
3. The decline could continue until Christianity is considered an irrelevant and expired movement among most people.

There are signs that could be used as evidence to point to any of the above three directions. Each possible narrative may prove true to some degree. However, let’s pay special attention to Scenario 2 above. Those observing young adults as they relate to Christian faith and those taking note of the changing conditions for church planting see a clear shift away from institutional loyalty, even though interest in spirituality remains constant. If the gospel is articulated as a way of life following Jesus (as the early church deemed it), future Christians will relate to Jesus in ways far less institutional (focused around local church programming and buildings).

In 1937, at the age of thirty-one, German pastor and theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote his classic book, The Cost of Discipleship. A bombshell of a book, it reframed Christian faith in a way that stood opposed to the Christian nationalism that had overtaken the establishment churches in Nazi Germany. Perhaps Bonhoeffer was planting the early seeds for the next major season of Christianity – as we shift from a twentieth-century obsession with facilities and small-business approaches to church. The heart of this shift is reframing our mission as growing disciples rather than growing church organizations.

Here are some ideas to think about and discuss with the people in the place you call church:

• What would it look like if we organized to form, mobilize, and deploy disciples into the world instead of gathering people into a worship service on Sunday morning?
• If we shift our focus and practices toward forming connections with our neighbors and serving in the world, how might that reshape our worship and fellowship gatherings within the sanctuary?
• How would this shift influence our approach to building community, sharing faith, and supporting one another’s spiritual growth?