A New Kind of Christian Community

A Call for a New Reformation, Part 7

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When you think of Christianity, what's the first thing that pops into your mind?

There's a good chance that it is the image of a worship service, regardless of whether it is traditional with a pipe organ or contemporary with a praise band.

“Here is the church. Here is the steeple. Open the doors, and see all the people.”

You know what I'm talking about, don't you?

Let’s face it, Christianity is best symbolized in our culture with a church building or a worship service. After all, going to church is what Christians do. They gather to sing their praises and worship God. That's what makes them religiously “Christian”. Everything else is just a nice accessory to that main celebration of Christian identity.

Sure, there are many out there who claim to be Christians and don't go to church, but are they “real Christians”?

Remembering that old-time religion

It used to be easy to dismiss this new group of non-church-going Christians as being legitimately “Christian” as long as their numbers remained small. But, for better or worse, their numbers are growing. And even if they self-identify as Christian, they are more officially included in the fast-growing “spiritual but not religious” or “nones” category.

Meanwhile, the number of people attending worship services is dropping like a rock. Along with the decline in membership, churches also have a decline in resources. With a decline in resources, churches have an inability to engage in social projects as they have done in the past.

The institutional church used to be one of the pillars of our society. Now, as it continues to descend in its death spiral, it’s proving incapable of fulfilling its traditional spiritual and social roles.

Here are some ways churches used to serve their communities…

• Christian education: 100 years ago if you wanted to know what it meant to be Christian, you had to go to a church. After all, that's where all the information about Christianity was. You learned about how to follow Jesus through sermons. You learned about the Bible through Sunday School. And, I assume they had some form of adult education for those who wanted it.

• Building community: Church communities were stable networks that provided friendships and social safety nets. You could meet new people through potlucks and other group activities. Through continued interaction, you could get to know others pretty well and develop strong social bonds.

• Networking: Dare I say it, it was a great place to market what you did. Need someone to fix your roof? There was probably someone in your church who could help you out. If you were the person who helped people with roofs, when someone needed their roof fixed, they would probably contact you. This networking was a byproduct of the weekly interactions.

• Building up society: If someone needed help, churches were great at being there for them. If someone couldn’t afford help with their house, work crews could go in and take care of whatever issues they had. How many times have churches taken food directly to people when their pantries were empty? Churches served a vital role in the health and well-being of the wider community.

• Worshiping God: The centralized worship service brought everybody together. Sunday was a day that people could rest and reconnect. Group participation in this common activity enhanced social cohesion.

Postmodern culture is experiencing a meaning crisis.

Why have we lost sight of Meaning?
Is there any hope of getting it back?
Better yet, is the loss of Meaning really a bad thing?

If you long for a theological path forward, Drinking from an Empty Glass: Living Out of a Meaningless Spirituality is the book you’re looking for.

Saying goodbye to that old-time religion

As I've said before, the institutional church we're used to was created to speak to and give expression to the modern worldview. Unfortunately for the church, our culture has stepped out of modernity and into postmodernity.

The arrival of the internet and its effect on society has been instrumental in the shift. It's actually quite amazing to notice how free access to information changes everything.

Let's look at how it has undermined the modern church.

• Christian education: You simply don't have to go to a church to access information about Christianity any longer. Think about it. What would you like to know right now? Do you want to hear a sermon, learn about atonement theory, learn about the Bible, learn about a particular Christian tradition? Whatever it is, it's literally right at your fingertips (as in right now while you're reading this article). You can search online, order books, or simply go to YouTube and watch videos. You no longer have to go to a church to find out what it means to be Christian. In fact, you can learn much more about what it means to be Christian online than you can in many churches (If you don’t believe me, just ask those who have deconstructed).

• Building community: In person, face-to-face community is special. The ability to sit within reach of someone and have a conversation is not something I want to minimize. That said, you don't need to go to a church to connect with other Christians any longer. You can always hop online and meet them through text messages or video chat. You can build deep and robust relationships with others far, far away.

• Networking: In a church, networking is a byproduct of participation. It's not efficient if you actually want to network from a business perspective. In fact, it's not necessarily reliable if you're looking for someone to work with from a consumer perspective. Again, online opportunities for networking are simply better than what you would find in a church. Case in point, LinkedIn. The reason the platform exists is so you can easily and efficiently build up your own professional network.

• Building up society: Sadly, most churches are in financial trouble. They struggle to pay their bills and repair the building while most of their budget goes to the pastor. That doesn't leave a lot of resources to build up society. And, as busy as people are, it's a lot harder to get people together for group projects to help others out.

• Worshiping God: This is a big one. The main reason why people are leaving Christianity is because they are coming to understand worship differently than the generations before them. They are taking more seriously the idea that worshiping isn't something that happens on Sunday morning, but something that happens in your everyday life. Here's a video of someone who left Christianity talking about why he left in the first place. It's very telling. (Note: I’m starting at 4:22, and the section I want to highlight for you goes through 9:11.)

Welcome to the great untethering

For many Christians who are leaving the church, their primary motivation isn't just that the Sunday worship service is meaningless in their lives. It is important to note that the two main reasons people left their congregations in 2022 were…

1. They didn't believe it anymore

2. They did not like the way LGBTQAI+ people were treated.

If you listen to those who have deconstructed, you will hear them talk about how silly or downright horrific the theology is. And, you will hear them describe their former religion as bearing a spirit of hate in its heart and being morally bankrupt. While not all exvangelicals share these sentiments, these are common testimonies of insiders who have woken up.

This is not to say that those leaving ceased to be Christian. But it's safe to say that they ceased to be that kind of Christian.

There's a t-shirt you can buy online that says, “I'm a love your neighbor Christian, not a storm the capital kind" (here’s one version). This distinction is critical for many. They want to put as much distance as possible between them and a form of Christianity that they consider to be reprehensible and dangerous to society.

The emergence of choice

Add to all of this the fact that you don't actually have to be a Christian anymore in America.

In the past (let's say 100 years ago), there was a good chance you would have been a Christian because your parents were Christian. And they were Christian because their parents were Christian. You were literally born into your religious identity.

Furthermore, the dominant religion in society was one form of Christianity or another. In theory, you did have some choices. For example, you could be a Presbyterian or a Methodist. You might even choose to be Episcopalian. But ultimately, when it came to whether or not you were going to be a Christian, you didn't have much of a choice.

The emerging generations do have a choice. They can explore different kinds of Christianity to see which one they resonate with most. And, they have access to all the information necessary to explore completely different religions.

Today, you may have grown up in a Christian household, but you can become a Wiccan, a druid, a Taoist, a Muslim, a Jew, or even an atheist. Not only that, you can mix and match if you feel so inclined. All this is possible because you have the information you need to do it available to you online.

In the past, Christians were Christian because the religion that they received was a hand-me-down religion. Today, Christians don't have to accept a hand-me-down religion, but rather they can choose to be whatever speaks most to their spirit. And, if they choose a non-Christian path, they don't have to worry about life-threatening religious persecution, such as we have seen in historical inquisitions (at least not yet).

That means the primary function Christianity serves in their life is not to tie them into a community identity. Rather, the primary function is something completely different.

What is the primary purpose of Christian community?

In the past, churches served a variety of purposes, as I noted earlier. But, I think the primary purpose of Christian comunity used to be to give someone a sense of Christian identity, belonging, and purpose within a social context. And, the primary way a church achieved that was by gathering the congregation together to celebrate their common identity and mission in the world through a centralized worship service.

In today’s world, however, I believe that the primary purpose of Christian community transcends that.

Now, Christian community is called to facilitate a sense of identification with the fullness of humanity, and through that humanity enter into identification with all of creation. And the primary way Christian community does this is through personalized spiritual disciplines.

This is a huge shift for what it means to be a Christian community, and one that the institutionalized Church may or may not even be able to make (this is yet to be seen).

Jesus Christ, fully human & fully divine

The basis for this shift is found in the person of Jesus Christ theologically understood to be both fully human and fully divine at the same time.

On the cross, as Jesus offered forgiveness to even his enemies—those who would crucify him—he shattered the boundaries of tribal identity. He ceased to identify merely with those like himself, those who were his friends and wider sense of family. By also identifying with his enemy, he poured out his personal identity into the entire spectrum of what it means to be human. Through his humanity, he fully identified with the entirety of the creation in which humanity plays its part.

Through the power of Resurrection, the fullness of humanity becomes the Temple of Christ. Christians are called to transcend tribal identities and participate fully in this Temple. Inasmuch as we participate in the fullness of humanity, we participate in the Spirit of Christ.

Irony of ironies

So, the irony of “Christian community” is this…

There is no such thing as a distinctly Christian community. For Christians, there is really only the fullness of the human community.

Indeed, when we create “Christian community”, we end up reducing Christ to just another tribal identity.

Christianity isn’t about the church. It’s about the Divine Calling to participate in Life Itself.

Indeed, the more we start to participate in the fullness of our personal humanity, we start to see the rest of humanity as actually being an extension of ourselves. We are all members of the same human body. We discover ourselves in the others around us and come to know more fully what it means to be human with them.

Pretty awesome, right? Well, before you get too caught up in all this, I need to point out there’s a huge wrench that has been thrown into the system. It’s called…

Everyday life

It overwhelms us and pulls our attention away from that deeper human reality in which we are invited to participate. Truth be told, we consistently come across people we don't like and don’t want anything to do with them. We encounter those who make us feel threatened. We are distracted, frustrated, and tired. In the midst of all this everyday life, it becomes so easy to throw up walls and cut others off in order to protect ourselves.

Indeed, everyday life makes it extremely hard to remember the common humanity that we all share. It’s hard to remember that “those people” are not our enemies. It’s hard to remember that they are our sisters and our brothers. It’s hard to remember we (together, all of us) are part of the same Family of God.

Having been unmoored by everyday life, we realize that we have to reorient ourselves to our Christian calling to transcend all tribal identities, the Christian calling to identify with the fullness of humanity and participate more fully in Life Itself. And, here’s how we do it…

We form a tribe.

We form a distinct Christian community that ironically serves to remind us that there is no such thing as a Christian community. Indeed, for Christians, there is only the human community.

The primacy of personal spiritual disciplines

And this brings us to a major shift I believe the New Reformation requires. The Christian religion has to stop revolving around the centralized worship service, and instead make participation in personal spiritual disciplines its new focus.

When postmoderns explore religious options, what they are really looking for is something that can help them unleash the fullness of their potential, a path that can help them become who they were truly meant to be.

For those who feel called to pursue a Christian path, spiritual disciplines are the perfect tools to help them find what they are looking for.

There are a variety of options that we can offer within the context of Christian spiritual growth and development.

• Journaling

• Lectio Divina

• Shadow work

• Centering prayer

• Personal liturgies

• Visualization exercises

(Note: if you would like to join us for Lectio Divina Online on the 1st and 3rd Sundays, you can get to the signup page through here.)

The list could easily go on and on. And there's no reason not to borrow more tools from other religions. They have a lot to offer.

The main reason I consider spiritual disciplines to be the new primary focus is because of the effect they have on individuals regarding spiritual growth.

I believe that one's outer behavior reflects one's inner world. Indeed, one's inner landscape establishes a glass ceiling with regard to how much someone can grow spiritually.

Why inner work needs to be personalized

I generally look at inner work as a healing process. What one person needs to heal on the inside isn't necessarily what another person needs.

Take shadow work, for example. It’s an important and powerful discipline. It's about becoming aware of the extent to which we have buried perceived deficiencies deep down into our subconscious.

If we don't recognize and accept our shadow, we are likely to project those perceived deficiencies onto others and treat them accordingly (which is obviously not good). As long as we continue to deny our shadows—this uncomfortable part of our humanity—we maintain a barrier that prevents us from identifying with the fullness of our own humanity, and therefore the humanity of others.

However, shadow work isn't good for everyone. My understanding is that those who have not yet developed a strong sense of ego should not do it. The shadow results from ego development, and you don't want to start dismantling something that you haven't fully built up yet.

So, for someone in that situation, their spiritual task would be to develop their ego. They need to find their sense of inner strength and power, that which gives them the confidence to explore the world as an individual.

For spiritual disciplines to be able to fulfill their function and help someone grow spiritually, they need to be matched to the individual and their spiritual needs.

Inner work as inner justice

Last week I emphasized Christian Justice as a prime feature of the New Reformation. I think one of the mistakes Christian communities often engage in is to push for a social justice agenda without coupling it with inner justice work. The experience of inner justice helps us connect with the depths of our humanity, which is key to identifying with the fullness of humanity, which includes the marginalized.

Integrating the marginalized humanity within ourselves (inner justice) is an experience that is foundational to being able to truly work toward integrating the marginalized humanity within society (social justice). When we lack this groundwork, we run the danger of going through the motions of calling for justice in a way that turns it into an excuse for othering, which is the very problem Divine Justice opposes.

And this brings me back to my earlier point which I will say in a slightly different way…

Your inner landscape establishes a glass ceiling that limits your ability to manifest Divine Love in your social life.

Spiritual disciplines are the tools you need to work with to bring about the inner healing that gets you in touch with your marginalized self so you can embrace it as part of the fullness of your humanity. Indeed, this is the inner-justice work that liberates you from the shackles of Fate and empowers you to embrace your Destiny, so that you can become who you were truly meant to be.

But what about the actual worship services that we're used to?

This is a tricky question. There are a couple of ways to understand what a worship service is.

One way to look at the Sunday morning worship service is akin to the college weekend party. The whole point of going to college is to get the education necessary to earn a degree. Still, a significant part of the college experience (for many students anyway) is the Friday night house party. (If you ask me any questions, I will plead the Fifth.)

Despite how important it seems to college students, the bottom line is that it has absolutely nothing to do with the entire point of being at college in the first place. Having nothing to do with the ultimate purpose of college, it is an expendable experience.

When we look at the stereotypical Sunday morning worship this way, it becomes an optional part of the Christian experience which has nothing at all to do with the call to be Christian. It's a quaint little add-on that should never be confused with the more important things. It certainly is not something we should spend a whole lot of time, energy, or resources on (especially when resources are scarce).

On the other hand, you could look at a Sunday morning worship service as a liturgy designed to facilitate spiritual formation. The hour-long event could be structured so that everybody present intentionally participates in an alternative narrative of possibility. Participating in this kind of liturgy can have an incredible effect on the spiritual development of a community over time.

However…

In order for that radical transformation to happen, participants must understand deeply the different components of the liturgy. If they do not, then it will not be meaningful for them in the sense of spiritual development, even though it may be extremely meaningful for them with regard to personal spiritual comfort.

So, the efficacy of a liturgy has nothing to do with the extent to which it is “traditional”. Rather, the efficacy of liturgy results from the intention placed into it during its development and the attention given to it as an alternative narrative by participants. If those two things don't happen, the worship service becomes the epitome of a “mere ritual” that is designed to make people feel good and justify their complacency.

I suspect this is the norm for most churches in America. And, if this is the way a congregation approaches Sunday morning worship, quite frankly I consider the event to be actively counterproductive to spiritual formation. That makes it highly expendable.

Of course, the moment you start thinking about the stereotypical (and expensive) worship service as irrelevant and expendable, it opens the door to new ways of operating. And that’s what I’m going to tackle next week.

Peace, Bo
www.evolvingchristianfaith.net

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Credits

• Thanks to NightCafe for the cover art