Postmodernism is a hard concept to get a handle on, so if we hope to minister in a profoundly postmodern culture we have to approach our neighborhoods, our friends, and even our family member like missionaries learning a new language.
Dr. Shawn Keener has spent many years of ministry in New England — one of the most post-christian regions of the United States. Because of this, he has his finger on what your church’s spiritual neighborhood looks like, or will look like very soon. I encourage you to pay close attention to his words in this guest article.
— Karl Vaters
The first step toward addressing a church’s problem is admitting we have one.
Many of our churches are in times of trouble. Without doubt, God is also on the move. The church is Christ’s Bride being beautifully prepared for him, so we are already overcomers. This is our identity.
Given these truths, we might balk and say “don’t be so doom and gloom,” and point to the churches that are doing very well. They are clearly thriving. But do these examples merely take the edge off the problem and dull our urgency to face it?
We find ourselves in a postmodern and post-christian culture. Postmodern stands for a worldview that loves mystery and story more than settled fact, is super-suspicious of any person of authority, is globally- and community-conscious, and embraces authenticity and relationship as all-important.
A postmodern worldview is no more incompatible with Christian faith or scripture than a modern view is. The term, “post-christian” means (among other things) that the church is no longer in the center of society. We’ve lost our clout.
The consequences for the church being surrounded by a postmodern and post-christian culture are myriad.
Whistling Past the Graveyard
What worries me?
The church, (generalizing here), seems to be unaware, or at a loss for what it means. What many would call “whistling past the graveyard.”
If we were to hypothetically skip ahead a few years we would be alarmed that anyone even thought this was debatable now. But the fact that we are debating it means that our culture is wading through a frightening, fog-shrouded liminal bog without the church to help them to the far shore.
We’re still standing on the near bank, vainly trying to call them back.
Although we are fully aware that the church is no longer at the center of society and no longer has clout, we’re still acting as if we are and do. We’re still acting as though our propositional pontification scratches the itch of the deep questions Postmoderns are asking.
We’re still acting like Sunday mornings largely define a church. We’re still acting like the church receives and that people will prioritize church programming. We’re still acting as though a tiny bit of disingenuousness can go unnoticed.
Also, I don’t think church planting (or daughtering or replanting) are primary antidotes. Options like these have a role, but I’m with Jack Daniel, from his book Patient Catalyst: Leading Church Revitalization, that “the greatest opportunity for revival in America lies in the revitalization of the many thousands of existing churches in decline.”
I think revitalization of historic, declining churches is the most difficult remedy by far. But desperate times call for desperate measures.
Don’t immediately write off the historic, the old, the native, and the parochial. Established churches, even those in decline, have an amazing amount of leverage at their fingertips.
Where Is Your Candlestick?
Our churches are not accidentally where they are. Christ the Head, with eyes like blazing fire and feet like burnished bronze, put each one as his candlestick precisely where he wants it to be.
Every church is responsible for their locale (what Mike Rubino calls “your church’s God-given Geographic Responsibility“). And I don’t think Jesus is going to wink and say “that’s okay, you tried,” if we fail to take that responsibility ultra-seriously.
Because our nation is increasingly postchristian, we need to think like missionaries. We need to learn the postmodern language. Walk a mile in their shoes and know them almost better than they do. Only then can we hope to translate the gospel specifically for them.
We’re not churches in America any longer—we’re missionaries in someone else’s village.
For example, in Holbrook MA, where Jesus placed our candlestick for over a decade, there are over 11,000 people in 4,000 households. About 300 attend church. So maybe 1,000 (at most) have some connection to an evangelical church somewhere. Perhaps another 1,000 (optimistically) might have some pre-existing connection with a church to which they could possibly be drawn back.
That leaves a full 9,000 people in lil’ ole Holbrook for whom church and Jesus are not even a “thing.”
I want to know how to reach them. I want to be willing to do whatever God shows us is necessary. Take my will and make it thine.
Will you too accept this impossible-without-the-Spirit mission?
(This article originally appeared in the Baptist Churches of New England blog. It has been re-used here with the author’s permission.)
(Photo by Lauren De Clerck | Flickr)
