The future of the Church - Where do we go from here?- Daniel Mosby
Two events, Trump’s election victory and the resignation of the Archbishop of Canterbury, have rocked the Christian world in the last few weeks. In this blog I ask what next? Where does the Church go from here and what will Christianity look like in 20 years time?
In his 2017 book “The great emergence” Phyliss Tickle notes that throughout history around every 500 years the Church goes through a sizable transition.
0 AD, the Church is born
500 AD, Gregory the great
1054 AD, The great schism. The split of the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthadox Church
1517 AD, The protestant reformation led by Martin Luther and the birth of the Anglican church in 1534
We are now in 2024. In the United States Christian Nationalism is prevalent. Donald Trump, the darling of the evangelical right has just been elected for his second term in office. Many prominent Church leaders have hailed his victory as God’s will and a fulfillment of prophesy. In the UK the most senior figure in the Anglican Church the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has been forced to resign due to his failure to deal with abuse scandals. Even before this Welby was battling to prevent a split in the Church of England over the endorsement of homosexuality and gay marriage with both conservative and progressive branches feeling passionate about their cause.
Add to this a decline in Church attendance throughout the western world . According to the 2018 British Social Attitudes Survey (BSA), 33% of over-75s identified as C of E, while only 1% of people aged 18−24 did so. A former Archbishop of Canterbruy Rowan Williams declared Britiain to now be a “post-christian society”.
For those of us who have experienced the transformational power of Christ in our lives the state of the global Church is enough to bring us to tears. The Church is the body of Christ, the bride of Christ, the vehicle which God wants to use to transform the world. It’s a beautiful, broad body of people determined to bring light to the darkness. But it’s also a flawed human institution, seemingly riddled with abuse of all forms. It’s struggling to differentiate between church and state. It’s increasingly struggling to remain relevant to gen Z, gen Alpha and beyond.
The way I see it there are three main challenges facing the Church:
The Church has to get a handle on the sexual, physical and spiritual abuse that it has tolerated, covered up and in some cases endorsed at the highest level for much of it’s history. Too many (usually white men) have darkened the name of the Church and by association God himself.
The rise of Christian Nationalism particularly in the USA. Epitomized by Trump holding aloft a Bible during the 2021 Capitol siege. People carried crosses towards the Senate in an attempt to overturn an election in one of the world’s greatest democracies. I recently asked several Trump supporters (all adamant he was chosen by God) what characteristics of Jesus they saw reflected in Trump. Not one could give me an answer.
The increasing difference between the worlds values and established Church teaching. Same sex marriage, abortion and women in leadership are still causing division and disagreement. Can the Church make itself be about more than rules and moral judgement? Can it objectively reevaluate the Victorian societal values that have somehow become cannon.
The problem is different parts of the Church are increasingly worshiping different versions of Jesus.
But there is hope! An increasing number of people are beginning to deconstruct their faith and think afresh about the very core of their beliefs. From prominent scholars and pastors such as Brad Jersazk, Brian McLaren, Brian Zhand , Dave Matthews and millions of others across the globe. People are deconstructing their belief system and building something beautiful.
To me it’s simple, I am a Christian, I follow Christ. I don’t follow Trump, Welby or any other human. I follow Jesus. Jesus was sent to represent God to us. If we want to know God’s character we need to look at Jesus and what was Jesus’s character? Love. Jesus refused to judge others, refused to get involved with politics, refused violence and just got on with loving people. He had no time for the Pharisees or the temple money changers, no reverence for the establishment or the institutions. He wa a radically inclusive whirlwind of love. To survive, I believe individually and collectively, the Church needs to, not just think but act, on the 90’s wrist band phrase “What would Jesus do?”. You can read more about my personal journey of deconstruction here.
I believe the Church is at a fork and is sadly likely to go in different directions. But I also believe their is a third way, a narrow way, a difficult painful route. But follow this route and something beautiful can emerge. The church is pregnant with possibilities about what it may become. It will be tough but I’m so excited about what can come out the other side.
I would love to see a church that loves first. The Church’s job is to love people not judge people. A Church that operates under the tree of life not the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that Jesus was nailed to. A Church where people are taught to critically evaluate everything they hear (even from their own church leaders) and to test it’s alignment to the character of Jesus. A Church that takes all of the wonderful practical works of the current church the food banks, the debt centers, the youth work, the sense of community and centers those ministries in unconditional love. The Church that accepts everyone as the unique image of God they are. This is I believe the form Phyliss Tikle’s great emergence will take and I will put all that I have into seeing it come about.
So what are you going to do? If you agree with what I’m saying do you remain where you are and work to effect change from within? Or do you move on to somewhere that already aligns with this way of thinking?
If you don’t agree with me, perhaps you think that Trump’s your man, or you’re just not yet ready for the deconstruction journey. Know that I love you, that God loves you and that I believe the Church will always accommodate a range of beliefs as it has since it’s inception.
20 years ago the Church looked very different, I believe we are currently in transition to the Church of the future. Something will emerge from the current situation. Right now I could live in fear and despair about what I see happening to the Church that I love but instead I live in hope and expectation that the church 20 years from now, will reflect Jesus more than it has done at any point since the early days recorded in Acts.
If you’ll join me in praying and working to manifest this reality please comment below, share this post, pray but most importantly act to be future you want to see.