The church is a part of all this change, the world church and our individual churches. For many years, the church has resisted change, seeing some of the changes as contradictory to it’s way of being. Science and philosophy have asked questions that the church didn’t want answered or have created answers for which the church did not want questions. Where once, hundred year old traditions were highly valued and respected, now they are highly suspect and sometimes disdained. People want to know why we do what we do. People want to ask questions and not feel shame for asking them. People want honest and genuine people to walk with them in their doubts and struggles with their faith. People want a community that will accept them for who they are, to encourage them to grow, and to love them no matter what.
Some fear the fast pace of these changes and dig in their heels to steel against the changes. Some become adamant about the inerrancy and literalism of the bible, while others hold onto pews and traditional styles of worship. Because of the fear and anxiety around what may come, there is resistance to new ideas that will make changes. But if we dig in our heels, are we keeping people from the good news of Christ that we were commissioned by Jesus to share? If we aren’t willing to let the outside world in with all its changes, how do we keep from being irrelevant?
Many people in many churches have been working hard on processes that help their communities of faith discern a way forward. Who are we? To what is God calling us? Does God have a mission for us in this community? We are starting to bear the fruit of these processes. Churches are creating new mission statements, they are trying new ideas until they find one that works for them, they are reaching out to young people and these young people are breaking down barriers and bringing in even more new ideas.
We need to imagine a new future, new possibilities. It’s not easy. Sometimes this means taking risks. We don’t know whether a plan will be successful. We need to be open to failure. If fact, I want to throw out these two words: success and failure. Every new idea has risk and possibility. They may not bring the results we expect or hope for, but we learn and grow from each endeavour. It sends a message that we are trying or that we have tried. It inspires others to risk and imagine.
So many people are talking about how the “church is dying.” What does this mean? Does this mean that Christianity is dying? Is the death of our church the same as the decline in church attendance and church closures? Does it mean God’s work for us is coming to an end? I read a beautiful quote from author, Rachel Held Evans. “Death is something empires worry about, not something gardeners worry about. It’s certainly not something resurrection people worry about.” Christendom, or the empire of Christianity, may be dying, but there are still many Christians out there who are finding new ways to follow their faith, whether it be from within the walls of a church, on the streets feeding the hungry and housing the homeless, on Parliament Hill advocating for the those without a voice, in hospitals and care centres with those who are ill and lonely, or writing or speaking prophetic words in books, blogs, and podcasts. The work is never done until the kingdom of God is actually created upon this earth, which means we have a ways to go, my friends.
We are a resurrection people. We believe that for every beginning, there is an ending and for every ending, there is a beginning. We believe that death is not the end. If we, as a church, are dying, I can’t wait to see what resurrection looks like.
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