North America
Let’s be clear: The much-heralded “decline of Christianity” is not about God losing faith in humankind. In North America the vast majority of the populace still hold their faith in God. It isn’t about losing their moral compass thanks to whatever you happen to loathe. It isn’t about fickle millennials.
In fact, I would argue that Christianity isn’t in trouble at all. Christadelphian ecclesias are in trouble. But we can’t hold God hostage. God will do what God will do. Whether our ecclesias stay open for business, God will keep on loving all that God has made.
The tragedy — in the classic sense of self-inflicted wounds and fatal flaws — is that we mostly did this to ourselves, and we hurt many people along the way. Here is what we did:
- We stopped trying.
For a time, ecclesias in North America were bold risk-takers. After the re-union in 1952, our community was re-energized. We used radio programs and later broadcast on local television networks. We almost all supported regional ASK efforts. We had booths at local fairs. We canvassed local households. Now, ASK efforts as local combined initiatives have almost totally disappeared. As a result, most (but fortunately not all) of these efforts have ceased, to be almost entirely replaced by the larger ecclesias focusing on Bible Seminars, rarely involving other local ecclesias in their efforts. We have mostly settled into maintenance mode, because it feels safe and comfortable. We fought over things that didn’t matter because the things that did matter — gospel proclamation, strengthening the local young people, looking after our Sunday Schools, outreach into the community, all took too much effort. Instead we involved ourselves not in studying the first principles, but largely focusing on the precise details of the major first principles that have divided the Christadelphians in North America into two groups. If I compare the amount of material on my hard drive occupied by two topics, fellowship and resurrectional responsibility, with all the other areas covered in our statement of faith, I know which the larger amount is by far.
We used to have domestic as well as foreign missionaries: but now we find it hard even to find anyone to serve in the mission field. And how often have a few brethren or sisters gone for a few weeks into mission areas, and dispensed “advice” and funds, but thereby disrupted the local ecclesias. We need to be so careful, as affluent North Americans, thinking we can solve problems in local overseas areas in a few weeks, without taking advice from the brethren familiar with the area. We might feel we have fulfilled the directive to spread the gospel into all the world, by spending what is essentially a vacation abroad. Meanwhile, most areas of North America lack any type or outreach. Our ecclesias are concentrated in fairly restricted areas, leaving vast areas not subject to our presence or preaching at all. I remember well, during periods when I was looking for alternate employment, not even going for interviews in several areas of our vast country because of my reluctance to take my family into isolation. We have no strong support network for isolated members, although we have quite a network in the mission field.
We used to have Sunday Evening Public lectures. These have, by and large, vanished. You might argue that few came to them anyway (including few of our members), but at least they often accomplished two things:
- They encouraged the speaking brethren to be intimately familiar with all our normal first principle topics
- They often served as a way to preach, if not to outsiders, at least to our young people, who not only heard what they needed to hear, but often had the opportunity to socialize as well.
- We stopped giving.
Over the past 50 years, our giving has probably dropped by more than half as a percentage of family income, if we have followed the pattern of the churches around us. The Bible Missions are in financial difficulties, and are having to curtail their preaching work. We have deep reluctance to even acknowledge those who work on behalf of the ecclesias or the community. These deserve to be recompensed for their expenses, never mind their time. We acknowledge that the laborer is worthy of hire, as Paul tells us, but those who devote countless hours to prepare for the studies we enjoy do so without any thought of payment, because they know full well they will never obtain any. Books are written, videos made, lectures made, and the very thought of making payment, even to cover the production costs, appears alien to our community. Books which cost more than a nominal amount sit unsold. We are happy to spend $50 on a meal, but not on things that might help us attain eternal salvation. We are prepared (somewhat reluctantly, I sometimes think) to support families in the mission field, but not to support full time evangelists. In fact, to my knowledge there are no full time domestic evangelists in our community. Those very few of our community who work full time on our behalf do so almost apologetically, and certainly do so at a great financial sacrifice. We have starved our ecclesias of resources. When tough budget choices had to be made, the facilities that we wanted usually defeat the mission that God wants.
- We turned inward.
Just as American houses went from porches in front to patios out back, we stopped connecting with our neighbors. We opened our doors on Sunday and welcomed each other. If strangers (we sometimes even use the term aliens) do happen to come by, we can recognize them as such by the clothes they wear, the lack of head coverings of the females, by way they do not know when to stand up and sit down, the way we all look round at the stranger in our midst. So even though a few of us might talk to them afterwards, the welcome mat is not truly rolled out. And I must say that on several occasions I have attended ecclesias with my family and been totally ignored. How do we expect to encourage our friends and neighbors to learn the message of hope we have when we largely ignore them when they happen to stop by. Not to mention it is often hard to even find what times we meet.
- We Fixate on Sunday morning.
Long after Sunday changed character in American life, we kept expecting Sunday worship to do our work. Rather than transform lives through mission work, circles of growth, and personal spirituality, we had people sit for a crammed hour or so of singing, praying, announcing, chatting, listening, and (occasionally) learning. Then we sent people out to their cars and figured we had done our work for the week. We might hold a mid-week Bible Class, but this is usually attended by only a few, and all too often consists of a speaker talking for 45 minutes and a token period for comments — a form of teaching which might benefit the speaker, but rarely anyone else.
When we, as sometimes happen, suggest using our time to help in spreading the gospel, or performing community outreach, or helping those members who are poor financially or spiritually, even the suggestion is sometimes regarded with suspicion. To spend more time that a few hours on a Sunday and, perhaps, one evening, is regarded as an imposition on our time.
- We trashed our reputation.
We have become known all too often as judgmental, angry, self-serving, smug, boring, cold and old. As far as people outside can tell, we live to fight between ourselves, we think too highly of ourselves, and we are moral scolds. Who needs that? We have fixated on the deep, complex things to be found in the Bible, and ignored the true simplicity of the gospel. We are accused of believing in faith by works — by Bible Study. We have been so busy trying to stamp out any variation from what we personally think is the true interpretation of particular passages, to take time to acknowledge our humbleness before the majesty of our God.
What, then, is the future? The future for God is as bright and glorious as ever. Our ever-changing, ever-dynamic, ever-loving, and ever-transformation God will be just fine. We can say our prayers with confidence.
Our ecclesias, on the other hand, are in trouble. Many will run out of money, or, more likely, close because of lack of members. Many who are brought up in the Truth have, and will, lose heart. Many have been discouraged by our internal disputes, by our reluctance to forgive human frailties, our tendency to stand on principle. And yet some, perhaps many, will rise to the challenge. They will give up the old certainties and do what Jesus did.
Those challenge-miters will look outward, proclaim good news, welcome strangers, serve “the least of these,” give their lives and resources away, work for justice and mercy, spread the gospel seven days a week, and put love ahead of right opinion and kindness ahead of victory.
And God will be in the midst of them.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One