Secularization
When I was completing my ministerial internship in New Zealand in 2010, my supervisor, friend and colleague the Rev. David Clark and I would discuss the state of Christianity in his country from his perspective. A Kiwi Presbyterian minister for the better part of four decades (he’ll positively punch me for phrasing it that way), he has watched as Christian practice, measured by church membership and participation, has quantitatively tanked in his country, following a trend through much of the English-speaking world.
Entering the ministry in the 1970′s, David recalls being optimistic about stemming the hemorrhage of departures. The church could once again be relevant in people’s lives by prophetically living into its own theologies of justice and shedding antiquated, pre-Enlightenment notions of the supernatural. Like many (most?) young ministers, he held a certain hope that was eventually tempered as those who would fear change gained a stranglehold on positions of leadership, in the seminary and in national offices.
A gay man, David was outed during tumultuous General Assemblies arguing over the value and role of LGBT persons in the church. His parish, my internship site, stood by him and maintained their position as a beacon of progressive Christianity in a denomination turning hard right. During the most recent General Assembly the denomination adopted a new, conservative confession of faith in a veiled effort to reclaim church teachings, and in so doing promote growth and relevance.
Perhaps the most telling attribute is this: the denomination and its parishes continue to lose members while St. Luke’s maintains and slowly increases its roll.
I thought of all of this as I read this article about a speech given by Catholic Archbishop of Philadelphia Charles Chaput. “The America emerging in the next several decades is likely to be much less friendly to Christian faith than anything in our country’s past,” he said.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops meets Monday in Baltimore for its national meeting feeling under siege: from a broader culture moving toward accepting gay marriage; a White House they often condemn as hostile to Catholic teaching; and state legislatures that church leaders say are chipping away at religious liberty.
David frequently opined that he suspected the U.S. was following a similar path as New Zealand and much of western Europe in the decline in church participation. Whether I am plagued by the same young blind hopefulness or have a valid confidence is yet to be seen, but I don’t picture a faithless America anytime soon.
Will the statistics change, possibly “prove” a decline in church participation in the U.S.? I confidently say yes, and believe that they must. The measure of the church’s relevance and impact ought not be determined by how many people check a membership box or show up every Sunday morning at 10 a.m.
Steven Krueger, national director of Catholic Democrats, pointed to the agenda released ahead of this week’s meeting, which included no public discussion of poverty despite the state of the economy. In the 1980s, the bishops issued an influential pastoral letter on Catholic principles and the economy, which church leaders reaffirmed in statements and education programs over the next decade.
If the church feels it has lost relevance, if it feels that it is battling wars with society and its membership loss is a result of that, it has no one to blame but itself. While it battles those social wars, the real war continues to be fought by those far from the spotlight — small groups of committed Christians who seek justice, love mercy and walk humbly with their God.
Those small groups have far more relevance and influence in a secularized world than in an institution committed to self-preservation and survival.
The image is inspired by a quote frequently attributed to Benjamin Franklin: “Lighthouses are more helpful than churches.” Misattributed, its best citation is from a letter he wrote to his wife Deborah in 1757 after narrowly averting a shipwreck: “The bell ringing for church, we went thither immediately, and with hearts full of gratitude, returned sincere thanks to God for the mercies we had received: were I a Roman Catholic, perhaps I should on this occasion vow to build a chapel to some saint, but as I am not, if I were to vow at all, it should be to build a light-house.”
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Daniel Ross-Jones serves as Minister for Youth & Young Adults at First Congregational Church of Palo Alto, United Church of Christ. Living in the San Francisco Bay Area for a time still measured in months, he is frequently getting lost and discovering treasures of a landscape very different from his Upper Midwestern roots. Green Jello Hotdish is a blog exploring the intersections of his days. 
