When
I was in seminary, I sometimes wondered if Luther, Calvin and Wesley
were all such geniuses or if, instead, they were simply capable,
talented people whose lives came along
at pregnant moments of history when Reformation was bound to happen
anyway. Now that I am living through a real-life Reformation, I am
leaning more toward the latter idea. None of us chose to paddle the
rapids of this fast-changing post-Christendom era,
but like it or not, God has placed us here: in the middle of white
water with a Bible and a paddle and an assortment of characters on the
journey with us, ranging from the bold and brilliant to the timid and
the panicky.
The shift that we are paddling through is beyond anything I could have imagined when I entered seminary in 1983, 30 years ago. I was, clue-less. Most of us were. I mean who of us thought we would live to see a day when Unitarians were growing and Southern Baptists were declining??
I
am not sure what will remain of church-as-we-know-it in 2043 - but if
history's patterns are any indicator, I would expect that in 30 more
years we will see the following in North
America:
* Category 1: A renewed, and somewhat re-balanced church, more multi-cultural than anything we
have seen before, significantly diminished in size, but robust in its ministry and in the spiritual formation of its people.
* Category 2: A new parallel thing, much like Protestantism was to Catholicism - or more likely,
parallel things,
that carry on something significant of the Spirit of Jesus, but in
forms and alliances that transcend anything we would have called
'church' in 1983. (And it would not surprise
me to see Americans in the middle of this birthing.)
* Category 3:
Continued extremist and fundamentalist movements, ranging from
ultra-orthodox Christian
to crazy cults of wide variety. A big chunk of the religious economy
is going to be weird, and quite distasteful to mainline Protestants and
their spiritual progeny in category 2.
* Category 4:
A growing practice of Eastern religion in America, even as Christianity
is growing
in Asia. We are moving toward a time when the likelihood of being
Buddhist or Christian is evening out for folks regardless of where they
are born in the world. Mississippi will probably always have more
Baptists than Buddhists. But then again,
always is a mighty big word.
* Category 5:
Secularists, whose religion is science and whose ethic is the Golden
Rule, who may
not even raise the question of theism, let alone give energy to
answering it. These folks range from atheists to post-atheists - they
just live
post-such-questions.
They will be quick to see the dangers of Category 3 religion, and
depending on the strength such, they may see religion as infantile and
problematic, period.
We
throw parties in our home two or three times a year, with an eclectic
list of characters. In most parties, I find all five categories,
although I will admit that Cat 3 people
are under-represented on my A list. I am probably going to ride out
the rapids of the next three decades of life with at least one foot in
Category 1, but my work is drawn into both Categories 1 and 2 at the
moment. And for the first time in my life, it
is possible for me to imagine something coming along in Category 2 that would invite me with all my Jesus-centric agenda, fully into a new kind of spiritual community and journey.
And
my grandchildren, as yet unborn? I have to admit something that I
would have been unable to admit, even five years ago: they could end up
in any of the five categories I have
listed. These times are THAT dynamic. Its true of your grandkids too.
If there were a religious NASDAQ where I could invest my retirement account within any of the
above categories as growth industries and as good-for-the-planet, I would allocate my portfolio of investment as follows:
Category 1: 30%
Category 2: 50%
Category 3: nothing, as a matter of conscience
Category 4: 15%
Category 5: 5%, though this group is currently the fastest growing of the five
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