Remembering . . .
I read lots of newspapers online. One of them is the LA Times. The OP-ED for today, March 25, touches on some themes that were once strengths of my denomination, the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). We welcomed questions, doubters, unchurched, de-churched and refugees from other mainline, evangelical, and Catholic expressions of faith all the while working for the common good of local and global communities by being a voice of gospel. These were once a part of our DNA, our ethos, that distinguished our brand of Christian witness from the various versions of Baptists, non-denominational, and Church of Christ. That was then. In some Disciples congregations you will still find and experience this kind of DNA and ethos. If emergent were a word back in the time of Stone and Campbell it would have been hung on them, maybe.
I’ve returned from an eight day trip with high school youth, grades 10-12, to Washington D.C. and New York City. Our denomination calls this International Affairs Seminar. We choose a study topic for the trip and make sure youth have an opportunity to see monuments, meet with Congressional Reps, and have the opportunity to expand their world view as well as explore their own beliefs. The trip encourages doubt, questions, dialogue and conversation with persons as well as with oneself. Last year the Oklahoma trip focuses on Faith and Economics. This year it focused on Immigration. It could be called “emergent” in today’s religious expression. If we Disciples are going to find our way and claim a brand identity that is different than the Christianity being packaged for public and political consumption it will require a complete remodel of our corporate structure and investment, dollars and time, in the church we want to be in a decade.
Letting the Doubters in the Door
by Phillip Clayton | LA Time OP-ED | March 25, 2012“The Rise of the Nones” is one of 10 trends changing American life, according to Time magazine’s March 12 cover story. That’s because the “nones” — those who mark “none” on surveys that ask them to identify their religious affiliation — are the fastest-growing religious group in the United States.
Not surprisingly, the increase in the unaffiliated comes at the expense of America’s mainstream religions, which means that Christianity is taking the biggest hit. Mainstream Protestant churches have lost more than a third of their members since 1960. Evangelical churches are also feeling the pinch; Southern Baptists are hurting. Various surveys illuminate this trend: About 75% of Americans between the ages of 18 and 29 now consider themselves “spiritual but not religious.” Furthermore, all traditional forms of Christian practice have sharply declined from previous decades (including church attendance, Bible study and prayer), and doubts are much sharper regarding traditional Christian beliefs.