Friday, October 24, 2008
What Happened To Protestants?
James Grant, subbing for JT at Between Two Worlds summarized an amazing Joseph Bottum post at First Things which now requires a subscription, so sorry no link. The piece was on the "Death of Protestant America." Grant chose this apropos pull quote to summarize the piece:
There is a seductiveness to American politics that makes us think we should just dive right in. And yet, that is not what the church is called to do. The Reformation was necessitated largely because THE CHURCH had become a political entity not and ecclesiastical/spiritual one. When the church does politics directly, we run the risk of, and in many cases already have, making the same error.
The church has but a single mission - make disciples. First, please note, I say disciples, not converts. But more importantly, no discussion of social justice. Now both of those things are vitally important, but they are NOT the mission of the church - they are the calling of members of the church, and that is a radically important distinction.
In America we have such an agglomeration of institutions doing those callings that it is often easy to confuse the calling of the members with the mission of the church, and therefore, the church with those institutions.
With the death of mainline Protestantism Bottum so rightly discusses, those institutions that are truly, distinguishably CHURCH are dying - and that is a problem. When we lose those institutions, it becomes increasingly likely that we will lose sight of the mission altogether. Congregations will be expressions of callings, but the mission of the church will be lost.
Of course, the Catholic church remains, and probably always will. Some mainlines are strong internationally as well - Anglicanism in Africa is fascinating to me. And as I said at Article VI Blog, the future of the Mormon church is fascinating, while still heterodox, they are moving in our direction in an extremely rapid fashion and their institutional strength is amazing.
While I can observe and comment on these trends, in the end there is little I alone can do about them. There are not currently in America enough people interested in making denominationalism work again for even the best leader, which I most assuredly am not, to revive it.
But what I can do is twofold. For one, I can remain loyal to denominationalism's remnants. As my own PC(USA) moves through senility towards death, I do wonder where I will head if death comes. But more importantly I can concentrate on the mission of the church. I can be discipled, and I can disciple. I can carry on the mission.
Are you? I need the help.
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“The churches’ desperate hunger to mean more in politics and economics had the perverse effect of making them less effective opponents of the political and economic pressures on the nation. They mattered more when they wanted to matter less.”I wrote about this piece at Article VI Blog when it was contemporary and made some socio/politcal comments, but here I want to discuss it from the standpoint of the church.
There is a seductiveness to American politics that makes us think we should just dive right in. And yet, that is not what the church is called to do. The Reformation was necessitated largely because THE CHURCH had become a political entity not and ecclesiastical/spiritual one. When the church does politics directly, we run the risk of, and in many cases already have, making the same error.
The church has but a single mission - make disciples. First, please note, I say disciples, not converts. But more importantly, no discussion of social justice. Now both of those things are vitally important, but they are NOT the mission of the church - they are the calling of members of the church, and that is a radically important distinction.
In America we have such an agglomeration of institutions doing those callings that it is often easy to confuse the calling of the members with the mission of the church, and therefore, the church with those institutions.
With the death of mainline Protestantism Bottum so rightly discusses, those institutions that are truly, distinguishably CHURCH are dying - and that is a problem. When we lose those institutions, it becomes increasingly likely that we will lose sight of the mission altogether. Congregations will be expressions of callings, but the mission of the church will be lost.
Of course, the Catholic church remains, and probably always will. Some mainlines are strong internationally as well - Anglicanism in Africa is fascinating to me. And as I said at Article VI Blog, the future of the Mormon church is fascinating, while still heterodox, they are moving in our direction in an extremely rapid fashion and their institutional strength is amazing.
While I can observe and comment on these trends, in the end there is little I alone can do about them. There are not currently in America enough people interested in making denominationalism work again for even the best leader, which I most assuredly am not, to revive it.
But what I can do is twofold. For one, I can remain loyal to denominationalism's remnants. As my own PC(USA) moves through senility towards death, I do wonder where I will head if death comes. But more importantly I can concentrate on the mission of the church. I can be discipled, and I can disciple. I can carry on the mission.
Are you? I need the help.
Technorati Tags:protestantism, denominationalism, discipleship, mission
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