Darryl's Blog
The Church at the End of Modernity
Modernism is breaking down, and many Christians are now churchless. But there is hope for the Church as it responds to these trends, according to David Fitch, pastor of Life on the Vine Community near Chicago, and author of The Great Giveaway.
Fitch recently spoke in Hamilton, Ontario at an event hosted by Resonate.ca, a "network of Canadians striving to love God and our neighbors in a changing culture." Fitch calls himself a Canadian at heart, having grown up in Hamilton.
According to Fitch, we can no longer depend on approaches that once worked, such as evidentiary apologetics, seeker services, CEO style leadership, huge hall pep-rally worship, lecture-hall type sermons, and paying someone else to do justice for us. Canada is well ahead of the States in these trends. The answer is not to redouble our efforts, but to revisit the practices of the church in an effort to be more faithful. Fitch spoke on four areas of practice: evangelism, justice, worship, and preaching.
First, we must move from a focus on decisions to evangelism through re-invigorated hospitality. "A decision doesn't make sense apart from a context," explained Fitch. In Thailand, a mission agency counted 80,000 decisions for Christ after showing the Jesus film. Returning a few years later, the same missions agency could not find a single convert. A focus solely on decisions in a non-Christian or post-Christian culture is not effective. A better approach, according to Fitch, is to practice evangelism by hospitality: to invite neighbors into our homes. Hospitality is tough, especially in the suburbs, but it is central to biblical evangelism.
Second, churches must become communities of justice and mercy. According to Fitch, we often pay outside agencies to do justice for us. The alternative is to embrace justice as one of God's priorities, begin by developing a reconciled community within the church, and to meet needs and work for justice from within that community. "Justice becomes who we are first, not a way to an outcome," said Fitch. Poverty is everywhere, even in the suburbs, although it is often hidden. Churches can work to break the culture of hiddenness. Around the Lord's Table, we can talk about how we are committed to each other, meet needs, and invite people further into the church community for more.
Third, Fitch challenged us to introduce mystery into worship. He warned of the danger of making a worship a commodity, which leads to narcissism. "We've turned Christians into shoppers at Wal-Mart," looking for the worship experience that will fulfill them the most. He described the production of "Disney experiences" in worship services, which let people remain in their own stories, rather than inviting them into a Story that is greater than their own through liturgical practices like confessions and affirmations of truth in creeds.
Finally, Fitch argued that the way that we preach is wrong. "We treat it as information to exegete." Instead, Fitch described preaching as describing an alternate and true reality, a "theodrama". Instead of giving more information and then applying it, we need to unfurl the reality of God's world and invite people to live in it. Instead of giving more lectures, we describe how the Gospel sees the world.
“North American evangelicals learned to do church in relation to modernity,” Fitch writes. “It is our own modernism that has allowed us to individualize, commodify, and package Christianity so much that the evangelical church is often barely distinguishable from other goods and services providers, self-help groups, and social organizations that make up the landscape of modern American life." Now that modernity is collapsing, we have an opportunity to reinvigorate our ecclesiology (the doctrine of the church), and rediscover more biblical practices of being the church.
Fitch warned of the dangers of trying to change churches that embrace a modern approach. He suggested that we look out for those who are dissatisfied with the modern church, especially those who are in their twenties and thirties, and slowly develop a community that explores these biblical approaches. This could take the form of a second service within a traditional church.
Fitch promises to what he calls his "beloved Canada" to continue exploring what it means to be the church at the end of modernity.
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Darryl, I don't get it. I'm assuming you agree with what he says, hence the article.
"Instead of giving more information and then applying it, we need to unfurl the reality of God's world and invite people to live in it. Instead of giving more lectures, we describe how the Gospel sees the world."
Would that be Fitch's quote or kind of your summary of what he said?
Either way, what would that look like - unfurling the reality of God's world - and how does the Gospel see the world?
Hi George,
That's a summary of what Fitch said.
From what I've heard and read, I think he means that most of us are shaped by our surrounding culture without even knowing it.
Fitch is challenging preachers to challenge people not just in the way that they behave, but in the way they see the world. Until people see the world as God sees it, change won't take place.
"How does the Gospel see the world?" That would take a book, but here it goes: as created good, broken by sin, but in the process of being renewed by the Triune God.
It seems like you just summarized a guy's book. Is it your opinion?
Kim,
Yes, my column is a summary of what Fitch said in Hamilton.
Obviously, I wrote it up because he had some important things to say, and I did agree with much of it.
It sounds all so very wordy Darryl IMO Why not just get back to the basics, love God, and love others. A huge piece of that is telling people the truth. Proclamation is still just as important as ever don't you think?
Romans 10 :13for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."[f]
14How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? 15And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!"[g]
16But not all the Israelites accepted the good news. For Isaiah says, "Lord, who has believed our message?"[h] 17Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.
George, in a lot of ways that is exactly what Fitch is saying.
If you walked up to someone in their 20's and said it the way you just did, at worst you'd be treated with derision, at best politely.
Fitch is rightly unpackaging, for a subset. Ministers.
A lot of Christians don't go to a church building anymore George, they don't sign up, they don't participate in any traditional sense, a large remenant has walked away for a lot of very good reasons. Including being called out for awhile, whether you are able to understand that or not.
So unpackage what you said, and give us two things:
1) Given the number of followers of Jesus Christ that no longer participate in the routine bricks and mortar or the previous generation, what steps do you take to relate to them?
2) That 20 year old hypothetical person I just had you walk up to whose understanding of Christianity may come from having flipped through the televangelists on Vison or the Miracle Channel. Just how are you going to relate to them?
Can you do it without being wordy?
(and yes, there is something hidden here - it has to do with the hows of relational listening)
Darryl: Do you have any sense of why it matters to some of your readers if Fitches ideas are what you personally believe?
Is this concern coming from your magazine readership or more your church parking lot?
Hey BD, haven't talked to you in a long time, I always remember the initials BD and LT out here in blog land:)
1. 1) Given the number of followers of Jesus Christ that no longer participate in the routine bricks and mortar or the previous generation, what steps do you take to relate to them?
A. I guess I don't really meet too many of them except here in blogland. I would think if I met them in person and they told me about that I would try to find out why that is and try to encourage them to get back into a Bible believing Bible preaching church because its so important for their spiritual life. I do meet a lot of people though, that have some kind of a church background, realize there has to be more to life than what they are experiencing, but just can't see themselves going back to church. I love engaging with those people because it comes down to issues of what is truth. The simplicity of the Gospel.
2. That 20 year old hypothetical person I just had you walk up to whose understanding of Christianity may come from having flipped through the televangelists on Vison or the Miracle Channel. Just how are you going to relate to them?
A. Great question BD. I'm going to engage in that "relational listening" you mention and then as the Spirit leads, because I care for them and desire to see them set free, I'm going to tell them about the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm going to gently challenge them with the question of what are they going to do with Jesus Christ.
I have a question for you BD - these followers of Jesus Christ who no longer participate in the routine bricks and mortar of the previous generation - what exactly do they do?
these followers of Jesus Christ who no longer participate in the routine bricks and mortar of the previous generation - what exactly do they do?
good question George!
Heal.
Then go serve other wounded I suspect.