Post-Christendom

In a recent interview about his new book Resilient Faith: How The Early Christian “Third Way” Changed The World,” Gerald Sittser referred to the impact that the early Christians had on the world around them.  Here is what he said:

“It is easy for us to forget how new and unique this movement was, and still is. Rome had never seen the likes of it before. It introduced a new kind of belief, worship, identity, authority, community, and way of life. The movement was new because Jesus was new. Rome had never seen the likes of Jesus before either. Consequently, the movement grew out of the uniqueness of Jesus. As Luke proclaims in the Acts of the Apostles, this movement “turned the world upside down,” and did so long before Constantine assumed the throne and laid the groundwork for the Christian empire and the emergence of Christendom.

“In our increasingly post-Christendom setting, we have much to learn from a movement that flourished in a pre-Christendom setting. Mere survival would have been impressive enough. But they did far more than survive. They flourished without state establishment and cultural privilege. They had no big church buildings and budgets, no favored political candidates they could vote into office, no conservative (or liberal) supreme court judges, no large-scale non-profits, no big publishing companies, no celebrity preachers, no internet, podcasts, blogs, Instagram, and Twitter. Yet they surpassed all expectations and succeeded against all odds. Perhaps we have something to learn from these early Christians!”*

As the influence of Christianity wanes in our increasingly secular world, perhaps we would do well to consider this history lesson.  “Post-Christendom” will likely require us to re-think some methods of engagement that have been near and dear to us.  Christ and the gospel will never change but the world around us is rapidly changing.  Will we re-focus and refine our approach where necessary or will we become increasingly irrelevant?  Food for thought...

God loves you!

Mike

*https://www.patheos.com/blogs/jesuscreed/2019/10/19/resilient-faith/