Something needs to change…
I have sporadically posted in recent days that the Church needs to rethink some strategies in this Neo-pagan era which we currently find ourselves in. To look at the cultural landscape, process the last several elections, and then synthesize the impotent influence of the church in America should make us at least pause as to how we might consider going forward. To simply wait for our “omnipotent” government to decree that we are “all clear” with regards to the pandemic and then blindly return to the business that got us here, may not be wise, smart, or more importantly biblical.
I have suggested that “preservation” may be the best word to define the mission going forward. This is not to suggest that evangelism and outreach will be forgotten, but it is to suggest that if we are “winning” people to our current expressions and definition of Christianity, then we are doing more of a disservice to the mandate of the Kingdom than a fulfillment of it. I recognize that many American Pastors might find the word “preservation” to be distasteful and defeatist. It sounds like I am suggesting we find a way to “hold the fort” while the world slides away on the bobsled pointed to hell. Perhaps in some ways I am. It does no one any good if what we are calling Christianity is trying to find ways to ride and relate to those in that bobsled instead of offering people a different direction and sled.
The following are some bullet point thoughts that undoubtedly need expansion, but I think it gets the conversation and thought juices flowing. Disagree if you like, but business as usual will not be an option. If you are a pastor, you need to gather your staff and leaders and start the strategy conversations. Some of you have already and are well on your way to implementing important features of preservation. If you are a committed, biblical Christian, then this may start the list you need to evaluate your church connections for the future.
1. COUNTER-CULTURAL IDENTITY.
It’s time to be OK with being the outlier and peripheral person as a Christian. We aren’t meant to fit into any and every situation. I will stipulate that there have been seasons and years in church life where people went to unusual lengths to be weird and goofy thinking they were fulfilling the “peculiar people” passage, but frankly, our accommodation of the culture has become far more of an issue in today’s church than the alienation of it. It is time we taught this clearly.
The Bible is clear that we look, act, talk, prioritize, analyze, synthesize, evaluate, and walk in an entirely different way than the world which is crumbling around us. It would not surprise me that in the next few years the mark of a sold church will not be the kudos it gets from the community its in, but rather the vitriol.
2. COST TO DISCIPLESHIP
When was the last time your walk with Jesus cost you significantly? When did you have to cancel plans because of your faith? When did you say “no” to an opportunity that dis-honored God? Do you think the only Christians on the hot seat will be florists, bakers, and wedding planners? You are naive to think such things. Your faith will be fully in the cross-hairs of adversity in the near future. I have already heard from Christian parents who kids are being targeted for simply saying, “Merry Christmas” in school. Silly you say? Keep thinking that way, because the end game isn’t removal of a Christmas greeting. The goal is the total removal of any mention of your faith. Are you preparing to weather such things? If we can’t weather the low level hostility and soft-totalitarianism, why would we think we are prepared to face the more overt and hostile forms? It’s time we taught that there is indeed a cost to Christianity.
3. CONSECRATION OF THE CONGREGATION
I not only want a support system for my faith, but I want a Church that understands how to hold its members accountable to the faith they say they hold. It does us no good to simply allow the ranks to burgeon with tares and goats so we can feel better about ourselves due to the size of the organization. Those days are closing. Pastors who think in these terms need to repent and pivot now, lest you find yourselves caught spiritually “flat-footed”. This mentality has done nothing but diluted our true influence as the Church.
Can I suggest something radical (but biblical)? Like for pastors to quit officiating marriages for the biblically unqualified. To refuse to solemnize a marriage between a “believer” and “unbeliever”. I know, sounds crazy to the ears of the 21st century antinomian “believer”, but if we have no standards (I’m talking biblical ones, not man generated standards), then are we truly counter-cultural? At what point do we hold each other to the standards Jesus set throughout the totality of the Scriptures? To not do this we simply become, as Rod Dreher mentioned in his book “The Benediction Option”, chaplains to a consumerist culture that has fast lost its sense of what it means to be Christian. Will we simply be the religious endorsing agency for a culture who wants no confrontation, or will we actually decide to be the church and in so doing actually help the culture?
4. CONTINUALIST THEOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE
This may irritate my cessationist friends, but we are going to need the present activity of the Holy Spirit (along with a closed, authoritative canon). I know most of them have zero issue with that opening sentence, but it needs to be said that in times of adversity and hostility, we need to anticipate providence and miracles. I want to be in a church that encourages me and teaches me that “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever”. The work of the Holy Spirit is alive and well and just as He assists believers in China, Russia, Africa, and other hostile areas, He will assist us the true Church in America too.
5. COMPREHENSIVE LORDSHIP OF CHRIST
Jesus is not a figure-head King. He rules. He actually lays claim to the lives of His people in real and tangible ways. His Word (Scripture) is sufficient, authoritative, and trustworthy in all matters that it touches. The post-pandemic Church needs to repent from its compartmentalization of application and realize that God’s Word will be our life in every circumstance.
6. CATECHIZATION OF THE KIDS (AND CONGREGATION)
Pep rally Christianity is not going to help us navigate this next era. Inspiration alone will not give you the tools to spiritually succeed in the days ahead. Preachers who have “succeeded” by learning how to formulate that pithy phrase and work it just right in the congregation to get some applause and affirmation, are going to find themselves fledgling in the coming days as God’s people seek scriptural answers and not a motivational speech.
Parents are going to have to force their kids to be trained and instructed in righteousness. Just as there are no options about going to school and learning reading, writing, and arithmetic; there are no options in them getting to classes concerning the Christian Faith of the home which you have stated is so vital.
In fact, let’s take it a step further. At what point does a Babylonian educational system become too great a risk to put your children in? Churches are going to have to become creative centers for discipling a generation in the Christian Faith.
7. COMMUNITY OF CHRISTIAN SUPPORT
We are going to need to form a network(s) for jobs and potentially goods. We need to start buying from Christians if at all possible. We need to generate our own economy within the Kingdom of God. We are going to need to think through how we will support our brothers and sisters in an adverse environment.
Like I said, I am spitballing some general thoughts, but let me be clear, there will be no business as usual. Remember, the Sons of Issachar understood the times and knew what Israel should do (I Chr.12:32). I would suggest you get that same insight because the barbarians are no longer waiting.
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