This article is reprinted from the Jackson newsletter. The author is David Downton. Seen a good article in your church newsletter? Send it in!
Recently a woman named Diana Butler Bass spent three years studying vital churches. She has written about what she discovered in a book entitled Christianity for the Rest of Us. What is particularly different about her work is that the vital congregations that she has been studying are mainline churches who describe themselves as being theologically centrist to theologically liberal-progressive. Often when she told people that she was looking for vital mainline churches, people would chuckle and say things like, “Vital mainline churches? Must have been a short journey!” Others would make an editorial comment: “Aren’t those the ‘frozen chosen’?” Ever since Dean Kelley published his book Why Conservative Churches are Growing conventional wisdom has said that politically conservative evangelicalism is the only vital form of the Christian faith. What she discovered was that there are many, many churches out there which are also vital. What do they look like? They were composed of people who were in authentically spiritual communities, churches with eyes wide open to the world, nothing phony or contrived, who found a meaningful life of worship and living through spiritual practices, emotive worship and social justice. They celebrated a faith that is open and generous, intellectual and emotive, beautiful and just. They focus more on God’s grace in the world than on the eternal state of their souls. She discovered that spiritual vitality is not located in buildings, programs, organizations or structures. Spiritual vitality lives in human beings; it is located in the heart of God’s people and the community they form.
At our Presbytery Council meeting, Dana Knapp shared a metaphor for the church which he had read or heard somewhere. I don’t remember his source, but thought that the metaphor worked for me. He said that many of our churches are like a box of puzzle pieces. We are filled with good ideas and committed people. We have programs and facilities and organizations and dreams. We arrange and rearrange the pieces with grace and commitment. The problem is that the picture on the outside of the box has changed.
A changing picture on the outside of the box is true to the reality of the changes that we have seen in our lifetimes. The way that people live their lives—the things that they spend their time and energy on—their work schedules, community and school activities—all have changed significantly since I was in high school. For all the change, however, there are many people who are looking for something that is missing in their lives, and what is missing is a vital faith which is not phony, or coercive—a faith that does not give shallow or unbelievable answers to the tough realities of our world. A faith about which those who hold it are passionate, which is vital for them because it is centered in the power and grace and justice and beauty of God in Christ. It is the kind of faith that we know in the Presbyterian Church and in this congregation. The reality is that many of our Presbyterian congregations are growing smaller in numbers and are anxious about the future. It is a time of crisis, but the crisis may not be a crisis of dying, but a crisis of birthing a new Christianity for the new world we are living in. Diana’s discoveries and message are hopeful one for us and for people who are passionate about the grace of God in Christ.
