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June 1, 2011
The Post-American Church (Part Dos)
Despite our problems the church in the U.S. still has enormous influence.
Read Part One of Skye Jethani's article, "The Post-American Church."
OBSERVATION TWO: The American Church still has a vital role to play as the global church rises.
In 2008, CNN’s Fareed Zakaria wrote the best-selling book The Post-American World from which I borrowed the title for this blog post. In his book Zakaria refuses to join the “America is in decline” bandwagon. Instead he uses the term “Post-American” to describe the emergence of new economic super-powers into the zone previously occupied by America alone. China and India are the two most obvious nations in this category with Brazil increasingly being added to the conversation. To paraphrase Zakaria’s argument, it’s not about the decline of the West, but rather the rise of the rest.
Like the doomsday prophets that have nothing positive to say about the American economy, there seem to be no shortage of doomsday prophets surrounding the American church. (Remember the “Letter from 2012 in Obama’s America” released by James Dobson’s political group in 2008?) Reading too many of these dire predictions about the American church would lead one to believe that everyone under 30 has abandoned the faith, every pastor is a closeted bi-sexual, and Muslims are salivating at the chance to convert abandoned mega-churches into mosques.
Well, I hate to disappoint the “prophets” profiting from this fear-mongering, but the evidence suggests the American church is far from dead. Sure, we have problems and many of them are significant, but the Christian religion in America is actually more robust today than it was two centuries ago. (Only between 10 and 20 percent of Americans belonged to a church in 1776. See more here.) And the idea that the U.S. is just one generation behind the secular and Islamic forces influencing Europe is like comparing Lady Bird with Lady Gaga.
My time with the missionary team in Spain in May, as well as my time at the Third Lausanne Congress on Global Evangelization in Cape Town last October, revealed that the American church still has a very important and influential role throughout the world. Consider just three areas: money, resources, and ideas.
Money is a no-brainer. The majority of the funds needed to assemble 4,000 global church leaders in Cape Town, South Africa, last year came from North America. And the United States remains the largest funder of international missions. While giving among Christians has been declining in the U.S., it would be tragic if we abandoned this very significant area of missional responsibility. Of course there is a danger with being the wallet of the Body of Christ. At times we can be tempted to use that role to micro-manage or control. These colonial instincts are hard to reprogram.
The second area is resources. My presence in Spain last month was to teach and encourage the international missionary team there. I was sent, with funds from the U.S by the way, as a resource to the growing Spanish church. The American church’s large infrastructure of ministries, schools, and publishers means a great many of the resources utilized by the global church have their origins here. (Check out this video just posted by Dave Ferguson showing church planters in Siberia using his book, Exponential. Siberia!) I’m proud that Christianity Today and Leadership Journal are part of the American church’s attempts to resource our sisters and brothers around the world.
With these resources and money, of course, come influence. Many of the ideas that begin in the American church find their way around the world. One missionary in Spain was explaining how his home church in another country had been heavily influenced by American values--both practically and theologically. And, according to his view, that was not always a positive thing. On the flip side, my week with the missionaries included a lot of Q&A time about trends I’m observing in the U.S. church. They were very eager to know what the American church is learning, trying, and utilizing. They very much believed that what is happening here matters over there. And they’re right.
My time overseas, which has not been nearly as extensive as some of my colleagues, has shown me that the global church is shifting. New values and leadership qualities are likely to emerge as a result. We may find that some of the highly celebrated values within the American church begin to lose favor as new values ascend. But we shouldn’t assume that America’s influence in missions is over. Far from it. We may be entering an age when the role of the American church is more critical than ever. But it means learning to cooperate with, and not just control, the rising global church.
Comments
We are missionaries living in Nairobi, Kenya.
The Western church has a strong influence in the urban areas of Kenya. Churches in Nairobi, for example, have been modeled on successful churches in North America. When you move out from the urban areas into the rural parts, there is a dramatic decline in influence.
Probably the most important role Western churches and leaders can play is that of resourcing and supporting the emerging leaders in the non-Western world. We should resist the inclination to be wallets and thereby create dependency and paternalism. Kenya has some wealthy believers who have the capacity to provide funds not only for churches but also for mission endeavours to other countries--including North America.
Posted By: G M C | June 1, 2011 12:00 PM
"Sure, we have problems and many of them are significant, but the Christian religion in America is actually more robust today than it was two centuries ago."
Oh boy...Skye,
Todays robustness, compared to the yesteryears numbers doesn't indicate level of faithfulness, nor might I add, effectiveness.
Just because 300 million people declare, "oh yes, yes I am very much a Christian!" doesn't make it so.
Just as 1 billion people declare they're Muslim doesn't mean they're jihadist/terrorist, either.
You are exhibiting classical self-deception, and you need to stop.
We, the American Church, for "historical" comparisons are more like the European Church at the turn of the 19th century...little more than just a social identification, and just as useless. Certainly there are exceptions to the rule, but for "general" comparisons, we're, in my opinion, uncomfortably similar, if not identical to the European model...and look what happened to how effective the European Church was shortly after the turn of the century.
Does this mean the Church overall was dead in Europe?
No, what it means is that the effectiveness of the European church wasn't all that it could have been and took a World War to bring her out in the open...or, actually, separated out the goats from the sheep.
"history has a nasty habit of repeating itself, and we have a nastier habit of deceiving ourselves into thinking this all new."
Posted By: sheerahkahn | June 1, 2011 2:00 PM
Sheerahkahn,
Don't get me wrong...I've written two books now about the captivity of the American church both to Consumerism and false understandings of the gospel. I'm not saying the American church is large and therefore healthy. I'm simply saying the church isn't going to disappear as it has in many parts of Europe. It may be apostate...but it's still (as an institution) going to exist here.
And Europe is different than the US. Just two examples. First, the birth rate in Europe is tragically low. There is a major demographic problem coming to those nations as there are not enough younger workers to replace, and pay for the retirements, of the old. This is largely due to the values of secular-humanism that have dominated Europe for decades resulting is low marriage rates, high abortion rates, and smaller families. Yes, America is seeing some of the same trends, but not nearly to the degree as Europe.
Second, immigration in Europe has largely come from N. Africa, South Asia, and the Middle East--and many of these people are Muslims. This influx of Islam into Europe has brought major assimilation concerns as we now see France, Germany, and even "neutral" Switzerland passing laws limiting religious expression targeting immigrant groups. Some fear that Islam will soon have large representation politically in Europe as the immigrant groups have more children than native Europeans.
In the US immigration has largely come from Latin America. And while many conservatives shout about the problem, it should be noted that most of these immigrants carry some form of Christianity with them (they're mainly Roman Catholics) and "traditional" Judeo-Christian values. Islam, while a growing segment of the US, is tiny compared to Europe and likely to remain that way for decades to come.
Skye
Posted By: Skye Jethani | June 1, 2011 2:45 PM
I think that there is a fundamental confusion between being committed to Jesus and being committed to the political ideals of the Christian political right. I have many friends who would say that they are committed believers in Jesus, committed to evangelism and the growth of the church and committed to service of the poor, yet eschew much of the political right wing's agenda. Issues which tend to galvanize the political right such as gay-marriage, gun rights and lower taxes, do not seem to matter to this new crop of Christians.
When people talk about the demise of the church, I think what they observe is the crumbling of the political faction which was strongly defended by much of the church in the 1980s and 1990s. But, this is not the church, but rather a political ideology which many have confused as the church. I hear the fear in the voices of D James Kennedy (when he was around), James Dobson, John MacArthur and others, but again their concern is not for the church, but rather for their definition of the church and Christ-following.
Jesus is bigger stronger and mightier than our small boxes wish to define him.
Peace,
Steve Leigh
Posted By: Steve Leigh | June 1, 2011 3:30 PM
"I'm simply saying the church isn't going to disappear as it has in many parts of Europe. It may be apostate...but it's still (as an institution) going to exist here."
Skye,
I'm pretty sure you've read of Nietzsche and his infamous quote, "God is dead."?
Herein is his full quote and the reason I'm citing this is because his damning statement of European society also applies to the American society and it's "Christianity" claims...
"God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers? What was holiest and mightiest of all that the world has yet owned has bled to death under our knives: who will wipe this blood off us? What water is there for us to clean ourselves? What festivals of atonement, what sacred games shall we have to invent? Is not the greatness of this deed too great for us? Must we ourselves not become gods simply to appear worthy of it?"
Now reading this one sees a man making a bold statement, but if reread again, and again the reader will get an uncomfortable feeling that a reedy finger is being pointed right at them.
In context, what Nietzsche was saying is, in effect, that "God is dead" because the European elites, who spoke eloquently about the majesty of the heavens, behaved as if G-d never existed. He pointed out the hypocrisy of their outspoken beliefs compared to their actions.
Fast foward in time...and this is what we are doing...all those whom you say are part of the church...we all, are collectively saying, "God is dead" with our behavior, with our attitudes, with our lack of obedience to G-d.
Certainly, the thing you would call the "Church" is still around, but when we get right down to it...what we have come to call the "American Church" is little more than a shell of it's former self...a zombie that is quite dead, and hasn't had the decency to lie down and stop pretending to be alive.
Posted By: sheerahkahn | June 1, 2011 6:30 PM
I suggest listening to a powerful sermon by Paul Washer, called "Ten Indictments Against the Modern "Church"", this is a historical 21st century message that all church leaders need to hear to bring reform to the church, you can find it here:
http://youtu.be/X7wzfvYkCW0
Posted By: Linda | June 2, 2011 10:45 AM
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