We need to focus more on Sunday morning. We need to start a new worship service. We need to do more to get young people through our doors.
These are the cries so often heard in the 21st century Baptist church. Long gone are the denominational glory days when every church in even the smallest town busted at its seams on Sunday morning. In the years following World War II there was an increase in religious participation across the Protestant spectrum and building a growing church was easy.
Alex Gallimore
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In those days, seeking to find relevance in the culture was far less of a challenge than today, simply because, for the most part, people would go to church regardless of what was going on at church. It was just the thing to do.
The chaos of the 1960s and 1970s, however, brought a significant epistemic shift in American socio-religious culture which we are still feeling today. Somewhere in the era of the Vietnam War, Civil Rights Movement and the general loss of confidence in insitutions, people walked away from church and religion all together. Some became “spiritual” but not “religious,” which, in those days as well as today, could mean anything. Sure, many stayed and continued the good work of church, but over the years even large numbers of these people have grown apathetic and now mindlessly go through the religious motions.
So what changed? Did God change? Was the gospel unable to meet new cultural phenomenas? Surely not! The biblical tradition reminds us that these things are the same yesterday, today and forever. The problem is that most churches did not change.
In a culture becoming more and more concerned with systemic problems in the social order, outward expressions of faith were almost nonexistent. Instead, churches stayed the course and focused on Sunday. Today, most churches are still focusing on Sunday morning and efforts of “drawing people in,” while it could not be clearer that this is not what is needed nor wanted. It’s just not about Sunday anymore, or at least it’s not all about Sunday.
Although religious participation has dropped, the number of people, especially younger ones, involved in socially-minded groups has risen. How many colleges students do we know who have worked with non-religious organizations building homes and serving food for the needy or participating in some form of social activism? Although culture has shifted from an individualistic, “me” oriented religious experience to a faith that is active, few people have found churches where such faith can thrive. In an age in which emerging generations want a faith that rolls up its sleeves and gets its hands dirty providing for the least of these, most churches continue to focus only on Sunday morning-type expressions of Christianity.
The Baptist church that has done the hard work of revitalizing its unique identity for the 21st century must do so with its greater community in mind. This means developing a missional outlook which seeks the presence of Christ is the places outside the walls of the church instead of maintaining at all costs the same old Sunday morning experience.
Sunday morning is still incredibly important. It is Sunday mornings which educate us about our unique identity as Baptist followers of Jesus, inspire us to continue his work and to celebrate that work in genuine worship. If our church experience begins and ends on Sunday morning, however, we might as well just sleep in.
Baptist congregations need to think of their existence in a particular area as a parish ministry, where it is their calling to bear witness inside and outside the church building. Once we have discovered our unique identity as Baptists in the 21st century, we must seek out the natural relationships available in our community were we can partner towards the same ends. Who are the other churches and religious and secular non-profits which are already doing the work we desire to do and how can we work together to do more? We don’t need Baptist and Methodist community gardens, Christian and Jewish soup kitchens, religious and non-religious housing programs. Surely as Baptists our historic affirmation of soul freedom allows us to partner with all people for the greater work of our community!
When we’re serious about who we are, we can work with those different from us and bear witness while making life better for everyone. Once we move past our Sunday-focused ministries by practicing a much more active faith, I think we will be amazed at the genuine revitalization that will touch all areas in the life of our churches.
Alex Gallimore ([email protected]) is pastor of Hester Baptist Church in Oxford, N.C.