A Sign of the Times

Sustainability
 
(an excerpt from the book The Orphan Church)
by Bryan Raile

And in the morning, It will be foul weather to day: for the sky is red and lowring. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times?  (Matthew 16:3, emphasis added)

Jesus denounced those of His generation because they could not discern the “signs of the times.” What did He mean by “signs of the times?” A sign is a form of communication; it says something about the brief moment in which we live. It reveals the truth or the reality of the events we are experiencing. Jesus endorsed the idea of reading signs that have specific meaning to a particular people or generation. The signs are speaking. Do you see them?

My wonderful wife pointed out some interesting facts: she can read the signs of the times. During the 1990’s, the church we attended was leading a global prayer effort. Some of you may have heard of it. It was called “Prayer Through the Window.” It referred to a concerted effort to pray for the nations in Africa and Asia that are in the 10/40 window (the nations between the 10^th and 40^th parallels). The movement reached all over the world, stimulating millions of believers to pray for these nations who— for the most part— exist under the bondage of Islam. The movement discontinued in the year 2000. During the 1990’s, the buzz word coming out of the culture was “global.” It was everywhere; everything was going “global.” Major businesses went “global,” economics went global, currency went global, the internet went global, and on and on. The message echoing through American culture during that decade was “globalization.” It seemed ironic that the culture or the society at large, inadvertently, projected something of what God was saying to Christianity, particularly our group who had set out on a mission to pray for the darkest nations on earth to hear and receive the Gospel. 

This begs the question:  what are the signs of these times right now? Can we read them, or will we be as ignorant as the people of Jesus day? 

Scanning the horizon, we can actually see two signs of the times that may be speaking through society to God’s people. One sign slaps you in the face every time you read the newspaper or view the news online, and another is relatively new and has only been flashing its message for a few short years. The first message is focused on gender. Everywhere you go the discussion of the day—the issues being tried in courts, the decisions being made regarding public schools and universities— are regarding gender. When the culture at large is dealing with an issue, it is a sure sign that God is pressing His Church to search the Scripture, get it right (to become of the right perspective), and not be blown away by the blizzard of public opinions. All through history, the Church brought forth its best and most brilliant theology during a crisis of ideas, and now is no different. Will we rise to the occasion and have proper discernment? 

So, what is the second sign of our times? The buzz word now echoing throughout the culture is “sustainability.” 

If you were to frequent a particular eatery that served a buffet style on a regular basis, you would notice if something was removed from the spread of delectable foods, would you not? Believe it or not some things have already vanished from the smorgasbord of churches because they were not sustainable, and one particular group  resided here in America when the colonies were organizing; however, it vanished before the signing of the Declaration of Independence.  Who might that be? That would be none other than the Puritans. They were not sustainable. (We’ll speak more about them in a later section.) 

I believe God— speaking through societal fads— is posing sustainability as a question, and this particular fad is always working its way through our society as a question rather than a statement. Farming practices are being questioned as to their sustainability. It shows up grocery labels, “From sustainable farming practices,” etc. Labor management and business methods are being scrutinized for their “sustainability.” This is a sign of our times. Perhaps God is asking the same thing of the smorgasbord of churches that grace our cities and towns. Is the smorgasbord sustainable? In order to answer that question, we must first find out what “sustainable” looks like. In the church world, what is sustainable and what is not? That is the question. The obvious answer to that is that which is sustainable is that which has always been here: the thing that is as it has always been will be what is here when the dust clears. This means that something that is sustainable has its roots in the past. If the thing that is sustainable is something ancient and very old, then we must look to the past to find it.

So, what is the purpose of this book? What is it that we wish to say? We wish to bring you the news; the “bad news and the good news.” What is the bad news? The bad news is that some forms of modern Christianity that appear on the smorgasbord of every community are not sustainable because they have been cut loose  or orphaned from the classical Christian root. They are orphaned in their faith because they have no connection with pre-Reformational Christianity. The good news is that many in orphaned expressions of Christianity are rediscovering their spiritual family history and attending to the old ways in order to walk in the well-trod ancient paths.

Smorgasbord Church

Smorgasbord Church

(An excerpt from the book The Orphan Church)

The free market system has excelled nowhere more than in the expressions of Christianity in the West. A particular intersection a few blocks from our house sports churches on three of its four corners. Consider this: three churches mere feet from each other. Most rational citizens— especially someone who manages a business— would say that two of three churches are redundant and unnecessary. And any sane person might ask why cannot we consolidate three into one? After all, even the Trinity is three in One. Why cannot these three become one? However, if you were to ask a parishioner if they could merge with the church across the street,  it would become painfully evident that the possibility of consolidating three churches into one church is preposterous because, “We are Baptists and they are Lutheran.” 

All Americans (and some in other parts of the world) can pick and choose whatever church they want to attend on any given Sunday according to what they feel is best for them. Attending church has become like shopping for a car, a used car at that. This one has leather seating, that one has GPS navigation, and it seems that this one over here met with a fence post and lost. The only thing missing is the used car salesman. The difference between car shopping and church shopping is that the commitment for buying a car is pretty well predetermined (scheduled payments) whereas being a part of a modern church community involves only what commitment and contribution a parishioner feels like doing. 

Some have taken this “smorgasbord” approach to church to a whole new level: there now exists a “church hookup culture” that allows a person to obtain benefits of church without any commitment. First this week we will consume whatever worship and preaching is offered at this church (because it has a special speaker), and next week we will dine somewhere else, and the week after that, we go fishing. And when Aunt Martha is in town, we will take her to see the ginormous new church building on the north side of town because it is as spectacular as the other tourist sites in town. And ultimately we usually go somewhere else. This phenomenon of transient-ness within churches became more evident to me while sitting in the same seat for six months every Sunday and noting that every week I met new and different people, many of whom have never attended this church before or in the last few months. If there is an “elephant in the room” regarding modern western Christianity, this is it: it is all very fluid.  

This raises a glaring question: is smorgasbord the best way to do church? Certainly the free market church dynamic provides a variety of good things to choose from, and those startup churches that do not make it in the free market— like every other failed business— just goes away. Competition among churches (like competition among businesses) forces churches to compete for a following. Why should they not compete for their business like every other business? Free market church compels pastors and church staff to be at their very best every Sunday  in order to actively and consistently demonstrate to every visitor their church is worthy of their attendance and support by providing the best: the best childcare, the best youth group, the best women’s discipleship and on and on. So much can be said about the free market church system as it forces churches to cater to the marketplace. This is great, right? Or is it?

My next question is this: will the wonderful “smorgasbord” of churches always be here? And what will happen to all the happy church shoppers if and when the smorgasbord is shut down? Or will they even miss it? Now, why would we want to think about these questions?  Because things are changing, and the American way of life which provides the environment for the smorgasbord to thrive may not be as permanent as we think. 

Here is another question I would ask: is the smorgasbord church the way that Christianity was supposed to be expressed through to begin with?  Three different churches at one intersection, and all proclaiming the same Christ? Is this what the Church has always been? Is this what Paul had in mind? Is this what Jesus had in mind? Is this what St. Augustine had in mind? I dare say our current situation in the church market place is even drastically different than just 75 years ago. 

In fact, if you know anything about Church history, you know that for a thousand years there was only one brand of Christianity. And then for another 500 years there were only two choices of what form of Christianity you wanted to be a part of, and to leave one and go to other branch required that you pick yourself up and move to another part of the world; oddly enough— when you got there— you would find something very similar to what you left behind. 

The smorgasbord church is a very recent phenomenon; it is one of those inconsistent elements that will come and go in the same way that the inquisitions, the selling of indulgences, and the tent revivals all came and went. The smorgasbord is a cultural phenomenon and is non-existent in many parts of the world. If the first1500 years of church history, shows us anything, it is that smorgasbord church is not normal and will not last.

While reading this material my readers are wondering the purpose of discussing what cannot be changed about our current church market situation. But I would ask: is the “smorgasbord church” here to stay? Will it always be here? I think not. Things will change; they always do. Nations, with their inherent cultures, come and go but the Church will always be here, but it will not always be here in the same variety as we know it today; some forms of Christianity become extinct.