Faith Venture

A Tale of Two Surveys. Taken together, I wonder where the American church has missed the point. Perhaps using the term “church” speaks too broadly. There seem to be myriad churches with myriad theologies.

But, let us consider two recent surveys.

Young women are leaving church in unprecedented numbers, according to the Survey Center on American Life’s research. The center learned that young women are particularly concerned about churches that don’t welcome all people; that discourage women’s leadership; and don’t attend to community, justice, compassion, and loving one’s neighbor. 

Young white men are coming back to the church because it’s one of the few places that accept them (undefined, but a logical assumption would be those “evangelical” churches that condemn homosexuality and women leadership).

The Apostle Paul, loved by some conservatives and scorned by some liberals and misunderstood by most, famously wrote to the churches of Galatia, “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

I ask, why are we still so intent on divisions? Why do we champion one group and put down another? Why don’t we organize our churches with this vision—you are all one in Christ Jesus?

Conscious ignorance, if you can practice it, expands our world.

Imagine approaching study, say of the Bible for instance, consciously ignorant. We would be open to learning something new. We would be open to the infusion of the Spirit.

We might even become renewed.

I see that C-SPAN is trying a talk news show that is designed as discussion rather than confrontation. Imagine in this era a Democrat and Republican sitting on a TV set having an intelligent discussion? Can they get anyone to participate? Will anyone watch?

Even many of the sport shows I’ve seen on ESPN are more argument than discussion. The belief is that the more outrageous and confrontational the better for ratings (and therefore the better for ad revenue).

Let’s try this on our personal life. Say at a table having coffee after church. Do you discuss or argue. How is your language? Confrontational and provocative? Probing, respectful?

An argument isn’t a discussion.

I once accepted a position in a company to develop a marketing plan for a new product. The product looked not only cool, but also to fill a customer need. I knew the market and the technology.

I developed and executed a plan based on a model that I thought was current and best.

The market had changed a little within two years. It no longer conformed with my model.

We blame the world for not fitting into our model.

I could have blamed the world for changing. But I knew that I had not adapted. There were other problems, such as updating the product to ever changing technologies. The end result was we closed the company within 18 months.

This is not a metaphor for changing your mind—which is something we always must consider.

This metaphor is about blame.

Perhaps we have a model in our head about the ideal church or the ideal organization or the ideal theology. Then we discover that the world does not work that way. 

Whom do we blame?

Do we blame the world for not bending to our will and then go off to pout?

Do we accept blame and work on ourselves to adapt to reality?