OldSoul.blog

I have spent the last 45 years urging people to go to church, and working with others to develop faith communities that might encourage that. So it would be reasonable to assume that I believe the Church is worth ‘saving’.

But having recently retired, I find myself free of any local church responsibilities – and, to be perfectly honest, I feel liberated! It’s early days, and I’m still in the ‘novelty’ phase I guess, but so far, I haven’t missed ‘going to church’ at all. I am delighting in Sunday mornings spent walking by the river or the beach with my wife, my dog, my grandchildren, connecting with neighbours and other walkers along the way. So what’s going on? Am I just tired and needing a break? Or am I, like so many others it seems, simply ‘over’ church, disillusioned with its institutional burdens, its entrenched practices, and its sometimes-archaic attitudes?  

 Is the Church worth ‘saving’?

The stark reality is that, in Australia, the institutional Church is shrinking at a rather alarming rate: those identifying as Christian in the National Census dropped by 25% in the 40 years between 1971 (86%) and 2011 (61%) and then by another 17% in the ten years between 2011 and 2021 (44%). At the same time, those identifying with ‘no religion’ rose from 7% (1971) to 39% (2021). At 44%, Christianity remains by far the largest faith group in Australian society (Islam is next at 3.2%), but it is evident that by the time of the next census there will be more people in Australia identifying as non-religious than religious. 

Perhaps this should not surprise us given the poor behaviour that the Church has displayed, and the poor press that the Church has received, over the years: from the earliest days of complicity with government in the penal settlements of colonial Australia, through the era of dispossession and Stolen Generations of Australia’s First Peoples, through the obscene accumulation of wealth and power often at the expense of the poor and powerless, to the too-prevalent evidence of abuse and corruption within Church ranks and programs. Add to this the predilection for some Christian leaders to exude a supercilious, self-righteous, holier-than-thou attitude (which often expresses itself as a rude dismissal of those who think differently), and it is no surprise that Australian people are turning their backs on the Church.

Which begs the question: does the Church have a future, or perhaps more aptly, does the future have a Church? Is the Church worth ‘saving’?

Would it be heretical for me to suggest that Jesus would answer that question with a resounding ‘NO’? As I read it, the story of Jesus features his on-going struggle with the institutional ‘Church’ of his day, in particular with the religious leaders’ abuse of power, lack of compassion, and rigid legalism. Is it not likely that Jesus would be equally disillusioned with, and critical of, the institutional Church of today, in which the same or similar abuses are so entrenched? Would Jesus want to ‘save’ a Church such as that! I doubt it.

But all is not lost. There is something to salvage! Despite my earlier dismissal of the ‘going to church’ routine, what I have missed in my church abstention is the engagement with people – like-minded and other-minded – around issues of social concern, ethics, justice, theology and, of course, football. And I miss the opportunities that faith communities have provided for connection with programs, services and action to address these societal issues. So while the Church may not be worth saving, I recognise and affirm that what is worth saving are the values and qualities that Jesus taught and demonstrated: life-giving values like care, compassion, generosity, grace, harmony, humility, reconciliation, the practice of love – these are the values and qualities that Jesus championed and they are definitely worth ‘saving’ and cultivating. Ideally, these are the values for which the Church ought to be known and respected, but they are too often eclipsed by the narrow-minded, self-interested and legalistic attitudes of hierarchical Church structures.

I suggest that what is worth saving is not the institutional Church (capital C), but the ‘small c’ church – the ‘ecclesia’ – local communities of grace, compassion and hope who seek to follow the teaching of Jesus and live out the values of Jesus in their corporate and personal life. The distinction between Church as institution and church as a gathering of faithful people is significant. The former may not be worth saving, the latter definitely is! 

And let me affirm that this salvific ecclesia is not confined to the Christian faith.  The affirmation and practice of love, grace, compassion, generosity, kindness, etc. is to be named and celebrated wherever it is found – amongst Christian churches and Islamic mosques, in Hindu temples and in Jewish synagogues.  In places of diverse faith and in places of no faith.  Because these are the core values and qualities of all people of goodwill, and I reckon they really are worth saving!

What do you think?  

David Brooker

May 2024