Individuals have a natural life span—nothing surprising there. We are also becoming accustomed, with pain, to a parallel notion, that congregations have life spans. It may be time to ask whether denominations—in fact, our denomination—might have a life span also. Perhaps God uses a denomination in a certain place, at a certain time, for a certain purpose. If that time has passed and God’s purpose has been achieved, or has been abandoned by the people, the denomination not only will but should pass away. And no church growth strategies will keep that from happening. “The word of the Lord endures forever,” but maybe not denominations. Do I like the idea? Of course not, but given the statistics, we need at least to think about the possibility.
Let me be clear. I confidently expect Christian worship and service to continue in Canada. The next few decades will be hard for the Christian church and things may get worse before they get better. But I also expect that life and even the numbers will eventually improve for the church. I believe that as a merely inherited and social adherence to the virtues of the gospel fades away, the contrast with the life of the church will become more apparent and attractive to at least some in our society. Of course, that assumes that the church will actually live by and for the gospel! If not… Either way, particular structures of Christianity in our country may not survive in their present form. The church landscape may be unrecognizable in another 25 years.
This is not the first time Presbyterians have had to consider whether we can or should continue to exist as a separate denomination in Christ’s church. In the years leading up to Church Union in 1925, our spiritual ancestors had to decide whether we should continue as a separate entity. About two – thirds of the old Presbyterian Church decided they were called to merge with Methodists and Congregationalists to form the United Church of Canada. About one – third of the church, our spiritual forebears, decided to continue the existence of the Presbyterian Church in Canada. Some continuing Presbyterians believed simply that our way of doings things was God’s way. Moses and all the children of Israel had been Presbyterian since shaking the Red Sea sand from between their toes! More modestly, others thought that the Reformed witness, the way of thinking and of being church developed in the Reformation and shaped by years of struggle, was so valuable that it deserved representation on the Canadian church scene.
It may still be that the best approach for the Presbyterian Church is to be what we are. It may even be the most practical approach. In a society where spiritual rootlessness is epidemic, it may be that some will be attracted to a church with deep spiritual roots. There is, after all, nothing so irrelevant as a church desperately trying to be relevant and forgetting what it is. It’s the spiritual equivalent of a bad comb over. I think it’s worth trying the genuineness strategy or the “roots approach” over the next years.
Accordingly, in my moderatorial year, I will be exploring our roots and taking as a motto a phrase adapted from the Letter to the Colossians, “Rooted and Built Up in Christ.” I want to explore our roots, not from nostalgia for some imaginary golden era of the past, but because deep roots make new growth possible. We’ll see if, in the mercy of God, that happens with us.
About stephenfarris
Rev. Dr. Stephen Farris is dean of St. Andrew's Hall, Vancouver.
