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End of Christendom Challenges and Opportunities
Stuart Murray Williams, a writer and thinker from the Anabaptism tradition, looks at the challenges and opportunities of preaching the gospel in a culture that is no longer Christian, as we experience in Western Europe, particularly England.
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 In
a school in inner London a young teenager with no church connections
of any kind hears the Christmas story for the first time. His teacher
tells it well and he is fascinated by this amazing story. Risking the
mockery of his friends he approaches her at the end of the lesson and
thanks her for the story. One thing, though confuses him. "Why
did they give the baby a swear-word for his name? Why did they do that?"
One Sunday in Oxford a young man called at a church building where his partner worked during the week as an artist in a creative arts project run by the church. He had called to collect some material for her. He arrived as the morning congregation was leaving and recognised the minister, whom he had met before. He was surprised. "What are all these people doing here?" I didn't know churches were open on Sundays!" "Opportunity to tell the story of Jesus to people who know absolutely nothing about it" Two snapshots of Britain at the end of Christendom. The Christian story is unknown, and churches are alien institutions. The reaction to learning a little about both is not hostile but curious. For the first time in many centuries Christians in Britain have an opportunity to tell the story of Jesus to people who know absolutely nothing about it. This presents many challenges but also real opportunities. There has been much talk over recent years about the demise of the culture of modernity, with its emphasis on reason, autonomy, technology and progress, and the emergence of the fragmented, intuitive, sceptical and pessimistic culture of post-modernity. Certainly this cultural shift, wherever it leads, has major implications for the way Christians think about and practise discipleship, community and mission. But another major shift is taking place, that may be at least as significant, but which has not yet received anything like as much attention from most Christians - the demise of the culture of Christendom and the emergence of post-Christendom. "The compromises of Christendom" What was Christendom? Early in the 4th century the emperor Constantine adopted the Christian faith, issued an edit of toleration that ended the persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire, and brought the Churches in from the margins to the centre of society. He and his successors heaped favours on the Churches, put increasing pressure on those who held other religious beliefs, and implemented all kinds of political, economic, cultural and social programmes that were justified on the supposed basis of Christian theology. During the next few centuries the system of Christendom took shape - an alliance of Church and State, where the Church became associated with power, wealth, status and coercion, and where almost all Europeans were assumed to be Christian, by birth rather than choice. Most Christians welcomed this new situation, seeing it as the triumph of Christ over the empire and paganism, and accepted the compromises required to achieve it. But some were convinced that the Church had been domesticated and perverted by this alliance and pointed in dismay to the changes that had been necessary. o Huge nominal congregations replaced counter-culture
communities of disciples. This system endured for centuries and has adapted remarkably well to different contexts - from monolithic medieval Catholicism, through the warring mini-Christendoms of the Reformation era, to many other nations as it was exported through missionary work in the colonialist period, including its mutation into an unofficial but no less powerful system in the American vision of "one nation under God". The gradual demise of Christendom in Britain (and in many other Western nations) has been apparent for many decades, and the end is surely now in sight. Imposing Christianity has not worked. The reaction of many Christians has been to mourn its passing and to hanker nostalgically for the good old days when "This was a Christian nation". My reaction instead is to celebrate this demise, to welcome the opportunities it offers and to suggest we engage critically with the legacy of Christendom, learning to recognise its impact on our thinking, choosing which aspects to value and retain, and which to reject as distortions. "Churches are once again back in the margins"
And the legacy of Christendom is particularly strong (and often unchallenged) in many newer Churches that know little of the historical background and have accepted as biblical all kinds of things that are nothing of the sort. It infects our theology, the songs we sing, our Church structures, our attitudes to other faith communities, the way we explain the gospel, and our views on wealth, violence, power, and many other ethical issues. We have a lot of unlearning to do. Otherwise Christendom attitudes and practices will disable use and compromise our witness and distract us from seizing the opportunities of this new context "Importance of letting go of our privileged but compromised past" And there will be tremendous opportunities as the memory of Christendom fades - if we let go of our privileged but compromised past and false hopes of restoration and revival (both deeply flawed and backward looking Christendom concepts) - opportunities to: o Tell the Jesus story to people who have never heard
it These and many other opportunities lie ahead. We are not quite there yet, although the opening snapshots are signs of what is coming. But the memory of Christendom is still strong enough in many parts of our society, especially in the suburbs and rural areas, to frustrate our best efforts. Here we face a very tough challenge of sharing the Jesus story with people who think they already know it and are uninterested, and of persuading them that church can be different from their previous experience of it as escapist, irrelevant, trivial, sexist, arrogant, triumphalist or unreal. Despite the Decade of Evangelisation, Alpha courses, cell churches, church planting, promises of revival and much else, our churches are continuing to decline and age. We are not attracting many children or new adults, our older members are dying, and we are losing a frightening number through disaffection. There are wonderful stories of conversion and growth, of course, especially in marginal communities, but the general trend is firmly downwards. If it continues unabated, several major denominations are predicting that within 30 years they will have ceased to exist as denominations or may even have closed their last congregation. Christians in Britain will then be a very tiny minority. It is crucial we do not close our eyes to this - and equally crucial we are not incapacitated by it. This twilight zone between Christendom and post-Christendom is hard to negotiate. But there are signs it may eventually give way to a time of renewed opportunity for the gospel - if there are any of us still around to seize it. "We must learn to tell the Jesus story from the margins to those who know none of it or the language we normally use" So what do we do now? How do we prepare for these coming
opportunities? And how do we survive the interim? I have room here
for only a few suggestions:
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Whatever
our assessment of Christendom - a necessary compromise that resulted
in a rich and remarkable culture, or a perversion that distorted Christianity
for centuries - this era of European history is ending. We are fast
moving into a new world where the Churches are back on the margins.
Christianity is one among many religious options and can claim no
preferential treatment and Christians need to discover fresh ways
to engage in mission and live out the Jesus story. This new world
presents many challenges to ways of thinking we have inherited from
the Christendom era. There are, of course, enduring treasures from
this long period of history(musical, artistic, philosophical and spiritual)
that we will choose to carry with us as provisions for the journey
beyond Christendom. But there is also much baggage that will hinder
us if we do not lay it down. The Christendom legacy needs to be scrutinised
carefully, and much will need to be left behind. 