Why Fading Civil Religion Is Good News for Church Renewal
By Jen Pollock Michel, The Gospel Coalition:
“Are we following God?”
[…] My husband’s question surfaced our fear that despite our commitment to seeing our city transformed by the gospel, Toronto is having its subtle way with us, conforming us to its desires (cf. 1 John 2:16). As we continued to talk, we were both sensing a need for the kind of renewal Mark Sayers writes about in his new book, Reappearing Church: The Hope for Renewal in the Rise of Our Post-Christian Culture.
Sayers, an Australian pastor and writer, begins by acknowledging the “brilliantly good news” that cultural Christianity is eroding and secularism is on the rise. This isn’t the moment for being anxious, he reassures. “Are we punch drunk by the problems of our age, or do we see the opportunities before us?”
Instead of fretting about increasing social isolation and mental illness, social fracturing and polarization, Christians can celebrate the luminous hope of the gospel for our historical moment. In other words, the cultural glass may be half-full, but the gospel has never brimmed with greater power. As the creeds of secularism prove fragile and unsatisfying, the church of Jesus Christ has the opportunity to live and proclaim a more compelling, more enduring story for such a time as this.
“When the night is at its darkest, the dawn is on its way. We find ourselves again at such a moment.”
Still, Sayers’s optimism vis-à-vis the broader culture falters with regard to the present state of the evangelical church.
See also (for an evaluation of another similarly optimistic account of Christianity’s prospects in contemporary Western culture):
Christianity and culture: balancing attack and defence: A review of ‘Plugged In’ by Daniel Strange, by Andrew Symes, Anglican Mainstream.
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