Changing Times

Joseph D. Small
Director, Theology, Worship and Education

Sixteenth-century Anglican theologian Richard Hooker, best known for his Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie, knew a thing or two about church institutions. “Change is not made without inconvenience,” he said, “even from worse to better.”

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is in the midst of profound change at every level of its life: congregations, presbyteries, synods, and the General Assembly. The changes often bring more than “inconvenience,” and we are not always certain that they are “from worse to better.”

North American churches — including the PC(USA) — are experiencing the dislocations that come with their cultural disestablishment. Legal disestablishment took place early in the nation’s history, at a time when state churches remained the norm in Europe. Civic disestablishment later broke the residual hegemony of the “founding” churches. Through all of this, however, a generalized cultural establishment of the churches endured. The United States remained a “Christian nation” (with a grudging inclusion of Jews). This conceptual, social, and cultural establishment of the churches endured long after legal and civic establishments were only memories. Christianity and Americanism were merged in a unified native religiosity.

During the second half of the twentieth century, however, the churches became effectively distanced from the dominant culture. The reasons are many and complex, but by the turn of the millennium, the old mainline churches were marginalized, previously marginal evangelical churches were reluctant and sporadic social players, and religion generally was relegated to private life. While most Americans now consider themselves “spiritual,” the churches are no longer necessary to their religious life. We are living through the rapidly accelerating cultural disestablishment of the church. 

The growing distance between North American culture and the church, and especially of the old mainline churches, is evident in numerous quantifiable ways. Mainline Protestant churches have experienced precipitous declines in membership, while denominational structures wither for lack of funds. The Roman Catholic Church’s stream of religious vocations has dried to a trickle, and the disciplined life of its members has been diluted. The large network of church-related colleges and universities weakens as schools distance themselves from denominational identification. News coverage of religion is constricted while entertainment media have replaced stock treatment of religious themes and characters with dismissive characterizations of Christianity and fascination with the occult. More telling than the sum of specific indicators, however, is the dramatic shift in public attitudes toward Christianity and its churches. Simply put, the Christian church is no longer conspicuous in American consciousness or integral to American culture. 

The greatest danger in all of this is not cultural disestablishment itself, or even the individualism that renders the church dispensable. The greatest danger is ecclesial nostalgia, hankering after the way it used to be when the society admired us, when we spoke truth to power and power listened, when we had all the resources we needed to do all the good things we were called to do. Those of us who work in the offices of the General Assembly Council are not immune to nostalgia. Several years of deep budget cuts and staff reductions tempt us to yearn for the good old days, or, even worse, to pretend that nothing has changed.

Things have changed, however, and the change is enduring. The reductions of 2006 led to a reorganization of General Assembly Council ministry and mission. The three familiar ministry divisions have disappeared, replaced by seven program areas, one of which has been formed from parts of the former Congregational Ministries Publishing and the former Office of Theology and Worship. The new entity — “Theology Worship and Education” — brings together the GAC’s work in Christian education, curriculum development, theological education, theological studies, worship resources, spiritual formation, and congregational leadership. The new “Theology Worship and Education” is more than an organizational reshuffle. Its intention is to enhance the educational, theological, liturgical, and spiritual ministries of the whole church by encouraging intentional interaction and mutual enrichment.

I believe that the changes we are undergoing are “from worse to better,” but they are “not made without inconvenience.” Changes may entail some inconvenience for staff and for faithful readers of ideas! Please bear with us, for I believe that changes in the structure and culture of the General Assembly Council, especially in Theology Worship and Education, will enhance educational ministries throughout the church.

Nothing that is worth doing can be achieved in our lifetime; therefore we must be saved by hope. Nothing which is true or beautiful or good makes complete sense in any immediate context of history; therefore we must be saved by faith. Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone; therefore we are saved by love. No virtuous act is quite as virtuous from the standpoint of our friend or foe as it is from our standpoint. Therefore we must be saved by the final form of love, which is forgiveness.
—Reinhold Niebuhr, The Irony of American History