One of the great challenges of aging is the constant need for re-calibration. We might feel as if we are the same or are progressing in a “normal” fashion, but people and times are changing. We might think of a person as a child when, in fact, they were a child over a decade ago, and have now become a young adult. We might still be convinced the 1990s were only a decade ago, not three. Mentally we might feel like we are in our twenties; everyone else knows better. No, X+10 decade is not the new X decade; we just resist the re-calibration. It’s disturbing on many levels.

If re-calibration is difficult for us in our individual lives, it proves all the more difficult in terms of the Christian faith. Most people would consider the Christian faith as something which would not change that much, and that was probably true a few generations ago.

Yet, as is well exhibited in Bob Smietana’s Reorganized Religion: The Reshaping of the Church and Why It Matters, churches and the expression of the Christian faith have transformed significantly throughout the 21st century, and all the more so even in the past decade.

First and foremost: fellow Christians, it is beyond past time to re-calibrate again. It is understandable why many would continue to look at themselves, ways to engage the world, and the world as they did twenty, thirty, or more years ago. A lot of resources written regarding reaching the “unchurched” are still out there; in particular I have in mind the series of books written by Thom Rainer in the late aughts and early 2010s. Even these works have become dated based on the accelerated rate of change in socio-cultural beliefs and values about Christianity since 2015.

Smietana is a reporter with Religion News Service; this work lays out his own personal story, many of his experiences in reporting about Christianity, and examination of recent statistics about Christian faith and practice.

The story, as noted, is the acceleration of existing trends based on the experiences of the past decade. The number of “nones,” those who do not claim any particular religion, has increased significantly at the detriment of professions of Christian faith. “Mid-sized” churches are becoming more and more rare: churches tend to either be small or quite large; churches are averaging under 100 members/attendees while the “average Christian” assembles with a church of many hundreds, exemplifying that trend. Smietana speaks straight regarding the heritage of many churches as white Evangelical and Protestant groups, and the United States of America is becoming much less white and less tolerant of all-white spaces; it takes special effort to cultivate and develop a multi-ethnic and multi-racial congregational environment, and it cannot feature culturally white Christianity as utterly dominant because it was dominant in the past.

Smietana laments the current situation, for a lot of people would not seem to notice if local churches become rarer, yet they have remained critical and crucial vehicles of providing resources and support for the disadvantaged and under-served in many communities, making the world “less awful.” He compares churches to the small town gas station: rarely used, yet when needed, quite important for people. The assumption exists the gas station will always be there; but what if it isn’t?

Smietana explores reasons why participation in churches is in decline. He speaks of cultural attitudes which have become less favorable for churches and Christian faith: people do not hold Christianity and churches in the kind of esteem and honor as their grandparents and previous generations did. At the same time churches have tended to turn inward and insular, rallying and speaking to “the base” in ways which alienate those who are not part of said “base.” And then there’s the politicization of Christian faith and the greater prominence of Christian nationalism. Such proves repellent to the world and leads many who were raised in the church and with Christian faith to be disillusioned.

Smietana considers the way forward. There still does remain a desire and impulse to gather together and to share life with others. Churches might have to get creative in order to survive; the way forward might involve merging with other groups or welcoming groups of refugees or others. Smietana compares and contrasts the fate of two Seattle churches: Interbay Covenant Church, which merged with and was absorbed by Quest Church, and Mars Hill and the whole Mark Driscoll debacle. The story has a sublime irony: the great meeting place of Mars Hill becomes the new meeting place of Quest Church, a group far more reflective of Seattle than Mars Hill ever could be. In the end, we need to work well together to be the church for which we might hope. It may not look exactly like what we might have imagined, but God can still be glorified in it.

There are challenges in all of these trends which Smietana identifies, and plenty of room for doctrinal and theological disagreements about various practices and ways forward. Nevertheless, it is important for us to be like those of Issachar who understand the times and know what the people of God should do (cf. 1 Chronicles 12:32): we have to understand the posture of those around us so we can best understand how to embody Jesus before them.

Reorganized Religion can be a helpful guide to assist with this re-calibration; a time will come, perhaps soon, when it will also cease to be as relevant like the guides to previous times, and we will have to re-calibrate again. Only when the Lord returns and we share in the resurrection will we get to cease this kind of re-calibration and share in life with Him forever. ( )