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Ministry in the context of social and cultural "sea changes"
by the Right Reverend Thomas Clark Ely, Bishop of Vermont
Mountain Echo, June 2010

Much of my reading these days is focused on the rapidly changing social and cultural realities in which our church is seeking to witness faithfully to the Good News of Jesus Christ. Significant change has already occurred, and the question is, are we taking sufficient notice? We in the United States are not alone in this shifting cultural reality, but it is the contextual reality that most directly affects our mission and ministry as the Episcopal Diocese of Vermont.

I recently shared some reflections on this topic with the Diocesan Council as part of our leadership work of reframing the diocesan Strategic Plan and preparing the 2011 diocesan budget. I spoke in terms of insights growing out of my own reading and reflection, the recent House of Bishops meeting where this was a prominent topic, and several conversations with clergy and other congregational and diocesan leaders, including members of the Diocesan Capital Campaign Discernment Committee, the Diocesan Communications Task Force, those preparing for the upcoming Diocesan Leadership Mutual Ministry Review, and the planning team for this year’s Diocesan Convention program and Ministry Fairs.

Here’s part of what I shared with the Diocesan Council:
Phyllis Tickle, in her recent book, The Great Emergence, introduces a thought-provoking image borrowed from retired bishop Mark Dyer. He suggests that every five hundred years or so, the Church engages in a rummage sale in which we simultaneously get rid of the “clutter” (that which is no longer serving us well) and discover (or rediscover) treasures—perhaps long since forgotten—that we want to embrace going forward. She uses this image to speak about the huge shifts (she also calls them tsunamis) that historically take place about every five hundred years.

The language Tickle uses to describe these dramatic shifts include: The Great Transformation—the 1st century emergence of Christianity; The Great Decline and Fall—the 6th century post-Constantine/Charlemagne era; The Great Schism—the 11th century Christian split between the East and the West; The Great Reformation—the 16th century emergence of Protestant denominations; and The Great Emergence—the current 21st century reality of emergence Christianity that is part of the present landscape of our age and culture.

These dramatic shifts, or “sea changes” as Anthony Robinson, author of Changing the Conversation, (a book many of us are reading in preparation for the Diocesan Leadership Mutual Ministry Review this
June), calls them are not only about religion, but also about cultural and social realities that impact religious convictions, structures and practices.

The pattern of each of these five hundred year cycles includes (roughly) one hundred years of figuring it out, two hundred fifty years of living with the new reality, and one hundred fifty years of tearing it apart. For Tickle, who marks the current “figuring it out” stage with the 9/11 disaster, we really have no idea what The Great Emergence will ultimately look like, or even what we will call it when we look back upon it. She does, however, take solace in the fact that in ninety to one hundred years things should be much clearer. In the meantime, we live in the reality of this incredible sea change.

This sea change, as Phyllis Tickle, Anthony Robinson, Diana Butler Bass, Brian McLaren and other authors are pointing out to us, is very much about the end of Western and American Christendom (not Christianity) and about the continuing movement into a “post-modern” world, with all its colossal changes in technology, transportation, communication and economic organization, to mention but a few. The shifting sands of this sea change also involve changes in values and guiding ideals, including the understanding that reason and rationality are not the “only” ways of knowing and that the “meta-narrative” of progress, expansion and conquest is undergoing rapid change with our awareness of social, ecological, resource and climate concerns.

Among the many challenges for the church in this time of change is the challenge to face into the reality that changing times call for changing models and approaches to the way we carry out our mission, as well as the need to examine and modify the structures, systems and methods we use to organize our life as the church. What has worked well (and in some cases continues to work well) for many of us “moderns” is not working and will not work well for “post-moderns.” Many of them are drawn not to “moral values as universal truth detached from religious experiences,” to quote Anthony Robinson, but instead are drawn to “a more spiritual connection and experience, the experience of the numinous and transcendent, yet imminent and sacred other.”

This sea change can also be approached from the perspective of diminishing numbers being experienced among just about all Christian denominations (of which there are some 26,700 recognized by the IRS according to Phyllis Tickle).

At the March House of Bishops meeting, Diana Butler Bass, whose newest book is A People’s History of Christianity, led us through a review of some of the most recent demographics, or what she called “Fun with Numbers.” I can’t review all that she cited, but I offer here one example: 30-40 years ago 90% of Americans said they believed in God (66% were Protestant; 24% Roman Catholic; 2% Jewish; 2% none of the above; 6% other). Today (2008 Pew Report) 72% say they believe in God (75% are Christian). That is a huge shift, and the attendance at worship comparisons are even more dramatic.

Perhaps most sobering of all was the data Butler Bass shared with us from a 2007 Barna report on the attitudes of young adults (16-29) toward “Christian.” The report includes responses from young adults “outside” the church and “inside” the church, and the results suggest we have our work cut out for us if we (the church) are to reach these young adults. 91% of those “outside” the church and 80% of those “inside” the church associated anti-homosexual attitudes with being Christian. 87% (outside) and 52% (inside) of young adults associated judgmental attitudes with being Christian.

Here are the numbers for some other attitudes associated with being Christian from this age group: 85% (outside) and 47% (inside) – “hypocritical;” 75% (outside) and 50% (inside) – “too political;” 72% (outside) and 32% (inside) – “out of touch with reality;” and 68% (outside) and 27% (inside) associated “boring” with Christian.

As we look to the future, I hope we will take these changing cultural and contextual realities to heart. I hope we will pay attention to the Holy Spirit moving in our midst, helping us to grow in our awareness and understanding of what God is calling us to be and do as the church in the midst of a culture that self identifies as more “spiritual” than “religious,” is more interested in “relationships” than “structures,” and is more drawn to “community” than to “institution.” The good news is that the Good News is still good news. How will you and your community of faith approach these changing times and present opportunities?

Faithfully,
+ Thomas