A Rummage Sale?

“Every 500 years the church holds a rummage sale and cleans out the house.” That’s been an encouraging metaphor for those of us who worry about the future of the church.

 You undoubtedly know that Christian faith is losing adherents, at least in the Northern Hemisphere countries of the world. In the U.S., Europe and other similar nations of the world, the influence and numbers of the church are dwindling. (By comparison, Christianity in Africa and South America is exploding.)

 Locally, Burke UMC hit its attendance high in 2002. We’ve been on a slow numerical decline for the past 10 years. Almost every other congregation in the United States is in the same situation. Churches close, and new expressions of faith seem odd and off-putting to many traditional worshippers.

The person who coined the “rummage sale” metaphor reminds us, though, that this type of thing has happened before. By the year 500 AD, for example, the Roman Empire had fallen and theological disputes were rampant.  Local or house churches dissolved, and Christendom began its retreat into monasteries. Around 1000 AD, the Great Schism split the church into Eastern (Orthodox) and Western (Catholic) divisions; the Crusades, which followed shortly thereafter, further hurt the church. The Protestant Reformation of the 1500’s again traumatized the institutional church and brought about entirely new theologies and expressions of faith.

And here we are, 500 years later. Many people have named this era “The Great Emergence.” Traditional expressions of church are declining, and no one knows for sure what’s next.

I just returned yesterday from my second round of annual interviews on behalf of the Virginia Conference Board of Ordained Ministry. Once again I’ve been struck by the energy and creativity that people seeking ordination are bringing into the United Methodist Church. It’s difficult to be too pessimistic about the future of the church of Jesus Christ when more of the brightest and best of our young people are choosing careers in the ministry.

I met candidates who had taught English in Poland, worked on political campaigns, served in higher education administration and corporate America, and taught in inner cities.  They were Korean, African-American, Hispanic and Caucasian. They came from Ivy League universities and the hills of Appalachia. They had passions for youth, for teaching, for starting new churches and strengthening existing ones. My team interviewed 14 such candidates; all in all, 40 people of various ages but most of them under 35, presented themselves for consideration as church leaders.

I have no idea what’s ahead for the Christian church in our country. But I’m far more hopeful now than I was this time last week!  You should be too.  God is good – all the time!

Pastor Larry