Maybe the church isn’t dying. Maybe God is just calling the church to wake up.
Are you tired of people pronouncing the church dead? Are you weary of the narratives of decline? Just around the corner, our demise is near, so these narratives say. Do you wonder if such narratives cloud our ability to see what God is doing? Maybe, God is just waking us up.
In her book Christianity After Religion, Diana Butler Bass writes,
“Awakenings begin when old systems break down, in ‘periods of cultural distortion and grave personal stress, when we lose faith in the legitimacy of our norms, the viability of our institutions and the authority of our leaders in church and state.’” *
Sounds familiar, doesn’t it.
In the face of disaffiliation and division, we are all under grave stress. Multiple cancellations of the General Conference have raised questions about the viability of our institutions. Clearly our old systems are breaking down. To deal with the challenges we face, we are in dire need of an awakening.
We know the story in the Gospel of Mark about the synagogue leader’s daughter. She dies, and her family and friends are mourning. Jesus arrives and says, “’The child isn’t dead. She’s only sleeping.’” Then he takes her hand and says, “’Talitha koum,’ which means, ‘Young woman get up.’” Mark 5:39b, 41.
Can you imagine God saying the same to our church? Can you imagine us hearing God’s call and responding?
When I imagine this “awakening” church, I see a church centered in spiritual formation and prayer. We are diving into Scripture, not to use as proof texts or to condemn people, but to challenge each other to find hope.
Then, we are falling to our knees in confession--rising from our knees in praise. We are bringing a new spirit to worship, in-person and on-line, and intentionally listening for the meat of God’s Word. We are willing to change how we engage in the world in response.
As United Methodists, that would mean finding ways to love our neighbors more intentionally, passionately, and sacrificially--dismantling racism and reaching out to our LGBTQIA+ siblings in radical welcome. It would mean being reconcilers and bridge builders in a divided world.
Please join me over the next weeks in reflecting on a vision for our United Methodist Church. I will reflect on issues of inclusion, church vitality, leadership for change, and our efforts to dismantle racism.
I welcome your thoughts.
Kennetha J. Bigham-Tsai
October 3, 2022
Originally published at umc.org. The version above has been updated.