I recently published an article describing how the death of cultural Christianity will be a net negative for society. I argued that Christianity makes society better, and the loss of Christian influence in different spheres of society is not something to be celebrated—it’s something to be mourned. However, as I said toward the end of that article, this doesn’t mean the Church's mission is doomed to fail. Because we serve a risen Christ, who at this very moment is reigning at the right hand of the Father, we have reason for confidence in all ages and circumstances.
So here, I want to elaborate on my previous post by suggesting three opportunities the Church has as we watch cultural Christianity crumble.
#1: The Church can unite against common threats.
Although I think denominational splits are good, and actually work to unify the Church, I do lament how little connection different Christian denominations have with each other. It seems that times of peace, devoid of any external threats, give Christians plenty of time to turn inward and focus on the myriad doctrinal disagreements we have with each other. This can be healthy since biblical doctrine is something that should be taken seriously, but the Church can emphasize doctrinal differences to a point that undermines our shared faith in the essentials.
As cultural Christianity dies and is replaced by a culture far more hostile to the Christian faith, Christians of all stripes will be facing common threats—potentially forcing Christians to rely more on what unites us rather than what divides.
My hope is that Southern Baptist Christians will join in prayer, fasting, and protest when a fellow Presbyterian loses her photography business because she won't take photographs at a gay "wedding." Perhaps we will begin to see Methodist, Church of Christ, and Nazarene Christians join together in a joint worship service at their state Capitol to protest the arrest of an Orthodox minister who counseled a boy in his church to follow God's design for gender rather than the transgender ideology. I can envision Calvinist and Arminian, cessationist and charismatic, high liturgy and contemporary Christian communities working together to start Christian schools which serve as an alternative for Christian parents who cannot, in good conscience, send their children to public schools.
#2: The Church can meet cancel culture with Christ culture.
There is a lot of talk on the Right and Left about cancel culture and how it is ruining our society. Cancel culture is a modern-day inquisition, exacting the vengeance of the new popular religion of wokeness and political correctness.
The discerning Christian can see that cancel culture reveals society's awareness of the need for atonement. Sins must be paid for. However, in the post-Christian society, there is no Christ—no Savior—at the center. So the atonement for sin falls back on the guilty party.
What is their sentence?
A life of penance, forever condemned to bear the shame and guilt of what they've done. There is no forgiveness in our culture today. It can't exist because, although we've learned that the wages for sin is death, we have rejected the gift of eternal life in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now there is only condemnation and no cross.
But this is not so with the Church. Because the opposite of cancel culture is Christ culture, the Church can stand as beacons of that old, antiquated idea: forgiveness. How refreshing it will be for a community to say: We don't care what you've tweeted, where you've worked, who you've associated with, or what opinions you've held. All are welcome here, by the blood of Christ, unity of the Spirit, and love of the Father.
The culture may stop forgiving each other, but God will never stop forgiving anyone who comes to Him in faith. As the world eats itself alive, the Church can continue to follow Paul's command in Ephesians 4:32: Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
#3: The Church can serve as the protectors of what is good, noble, and true.
The culture may turn away from the beautiful truths that Christianity has given society, but that doesn't mean the Church has to. Just as in ages past, the Church will continue testifying to the beauty of love, self-sacrifice, purity of heart, truthfulness, fidelity in marriage, humility, and peace among a host of other virtues.
Christian truth and love will endure as long as the Church endures, and the Church will endure until Christ comes in glory. So just as St. Benedict established an order that would preserve the beauty and culture of Christianity during the collapse of Rome, so Christians today can preserve the truth and beauty of Christianity in our daily lives and community with one another.
Sin doesn't stop being detrimental to society because society embraces it en mass. People will still feel the sting of hopelessness and decay that sin brings to both individual lives and entire societies. The importance of the people of God living lives that accord with God's design for human flourishing will be as important as it has ever been. And it will make the Church that much brighter of a beacon of hope, truth, and beauty.
Cheer Up, Things Will Probably Get Much Harder
I don't anticipate easier days to come. But who knows? Societies don't usually move in the ways we think they will. Any sort of unexpected developments and revival can happen. But as it looks now, with the best knowledge we have available, the days ahead look tougher for Christians in the West.
But don't let that discourage you. The Church has been around for 2,000 years. That is a very, very long time. The people of God, who trace their lineage back to the earliest days of human history, have endured through countless persecutions, empires, wars, and cultures. If the gates of Hell will not prevail against us, we have no reason to fear either the woke progressives or alt-right nationalists.
So let the nations rage. We'll meet them as we always have: with tender love, faithful devotion to Christ, and a warm invitation to come and know our God.