I get all kinds of email newsletters and promotional pieces in my inbox as much as any of you do. One of those is “Preaching Today” which often promotes lectures, seminars and other events to pastors around the world. This week an on-line lecture was being promoted with some professor dude from somewhere and the promo was introduced with two questions, viz., “How can the church adapt to unprecedented challenges?” And, “Will there even be a church left to change?”
The recent pandemic, political divisions, racial and global tensions, the growing stridency of minority woke voices, and a growing number of people who want to deconstruct the Christian faith are clearly impacting the church's future, said the promo. A couple of things struck me about the promo. “How can the church adapt to unprecedented challenges?” First, what do we mean by “unprecedented challenges”? And, second, what does “adapt” mean in response? One unprecedented challenge before us is moral fluidity, for example. This is not exactly unprecedented, of course, but it is a greater challenge than ever, I think. Perhaps, in the church morality fluidity is unprecedented today.
There is today, I believe, the unprecedented challenge of postmodernity cynicism which mocks and tears down most forms of traditional truth and reason – especially biblical truth. The church is experiencing big challenges as a result. So, my question to the promo question is, exactly what do we have to do to “adapt” to the situation? What does “adapt” even mean here?
There’s no question that in every generation the church has faced challenges in our constantly evolving socio-cultural landscape, and it has had to adapt, or adjust, in order to continue to effectively communicate the Gospel message. That is just wise. Some styles or modes of communication do become outdated and no longer relevant – and adaptation is necessary, or the church loses connection with the culture. I can live with that kind of adaptation to communication challenges. But the question being posed was adaptation to “unprecedented” change. What does that really mean? I could guess at a few things without having to attend the conference, I think.
My hunch is the real question being asked was “how does the church keep on being the authentic biblical church in a postmodern world?” There is no question that the postmodernity movement is reaching a shrill crescendo in our day. At the core of postmodernity thinking and philosophy is a wholesale rejection of absolute truth and any overarching narrative for understanding human meaning and existence. Hence, there is a rejection of the biblical narratives and the absolute, holy truths and standards of God. According to postmodernity thinking method, all so-called “truth” is a construct imposed upon us by someone else and, therefore, it is illegitimate and has to be “deconstructed” so that we are set free from it and find “my truth”. The extent of this deconstruction strategy knows no bounds. Today, even gender is something “assigned” to us at birth because gender is, of course, a “construct” imposed on us when we were powerless to make our own choices. This is utterly ludicrous and ignores the scientific, biological facts. This gender fluidity thing is just one example of postmodern deconstructionism. The deconstructionist strategy (in postmodernity thinking ‘rationale’) holds that how we want to identify as individuals is now paramount regardless of scientific facts, absolute truth and reality. Individual freedom of identity, for one example, is sacrosanct, legitimate and inarguable regardless of how nonsensical.
But this postmodernity movement has gone further than how one may wish to identify oneself. In the last two years so-called hate speech campaigning is the new strategy that is intent on enforcing postmodernity values on all of us and it will soon become an offence (as it now is in Norway) to express any kind of contrary view. Hate speech laws are being drafted as we speak to protect postmodernity values. Your freedom of speech and thought is at extreme risk. The forerunner to these particular changes is the public policy of various authorities that insist upon you using the preferred pronouns demanded by another – whether you agree with or not. Failure to do so has become unacceptable in workplaces, and will eventually be a criminal offence.
Then we come to that comment about people who “deconstruct the Christian faith” and who are thereby “clearly impacting the church's future”. This concerns me the most. There are Christians in churches everywhere who no longer accept an orthodox biblical Christian faith. To many of these the faith they have been taught is a “construct” that has been imposed on them, and the arguments and rationale of postmodernity philosophy allow them to “deconstruct” biblical faith as it is, and adopt, or reconstruct a new faith with which they can happily identify. Such faith has no relationship to taking up one’s cross and crucifying the desires of the flesh to follow Jesus in obedience and devotion. Biblical legitimacy and orthodoxy are not the core issues for these kinds of Christians – individual, “my truth” kind of faith, and what is best for me, is all that matters. Jesus doesn’t have a lot of say as Lord of His church. This is not far-fetched.
If this deconstructionist postmodernity virus is allowed to permeate the church – if elders and pastors permit it - the church will cease to be what God always wanted it to be; the body of Christ carrying out the redemptive work of God in the world. Reconcilers, priests, ambassadors and so on.
How does the church “adapt” to all this? Well, it doesn’t! It stands firm with Christ’s love and grace and with biblical truth in equal measure in the face of counter ideas, opposition and persecution. We are now back to the days of the early church in the Book of Acts. If “adapt” means to acquiesce and compromise, I’ll have NONE of that. To do so means the demise of the church. The salt will no longer be salty. I can “adapt” to new methods, better ways and means of communicating an unadulterated, powerful Gospel message. Sure! These are always sensible adaptations. But for Christians to deconstruct biblical faith, or reject it as a construct imposed by the bible, or God, is the greatest danger facing the church right now. And it is rebellion. The effect of postmodernity thinking creeping into the church – and preachers have allowed this! – has been the spiritual desensitisation of the church. In many ways the church has become insensitive to Holy Spirit and the agenda of the kingdom of God. Postmodernity philosophy has seared the minds of many believers making it difficult for them to accept, let alone receive and embrace, the transforming truth of God’s Word.
My encouragement to all those reading this, is to keep coming back to God’s Word – His absolute, holy truth which cannot be deconstructed by anyone - and continue to learn it, embrace it and be transformed by it. Continue in steadfast faith, and yes, that will be costly at times. But in the end we will have overcome and will see Jesus face to face. The journey is so, so worth it.
1 Timothy 4:1-2 (NIV)
“The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. 2 Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron.”
2 Timothy 4:3-5 (NIV)
“For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4 They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. 5 But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, ...”
Matthew 24:13 (NIV)
[Jesus] “… but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.”
That’s what I reckon anyway …
Ps Milton