The Importance of Understanding Post-Christendom

In an excellent essay written by Michael Goheen titled The Missional Calling of Believers in the World: Lesslie Newbigin's Contribution, he discusses the need to understand the impact Christendom has had on the way the church in North America understands her identity. He lays out the drastic changes that occurred when the early church was officially established as the religion of the Roman empire under the emperors Constantine and Theodosius. He writes,

The church moved from a marginal position to a dominant institution in society; from being socially, politically, intellectually inferior to a position of power and superiority; from being economically weak and poor to a position of immense wealth; from being an oppressed minority to being an oppressive majority; from being an illegal religion to becoming the only religion of the state; from being resident aliens to a territorial understanding of the faith whereby the Roman empire is considered Christian. This official establishment characterized the position of the church throughout the remainder of the Roman empire and then in Europe. This pattern continued in North America even though the church was only temporarily established in some places. A functional Christendom prevailed in which the church's power is experienced in terms of a cultural establishment 

Here is the important point in this discussion. The difficulty the church is experiencing today at relating to the current culture is in large part due to the Christendom heritage of the North American church. Many in the church today still believe that Christianity is in a place of influence and significance. Many still operate under the false assumption that Christendom is alive and well. While there may be some parts of the country that still cling to Christian values, the vast majority of the population is rapidly moving away from the things associated with the church. In the eyes of most outside the church, the church has become completely irrelevant. 

The decline of Christian influence in the United States can be seen in multiple ways. The most prominent is the continual drop in church attendance. But it doesn’t end with attendance. In fact, every indicator that can be used to measure church health is headed in the wrong direction. Look at it any way you like: Conversions. Baptisms. Membership. Retention. Participation. Giving. Religious literacy. Effects on culture. They are all in decline. This creates the setting for an enormous problem.

At the same time that the church is less and less effective at reaching a changing world, many in the church continue to believe that the church maintains a central role in the life of the culture. So, instead of leaning toward the missionary vision of the church, we default to church as a “vendor of religious goods and services,” and we wrongly assume that those outside the church will be interested.

It may be a hard pill to swallow for many, but the reality is that North America is not a Christian place. And the sooner we can come to grips with that reality, the sooner we can return to the revolutionary, missional movement that is exemplified for us in the early church. We must see that it is really 30 A.D. all over again! And contrary to what some people believe, that is actually a good thing. Because instead of operating from a position of power and privilege, we must once again take the posture of a servant. 

The myth of a Christian culture continues to set the mind of the Western church at ease. This myth assumes that the West is, or once was, a Christian culture. If the culture is Christian, there is no need to analyze its assumptions or develop a counter-cultural instinct. ~ Michael Goheen