Several days ago I did a FB exercise where I asked: What is the future of the US Church in the next 30 years?
Here is my synthesis of the answers received, coupled with my own nascent interpretation. My analysis is far from complete as it leaves out consideration of important religious constituencies such as the Black Church and the Roman Catholic Church. Moreover, I am fully implicated in all of the troubles which this brief essay highlights; what follows will likely offend most people of most church traditions in some way. I apologize in advance, but hope that healthy discussion might be generated. Here goes:
Euro-American Christianity will experience continued decline in the U.S. for the next several decades. This includes the poles of white nationalist Christianity which conflates the church with US civil religion, as well as elements of progressive white Christianity which limit faith to social activism while deemphasizing personal transformation and deep spiritual encounter with the Holy Spirit. We seem to have reached a culmination of the fundamentalist-modernist debate of a century ago in which the ensuing theologies and practices do not possess within themselves what is required to successfully address the pressing problems and spiritual hunger of our day. Nonetheless, these two brands will continue to duke it out in the coming decades because they represent powerful political interests and are fueled by many financial resources. A symptom of all of this is the flight of millions of “nones” from organized religion and church affiliation, as well as the precipitous decline in regular church attendance—largely along generational lines. There is a feeling that there must be something more than Christianity as either a Sunday iteration of Fox News or MSNBC.
In the decades to come, immigrants and immigrant families will fuel the numerical growth of the US church, as well as the US in general. The data clearly show that the white US population is aging and having fewer children. Immigration will sustain the US socially, economically, and even spiritually. These domestic trends coincide with the fact that the global pendulum of Christianity is has already swung in the direction of Africa, Latin America, and Asia. The expression that Christianity is a “white man’s religion” is already not true. The present and future face of the Church of Jesus of Nazareth is “brown,” and Christianity is returning to its historical origins as a faith of the marginalized born in the Near East. In the decades to come, Christian immigrants from Latin America, Africa, and Asia will redefine the US church in practice, polity, and theology. An important related discussion not addressed in this essay is how the immigrant church will learn from, and interact with, the historic Black Church which has led the U.S. in issues of racial justice for centuries.
Christian immigrants from the Majority World bring with them a vibrant personal faith driven by radical dependence on Jesus made necessary by suffering and the struggle to survive. There’s an “abuelita faith” that has been tested and purified by many testimonies of God’s faithfulness. Global theologians also bring distinct perspectives that have the potential to address the burning questions which the US is struggling with today. Calvin and Zwingli have good things to say, but little poignance for pressing issues of race and culture. The faith of immigrants will revitalize the US church in many ways unforeseen. From such faith, revival can certainly spring.
At the same time, however, immigrant churches also possess ticking time bombs that if left unchecked might sabotage the long term revival of the US church. Examples include the prosperity gospel and Christian nationalism which were exported from the US church in recent years, and which many immigrants bring back with them. Many immigrants also bring with them beliefs and practices which have yet to be decolonized. Moreover, it is all too easy for many immigrants to assimilate dangerous US theologies through their denominational and social ties. TBN and Fox News are always just a click away. That being said and the US aside, those of us from immigrant families also have sinful human natures and generational patterns of sin that wreak havoc in our churches and families all on their own. We don’t need others to teach us how to sin, and we need Jesus just as much as any cultural group.
These promises and dangers of the immigrant church speak to the vital importance of healthy Christian education and theological formation. I’m thankful that such efforts have been long underway by immigrant led grassroots organizations. But much work remains.
If you’ve continued to read this far, thank you! I know I’m implicated in everything just said, so I point 10 fingers also back at myself. May the Holy Spirit revive the Church!