facing christendom
can the western church survive?

Is it possible, here in the beginning of the 21st century, that the church in the West could be renewed? That is, can the current discipleship community in the West be given fresh life and strength, while at the same time holding on to Christendom?

Said another way, can the church, now more and more marginalized, use this opportunity to return to the ways of the gospel while at the same time jettisoning the rules and regulations of historic Christendom, practiced since Emperor Constantine decision to convert the Roman Empire in one fell swoop?

Still another way to ask this is to ask if Christianity could itself long survive without the social props of Christendom, for so long used to shore up its sagging understanding and practice, at least here in the West where Christendom is Christianity?

Let’s start with some definitions. In general, Christendom refers to religious expressions based at least partially on the teachings of Jesus Christ and the Bible. We could separate these into three main divisions: Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic and Protestant.

But, I think that we must drill deeper here and say that Christendom not only refers to religious expressions based upon the Christian religion, the idea also refers to the current institutional structure and mindset that has grown up around that religion.

That is, over time, social structures and ways of behaving developed around and within the church. These structures, or customs, came to dictate how one should act and how one should think, if one in fact wanted to be part of the institution.

But, please note that these same customs and structures also exert a powerful social control, so that significant changes in theology or church practice or the liturgy, for example, is extremely difficult.

But here, of course is the dilemma for Western Christianity. At a time when all institutions, including the church is steeply marginalized, while at the same time there is intense pressure from the culture to suspend our historic teaching and focus on cultural maintenance, will the church be able to amend its teaching and practice, not toward what the culture wants of us -- that move is easy, but instead will we find a way to return to the ancient faith and practice couched in terms of the current cultural context, which is both post-modern and post-christian?

Here’s what I mean. How has the church answered these three questions in the past?

WHY SHOULD A POST MODERN PERSON BE A CHRISTIAN?
WHO IS JESUS FOR US TODAY WITHIN THIS POST-CHRISTIAN CONTEXT?
WHAT DID GOD ACTUALLY DO FOR US THROUGH THE CHRIST ON THE CROSS?

The first order of business is to see how deeply these questions cut at the heart of the Christian faith.

But, second, we must see how deeply these questions take a swipe at the heart of Christendom.

Will the Western church, so fearful now of the post-christian onslaught, be willing to reexamine its understanding of who Jesus is and what Jesus did? Will Christendom allow such a dialogue? To ask this is to answer it.

What is at stake here, is nothing less than the question of whether the Western portion of the church of Jesus Christ will have a voice in the 21st century. Not a voice of cultural acceptance or political power, but will the gospel, the historic gospel, ring out in terms that people who are within the post-modern/post-christian context will understand what it means and believe?