What Is Needed from the Church?
This week, Sara and I joined over 800 Episcopalians, predominantly clergy, in the Queen City for the annual Episcopal Parish Network conference. While the topics ranged widely from the administrative tasks of management, stewardship, and leadership, to the more engaging opportunities of formation, justice, and witness, what stayed with me was a questioned raised early in our four days together: What is needed from the Church?
It is easy to get caught in the crossfires of politics, societal change, and technological development. At best, the world pulls the Church into midst of battlegrounds, urging her to moderate the war. At worst, the world treats her as an already deceased, bygone institution. I believe neither posture is right for the Church, and I was uplifted when Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe addressed the conference claiming that the future of the Episcopal Church will never be a remnant.
In an increasingly secularized country, where the national religion is shifting to the god of politics, we must not be consumed by that arena. The Episcopal Church has a role to play that is as old as our faith. In a fascinating conversation between Bishop Rowe and Jonathan Rauch, a self-described atheist, culturally Jewish, and gay journalist, Rauch urged the clergy gathered not to let up in teaching the world what he called the three key ideas of Christianity:
1. Do not fear.
2. Be like Jesus.
3. Forgive.
These days seem to be pulse with fear. We hear of wars and rumors of wars. We retreat from the commonplaces where ideas are shared and remain guarded within our algorithms of like-mindedness. We rarely see authentic examples of Jesus in our national public life. Instead, we find deep skepticism of anything and everything. Perhaps that’s why we struggle to forgive. Don’t look weak, we remind ourselves, lest someone exploit our vulnerability.
The truth is, we have a message that must be preached. We have a way of life that does not conform to humanity’s fallenness. The task, then, is to make sure our faith doesn’t leave us the moment we step off our holy hill, leaving behind our sanctuary with its red doors. Instead, we carry our faith—hope over fear, compassion over selfishness, forgiveness over brokenness—into every aspect of our lives: to those we meet in the street, to those we serve in our work, to those we love in our home.
Rauch implored the hundreds of clergy in the room: “Our country needs a Biblical voice, not another political one.”
Indeed it does. We must ground our voice so that it sounds more like Jesus, as Bishop Rowe would say. We must share the gospel in compelling and winsome ways. We must claim the moral authority given to us through the Scriptures, hold ourselves accountable and anyone else who dares invoke the Christian creed.
What does the world need from the Church?
For us to start acting like it.