Church for Every Context. Michael Moynagh
target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="#ulink_a2f478ce-04f7-5403-877f-b07e7f7de9cf">8 In 2009, Bishop Graham Cray, who had been Bishop of Maidstone, was appointed the Archbishops’ Missioner and Team Leader of Fresh Expressions.
9 At the time of writing, the Church of Scotland seems likely to do so too.
10 ‘A fresh expression is a form of church for our changing culture established primarily for the benefit of people who are not yet members of any church.
It will come into being through principles of listening, service, incarnational mission and making disciples.
It will have the potential to become a mature expression of church shaped by the gospel and the enduring marks of the church and for its cultural context.’ (Croft, 2008c, p. 10).
11 Expressions: the dvd – 2: Changing Church in Every Place produced by Norman Ivison, available from www.freshexpressions.org.uk.
12 Share has now been incorporated in the main Fresh Expressions site (www.freshexpressions.org.uk), but can still be accessed through its original web address.
13 The literature distinguishes between different types of attractor. See, for example, Stacy, Griffin and Shaw (2000, p. 87). A good introduction to the concept of ‘strange attractors’ can be found in Wheatley (2006, pp. 115–34).
14 In addition to works already cited, Chiles, Meyer and Hench (2004) provide a helpful application of the dissipative structure model to organizations. Their article made a significant input into the Lichtenstein/Plowman model.
15 Press Release, 19 January 2012.
16 Estimate provided by Bob and Mary Hopkins in January 2011.
4
Sociological Perspectives
The last chapter suggested that new contextual churches have emerged largely in response to a growing disconnect between the church and its various contexts. This has begun to generate a state of disequilibrium as church members have sought to respond. However, a number of scholars, such as Steve Bruce (2002) and Paul Heelas (2008), believe that the current gulf between the church and society is too wide to be bridged. Profound social changes are propelling the church into terminal decline, especially in Europe. Though many people are seeking ‘spiritualities of life’, this demand is being satisfied outside the church, making a resurgence of the church unlikely.
This chapter asks whether such gloomy projections are right. The answer is developed in dialogue with three strands of literature – the secularization debate, discussions around the expressive (or post-materialist) self and Manuel Castells’s writings on the ‘network society’. These threads describe three ‘turns’ in society to which the church, if it is to flourish, must respond – an ecclesial turn, an ethical turn, and an economic and social turn. The chapter argues that new contextual churches fit well with these sociological trends.
An ecclesial turn
The ecclesial turn refers to the turning away from church in much of the industrially advanced world. Using data from 22 nations in the European Social Survey, undertaken in 2002/2003, David Voas found that ‘Each generation in every country surveyed is less religious than the last . . .’ (Voas, 2009, p. 167). Although the most religious countries are changing faster than the least, the fall in religious commitment during the twentieth century has been remarkably constant across the continent. Not only in Europe, but even in the United States with its stronger religious affiliation than Europe, younger age groups are less likely to attend church than older ones (Hollinghurst, 2010, pp. 82–3). Similar trends have been observed in Australia and New Zealand (Pointers, 2010).
Secularization
This decline has often been understood in terms of secularization – a slippery term that has been used in different ways. Writers on secularization tend to refer to the decline of religion, which is not exactly the same as the decline of church. The assumption here is that a loss of influence by the Christian religion will be reflected in falling attendance at church. Secularization is taken as referring to the decline in church attendance and influence.
The sociologist, Bryan Wilson, defined secularization ‘as the process by which religious thinking, practices, and institutions lose their significance for the operating of the social system’. He added that religion is not destined to disappear entirely: rather, its presence and significance in society will diminish as economies industrialize and become increasingly advanced (Wilson, 1998, p. 49).
Steve Bruce (2002) highlights the rise of rationality and individualism as integral to the process of secularization. Rationality was reflected in the spread of scientific modes of thought, which removed the need for religion to explain the world, made many religious ideas and doctrines implausible and, in particular, created a sense of mastery over fate. Embodying rational procedures within bureaucratic organizations created an impression that order in the world could be maintained without the aid of God.
Individualism has undermined the communal basis of religious life. When, thankfully, society became tolerant of non-Christian beliefs, these beliefs mushroomed and then challenged existing views. It is harder to be confident in an opinion when it is assailed by alternatives. The multiplication of views makes opinions about faith increasingly subjective – religious views become a matter of personal choice. Religion has shrunk from being accepted by the bulk of society to being one lifestyle option among many. The decline is likely to continue.
The inevitability of secularization has been disputed by scholars who note that religious affiliation worldwide is rising (see Davie, 2007, pp. 64–5, 104–9). As the global south has industrialized, the number of religious adherents has not shrunk, as the secularization thesis predicts, but grown – witness, for example, the expansion of the African churches. This is often seen as a knock-down argument against secularization.
However, drawing on four waves of the World Values Survey conducted between 1981 and 2001 and extending to nearly 80 countries, Norris and Inglehart (2004) argue that societies do indeed become increasingly secular as economies develop. More people overall may adhere to traditional religion (including Christianity), but this is because the effects of modernization have not yet become fully apparent.
Besides leading to a decline in religion, modernization also reduces the fertility rate. Better education is associated with smaller families. When birth rates drop in secularizing countries, younger more secular cohorts are smaller than older traditional ones, among whom religious practice