Bridging the Chasm

I've been thinking a lot about this moment in the world and the realities that congregations face amidst the massive social, political, environmental and spiritual changes that are all around us. I happened to be flipping through YouTube and a recent episode of PBS News Hour came across my feed that caught my eye.

Judy Woodruff was doing a piece on how Christian communities are facing growing political divides as religious affiliation across the country decline. In this episode she interviewed Ryan Burge, an American Baptist pastor from Mount Vernon, Illinois who served First Baptist Church (ABC-USA) for 17 years until the congregation disbanded this month after over 150 years. Burge is also a political scientist at Eastern Illinois University who studies the intersection of faith and politics, and looks at the data behind this intersection.

Mount Vernon is a town (population 14,000) in southern Illinois that sits between St. Louis, MO and Louisville, KY.  It is a community, like ours, living through the changing attitudes about religion over the last 50 years. In the 1970's, church membership rates were over 70% of the total US population with over 90% of that number identifying as Christian.  Today, religious membership is at 47% overall, with most of the decline coming in the last 25 years.  And of the 47% who have a religious affiliation today, only 25% participate in weekly worship of some kind.  In Oregon, that number drops to 17%.  And among Millennials (born between 1981 and 1996), there is an even steeper decline. 

When asked by the Pew Research Foundation in 2020, the majority of US citizens checked "none" when asked about their religious identity. In 2023, Rev. Burge wrote a book called "Nones" because he wanted to describe the ways this growing segment of society is reshaping the religious and cultural landscape we exist in today. 

I bet you can think of someone's kids or grandkids, your neighbors or friends who don't identify as anything in particular.  They are now the majority.

One of the most powerful data points for me has less to do with the Nones and more to do with those who remain affiliated.  In the PBS interview Burge said, "For a long time, we always thought that religion was the first lens and politics was downstream of that. So, what party I voted for, I looked at the Bible, I thought about theology, how I view the world, and then I picked Republican or Democrat. Now things have changed. The recent data says that we pick our religion based off our politics. So, if I'm a Republican, I'm going to seek out a congregation that affirms my views and really tells me what I want to hear. So that's why a lot of people have left religion over the last 50 years." 

He adds that only 50% of liberals are religious, whereas only 12% of conservatives are not. Asked why, Burge talks about the anti-institutionalism and hyper individualism of our age.  He also shares that people have come to see religion as only about individual belief and not as a place to be with your neighbors, no matter how different they may be. For Burge, "You come [to the church]. You sit next to people who are different than you. You learn how to volunteer. You learn how to run meetings. You learn how to fund-raise. You learn about the Bible, but you also learn that other people are good people." 

In every church I have served I have heard a version of these words, particularly the joy that communities feel in being with people who are not like them!  It is a powerful thing to recognize that congregational life is a unique opportunity to bridge the chasms of our ages and stages, habits and choices, to listen and learn from one another.  It is a blessing to rub up against our differences, to listen and learn, to discover how good we are as people, and how much better we are as a community.

The opportunity to keep remembering that we learn how good we are by being in community is the core of the Gospel for me.  That is what keeps calling me to this work of ministry. It isn't about perfection or not making mistakes. It is about loving one another when we mess up, about seeing how good we are even when we are wrong. And I know that we are made better when we can practice seeing Christ in one another, as individuals and as congregations. That is what bridge building looks like for me.

These are days when the chasms feel bigger and deeper. Whether political, societal, environmental, or spiritual, we live in divided times. And yet, I believe that God has called us for such a time as this and that the changes and choices before us are the opportunity "to act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God." (Micah 6:8)

I don't know what following the words of the Prophet Micah will mean for you in the next season of your collective congregational life, but I know that the world needs your commitment to building bridges and embodying love for all more than ever.

May the Master Builder bless you always.

Pastor Robin