The Church on the Other Side: Faith That Keeps Evolving

The Church on the Other Side: Faith That Keeps Evolving

By Mac, Faith & Friction

I'm a Christian. I grew up Christian, and I've not been one. But over the years my Christianity has been redefined, and I've come to realize I don't need anyone's permission to call it valid.

I'm not unique in this. Brian McLaren wrote about "a new kind of Christian." Plenty of others are asking where an evolving Christianity is headed. Many people would rather hunker down and keep every doctrine exactly where it is, because that's the truth and culture doesn't touch it. My view is that this is naive.

Christianity has never stood still. It's been changing since day one

People who haven't read church history are often surprised by how fragmented the early church was. Jesus didn't ascend and leave everyone with a shared playbook. His followers were trying to figure out who he was, what he said, and how to live it.

Two words help here. Orthodoxy is what we believe, like the divinity of Jesus or the Trinity. Orthopraxy is how we live those beliefs out. The two are always woven together.

Around AD 49, barely two decades after the crucifixion, the Jerusalem Council argued over whether Gentile converts had to be circumcised. That's a practice question, but underneath it sat a doctrinal one: what does God actually require?

The debates kept going. Constantine wanted a standard, for political as well as theological reasons, so the church began to codify what it meant to be Christian. The Council of Nicaea met in 325 and the Council of Constantinople in 381, wrestling with Jesus' divinity and the Holy Spirit. In the 1960s, Vatican II reshaped the Catholic Church again. Today there are countless denominations, each practicing and picturing God in its own way.

The faith has evolved for more than 2,000 years. I see no reason to think it will stop now.

One example: TULIP

Take Calvinism. At the Synod of Dort in 1618–19, Calvin's followers summarized their theology in five points, later remembered by the acronym TULIP:

•         Total depravity: Sin has touched every part of us, so we can't choose God on our own.

•         Unconditional election: Before creation, God chose who would be saved.

•         Limited atonement: Christ died to secure salvation for the elect.

•         Irresistible grace: When God calls the elect, they come.

•         Perseverance of the saints: Once God picks you, he can't unpick you.

I'm not picking on Calvinists. My point is that if this differs from what you believe, they are still Christians. And if they get to define their faith, so do the rest of us.

Change comes through crisis

Most major shifts in Christian history came out of upheaval. Think of Martin Luther posting his theses in Wittenberg. When something becomes unbearable, people look for a new way to understand God.

I've had my own crisis of faith, and it led me away from the norm of Protestant Christianity. I'm still a Christ follower. I'd also say this is exactly what Scripture invites: as we grow in the knowledge of God, our understanding will change. If you think you can imagine God completely, you've got an imaginary God.

Beyond the man in the sky

One of the biggest shifts for me has been moving away from theism, the picture of God as a bearded man in the sky who directs traffic, blesses, judges and curses, much like the gods of ancient Greece and Rome.

If that relational picture works for you, wonderful. I'm not here to dismiss it. But for those of us it no longer fits, there's another way: panentheism. The tree isn't God, but the essence of the divine is in every tree, every blade of grass, every creature. You can't separate it out. For me, that's beautiful.

The Church on the Other Side

Years ago, long before COVID, the Rev and I talked about what a different kind of church might look like. I wrote down what I'd want it to hold. I called it The Church on the Other Side: the other side of conventionality, of the norm. Its tagline is on the way of Jesus of Nazareth, because the earliest believers weren't called Christians. They were simply people of the Way.

Here's what it looks like.

•         With God: God is beyond gender and fully for us. God doesn't favor one person or belief system over another. We are all loved beyond our wildest imagination.

•         With Jesus: Jesus was the great example, not the great exception. His way saves us from our ego-driven nature, not from a vindictive God.

•         With ourselves: We're made in God's image, with an original blessing rather than original sin. Living by the Spirit makes us more like Christ, what the Eastern church calls theosis.

•         With each other: Together is better. We are distribution centers of God's love, living out inclusion, acceptance, radical love and grace.

•         With the Bible: It's our premier work of inspired ancient wisdom. Reading it as literal and inerrant in all things undercuts its power to inspire us toward what Richard Rohr calls the Universal Christ.

•         With all of creation: All of it is sacred. We're stewards, not owners, and wonder should take our breath away.

•         As the church: A shared life drawing on many traditions, free of static dogma, rooted in ancient practices: prayer, contemplation, the sacred meal, fasting, Sabbath, the sacred seasons and generosity.

If a church like this opened tomorrow, it would start evolving on day one. To me, that's the beauty of it. Let's not be scared of it.

Where do you land?

I'm not trying to convince anyone. If something here resonates, cherry-pick it and start there. If it flies against everything you believe, that's okay too.

Either way, I'd love to hear from you. Visit faithfriction.com, share your thoughts on this episode, or send us a note. Let's respect each other for where we each land the plane, and learn from each other along the way.

Listen to the full episode of Faith & Friction for the whole conversation.