August 9, 2004

Post-Protestant Christianity

The Tennessean carried a story Sunday about a national study showing a decline in the percentage of Americans who describe themselves, religiously, as "Protestant." Noting that Nashville is often referred to as the "Protestant Vatican" for the number of Christian denominations' various publishing and headquarters operations located in the city, along with the bulk of the Christian music industry, the story explores through local eyes whether the term "Protestant" means much any more.

Home to the Southern Baptist Convention, the National Baptist Convention USA Inc., the Christian music and publishing industry, five Protestant colleges and universities, and hundreds of Protestant churches, Nashville remains solidly, immovably, and not-changing-anytime-soon Protestant.

It's just that Protestants may not be calling themselves Protestant anymore.

Pastor Mike Fisher has nurtured the small Southern Baptist church in Old Hickory. He took over five years ago, when membership had dwindled to 18 after a rift in the congregation. Now, Berryville Baptist draws about 55 members on a typical Sunday, and it's still growing. Many new church members left mega nondenominational Christian churches to return to his small church because ''they want to return to their roots and have their pastor come over for the Sunday meal,'' he said. He's seeing more of a return to religion, rather than less, he said.

But Fisher's not sure how many in his congregation would have answered ''Protestant'' in the Chicago study. ''I don't think it's a slam on organized religion, but I don't think people are relating to Baptist or Church of Christ as much,'' he said. ''They just say 'Christian.' ''

The study bears that out. Researchers found the number of people calling themselves ''Christian'' or ''non-denominational'' jumped threefold in the past decade, leading them to speculate that these responders formerly would have described themselves as Protestant.

If a survey asked me if I was "Protestant," I'd say no. The term "Protestant" dates back to the early days of denominationalism as a "protest" against Catholicism and the papal system. Although I don't accept the authority of the Pope and am not Catholic, I've never viewed my Christianity as a protest against Catholicism, but simply an embrace of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I'm a Christian in an increasingly post-denominational world. I haven't considered myself to be part of any specific denomination or heritage for at least a decade. I'm a Christian, period. I'm not Baptist, Methodist or Church of Christ - just a Christian. I'm not ashamed of my background, but I don't worship it, either. Denominations and human organizations based on human creeds and human interpretations of divine words are, by nature, imperfect.

Some months ago, over on Donald Sensing's blog, I mentioned the growth of non-denominational "community churches" and Donald, a Methodist pastor, rightly noted that some such churches are actually denominational in heritage, but are downplaying that heritage. Thus, "Woodmont Hills Church of Christ" becomes The Family of God at Woodmont Hills and "First Baptist Church" in Franklin, Tennessee, becomes The People's Church, and so on.

As those churches play down their denominational ties, they increasingly attract Christians of various heritages who aren't interested anymore in fighting the old denominational battles and intra-denominational wars over a laundry list of creeds and issues that are, often, based on human interpretations and driven by human pride. They want to live an authentic Christian life defined not by their agreement with a specific list of detailed doctrinal positions, nor by their rejection of somebody else's specific list of detailed doctrinal positions, but by a Christ-inspired outward-focused live of service motivated by grace. Legalism, the quest for salvation through human perfection, is rejected.

You don't have to be specifically Baptist to be a member of, or be accepted at, The People's Church. You don't have to be specifically Church of Christ to be a member of, or be accepted at, The Family of God. Being, simply, a Christian is enough, and people who disagree about a whole host of things from worship styles to the meaning of Revelation can worship and serve together if they're in agreement on the one central doctrine that matters: salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.

Not Perfect, Just Saved isn't just a catchy bumper sticker - it is great theology.

The more I watch the evolution of Christianity in the 21st century, the more I believe churches such as those I mentioned above may be a transitionary phase between the hyper-denominationalism of the 20th century and a new, more fully-formed non-denominationalism. Lately, I have noticed more and more new churches that are truly non-denominational - churches that have no ties at all to any of the mainline liberal Protestant denominations or even to the conservative/evangelical denominations and organizations. Just one example: In Brentwood, just south of Nashville, one of the fastest growing churches is Fellowship Bible Church, which has no denominational ties or heritage.

Is the future of the church post-denominational, post-Protestant, and focused on the one thing that matters - salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ? Let's pray so.

UPDATE: Here's a link to the actual report mentioned in the newspaper story that got me blogging on this topic. It's a 23 page PDF file from the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago.