The late author Phyllis Tickle points out that every 500 years since its inception, Christianity has undergone a seismic shift where old ideas and forms of worship are displaced by new ones. You and I live in one of these 500-year windows, one she calls post-denominational. (She expounds on this idea in an insightful interview with Faith & Leadership, which is linked up in the Noteworthy section at the bottom of this email.)

Even a cursory look at statistics from research group Barna makes this clear. And on an anecdotal, personal level, I think we all feel that things in culture and in our local churches are rapidly changing. This was true before the pandemic (that interview with Tickle was in 2010), but the pandemic intensified the already-underway disruption.

We’ve been getting several questions for our Friends In Formation podcast that are related to these shifts. Some are struggling with why their adult children are leaving the faith even after a loving upbringing. Others, after years at a local church, feel like a square peg in a round hole and wonder whether to stay or find another community. In the latest episode, James, Richella, and Nate don’t provide all the answers but do provide empathy and helpful insights.

The topics they address hit close to home as my kids come of age and decide if the local church and what they understand of Christianity is something they want for themselves. (Yesterday I tried to explain to one of them that Jesus didn’t come to bring ​“Christianity” but to bring the Kingdom of God; it fell a little flat.)

As with any time of cultural shaking and shifting, there will be losses to grieve, old ways of doing things that we miss. There is also the potential to recenter, rebuild, and refocus on what matters most — on loving Jesus and each other well. May it be so with us in this time.