Not really making up for lost time, but…
Ephesians 2:8-10
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
I remember reading some predictions a couple of years ago when the pandemic was first thrust upon us. Many were the voices suggesting that the church wouldn’t bounce back from the precautions taken due to COVID-19. We’d have to adjust to the new normal and we would never again invest in “brick and mortar” facilities, only social media messaging and ad hoc ministries.
To some extent, this has been born out. Thirty years ago, it was the figure of 40% of the membership being in worship which marked a healthy congregation. Today that figure has been lessened to 25% - if a quarter of the membership would be in worship on a weekend a congregation should feel some sense of satisfaction.
Sobering as that is, I was encouraged by Auguste Meyrat’s book review of sociologist Rodney Stark’s work The Rise of Christianity. “After laying out his methodology and background, [Stark] begins his argument with simple math. From the middle of the first century to the middle of the fourth century, the Christian community grew from a few hundred followers to nearly half the empire. Over three centuries, Stark determines that the Church grew at a rate of 40 percent each decade.”
“Finally, Stark discusses the physical context of Christianity’s rise, which generally took place in the biggest cities of the empire. These cities were not the orderly arrangement of columns and forums with men in clean white togas, as frequently depicted by the Renaissance painters. Rather, Roman cities were crowded, dirty, disorganized, and fractious. In his description of Antioch, one of the first sites of Christianity, Stark reinforces the larger point that Christianity ‘served as a revitalization movement that arose in response to the misery, chaos, fear, and brutality of life in the urban Greco-Roman world.’
Paradoxically, Stark’s demystification of the spread of Christianity in the first centuries leads him to conclude that there is something truly special in Christian doctrine and the subsequent faith of the martyrs to sustain such consistent growth: ‘I believe that it was [Christianity’s] particular religious doctrines that permitted Christianity to be among the most sweeping and successful revitalization movements in history.’ This is about as close to belief as Stark comes in his analysis, though faithful readers will easily see God’s truth at the heart of it.”
So how might this encourage us, seeing the need for revitalization all around us?
Meyrat continues: “And it’s important that they do. Many parallels exist between the pre-Christian and post-Christian West. And the same virtues that allowed the Church to bring order to the surrounding chaos will likely do the same today.
No doubt, there’s disagreement on how to re-evangelize the world and whether to change various Church teachings to accommodate modern audiences, but one thing must remain constant: Christians must keep the faith and preserve the culture of life. Miracles would be nice in the short run, but in the long run, a steady commitment to the true faith in everyday matters will convert the world.”
God bless your everyday life as you witness to the grace of God in all that you say and do.