Is church done? Or has the world become church?

Getting out more beyond the walls of the UCSA community this year as a part-time school chaplain has confirmed something I’ve been suspecting for years now. 


A key reason church-going is declining as a cultural practice is that church no longer exclusively provides a platform for people’s faith development or faith engagement (if you don’t like the word ‘faith’, read: ‘values’). The world is now church, and so you no longer need a church for things like these that are out there in the world everywhere you look:

• ·       If you want to learn theology, or consider it more deeply or widely, you can find more free material online than any Minister could offer in a thousand carefully-wrought sermons.
• ·       If you want to work for social justice, you join Amnesty or XR, and organise and get out on the streets.
• ·       If you want to comfort those afflicted by age, infirmity, poverty, etc., you volunteer to help any of the many charitable organisations that do so.
• ·       If you are struggling and want spiritual support, you call Beyond Blue or get a mental health plan from your GP and go see a professional counsellor.
• ·       If you want to get buried, married, or have your new bambino welcomed into the world, there are 3,000 civil celebrants in SA alone who would be happy to provide the service at reasonable fees.
• ·       If you want to ‘make a joyful noise unto the Lord’, there are any number of choirs or PubSings you can join.
• ·       If you want lively intellectual debate, you can audit a philosophy course at a local Uni, who’ll do it better.
• ·       And it goes without saying that if all you want are new friends, taking part in any of the above intentional communities will put you in touch with plenty of like-minded people. 

So why come to a church? Has church devolved into a mere identity marker, just a way of labelling yourself with a religious association (and you can always take your pick of them)?


What can OUR church offer that is both broadly appealing, needed, and unique to church itself? Trying to be all the above to all people probably can’t work for lack of resources, and would yield a watered-down product even if you succeeded. An inadequate version of all the above engagements won’t do, will it? 

In what can we SPECIALIZE and offer QUALITY?

Answers on a postcard, please.