This is REALLY Crazy!

Part II of a series on the church today. See part I here.

So I came across this news the other day. Some scientists are talking about bringing the woolly mammoth back. From extinction. See the video here.

Regardless of whether or not it can actually happen, I'm more interested in the thought behind it.

What's wrong with being extinct? Isn't extinction part of the natural order? Do we want to mess with that? Maybe I'm over simplistic in my scientific understanding, but it seems to me that it's actually good for things die out and new things to replace them. It's an important part of life.


Theologically, it seems that the idea of extinction is central to the gospel. The whole gospel revolves around death and new life--Jesus' death and resurrection leads to the necessity of our own death to the old humanity and being raised to new life. The hope of resurrection is contingent upon our dying to the old humanity in this life.

Death. Extinction. These must come. Just as they do, so new life must follow. Dare I say that new life cannot take place unless death and extinction happen first.

And the new life that follows extinction usually means going back is either not an option or not a good idea.

This is a point briefly mentioned in the video about the woolly mammoth. Things have changed quite a bit in our world since the animal existed--the environment, the animal kingdom, the human population, etc. Bringing back an animal that was wired for and useful in a certain time in history (not to mention a loooong time ago) to another very different time for which it is not wired might not be a good idea.

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This story makes me think of the church today. Some churches are holding on to the past. Some churches are trying to ignore extinction of, or fight the inevitable extinction of, certain methods, mentalities, and ways of doing things. Because of this, the health of many churches and even entire denominations is at risk.

In the second post of a series on the church today, Ed Stetzer focuses on mainline denominations (click here to read). Mainline denominations (ELCA, United Methodist, Presbyterian, American Baptist) are the ones experiencing the greatest decline among Christian churches--especially in comparison to more general Evangelical or non-denominational churches.

Here are a few staggering stats:

• In 2010 the ELCA lost 270,349 members; in 2011 it was 212,903
• From 2003 to 2011 weekly worship fell 26%
• In 2012, the PCUSA lost 102,791 members

Change is happening. Extinction may not be happening to the ELCA or PCUSA as denominations, or to Christianity, but certainly extinction is a reality for many local churches the methods, mentalities, or practices of being the church.

The decline in numbers cannot be attributed to one single thing. There is likely a constellation of things, that, taken together, contribute to this scenario of change. With change, certain forms of life become extinct. Other forms of life morph and adapt and change from what they once were.

The church is always in process. And never at one point can the church bring back the past. It shouldn't. The past needs to be what it was, and we need to allow it to stay there. The way we did things in the 1980s, 1990s, and even in the first decade of the 21st century should be allowed to have their time of effect, and then left there. What happened and what seemed to work then will likely not work now. And that's ok. We can learn from it, but let's not try to bring it back or keep it alive.

Even evangelical or non-denominational churches whose numbers look better than mainline churches can't become too comfortable in their ways and methods that seem to have more positive results today. They too will face extinction as culture, circumstances, and life around the church changes.

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Extinction is, unfortunately, a word many churches seem to be afraid of. Somehow we can get to thinking that God is unable to be a part of extinction, or when the dying out of a form of doing church happens, it means God has left the building.

Not true. The church is alive, not dead. Ways of practicing church, however, can, and do, die. Problems come when we become too married to the ways and identify them with our mission and identity. Then we hang too much on these ways and we fear identity loss when practices change.

But the church does not find identity in the ways and practices, but in the God who gives life and in the ongoing activity of the Spirit. The church exists for the world, not for our own comfort and edification. We are called to meet the needs of the world, not require the world to adapt to us and our needs and wants. Perhaps we've gotten too comfortable with the latter.

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There are, I'm sure, several ways to react and respond to the sorts of information Stetzer draws attention to and to the reality of extinction. One is fear. Another is to "circle the wagons" or defensiveness.

Another is to see the potential for newness--to things for what they are, and recognize that God is calling, or pushing, the church into a new stage. 

This means recognizing the signs of extinction of the old stage. It's part of the gospel. It's part of God's ongoing activity in the world.

Have you ever thought about Paul's churches--Corinth, Ephesus, Thessalonica, Galatia?

Extinct. Every one of them. And they were Paul's churches! The great apostle and church planter! God allowed them to go extinct. 

Sometimes, it seems. letting go of what was blocks out the hope of what can be. It's as if we don't think God is actually a God of the future. God is only a God of the past, and we can't let that go.

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Think of the stories in the Bible where it is God's initiative to leave behind something--let it become extinct--and move on to something new.

• In Genesis 12 God called Abraham to pack it up and move on from the life he'd known when he was near the end of his days, after he'd successfully established himself and his family. 
• God called Moses away from his comfortable life of shepherding to face Egypt, lead people to freedom, and wander in the wilderness with an unruly bunch of freed slaves. 
• God worked behind the scenes in ways that led to the demise of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, to let them go extinct, to bring old ways to their end and bring about something new.
• God gave Peter a vision declaring all things "clean" in Acts 11, challenging nearly everything Peter had built his life around as a practicing Jew, to embrace a new reality where Gentiles were "clean" in Christ and ham and cheese on rye was an acceptable choice for lunch.

Bringing back the woolly mammoth might seem crazy. No less crazy, however, might be when we, the church, hold on to methods, ways of thinking, and practices of past generations just because we can't let extinction happen. We can't confuse becoming extinct with "bad." "Bad" is a value judgment. Extinct is just the natural result of change. Past ways and methods are useful, especially for looking to the future. Use them to learn and grow, but not to remain still, when the Spirit of God is running ahead of us.

Scripture witnesses to a God who constantly initiates change and the leaving behind of old ways as he takes his people to new horizons for the sake of witnessing to the God of the living in the world of the dead.

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What are areas of new possibility in your ministry or in your church? Are there mentalities or methods or just ways of doing things that need to go extinct?

What if God's word to the church today is what it was to Abraham long ago? Pack it up. Move on from where you are. Leave it all behind and go somewhere new. C'mon, let's go. What would that look like for your church to do this?

Try this: put together a team of people from different generations, both male and female, to ask these questions and pray and plan together for your congregation. Invite discussion about how change is happening, and what might be headed toward extinction. Invite discussion and idea sharing about what the needs of the community around you are, and how your church is best poised to meet those needs as a witness to the gospel.