Just read this really interesting post by TSK.

The comparisons of the economic circumstances of the ‘naughties’ with the great depression of the 1930’s are not new, but the implications for church in this context offered by TSK certainly are (to me at least!)

Partly this is because the erosion of funding experienced by faith based organisations has passed me by- the church things I am involved in require no external funding- and the ‘missions’ that we have been involved in have all been done on a shoestring. I suppose that as long as members of my group have had collective personal resources that we can use together, we are pretty recession proof.

And this is what TSK seems to be saying. He makes the following predictions/comments about the likely moves in church over the next ten years-

The church in the West will use up much of this coming decade to rebound from the financial recession and to restructure in a more sustainable way, much like the church did in the 1930’s after the Great Recession which started about 1929.

In a concerted effort to get church ministry on a solid financial footing, or to start new ministries with a diminished budget, many traditional churches will offer their buildings mid-week as micro-business enterprise labs and will become micro-credit unions for their local communities. The word “fellowship” will regain its meaning of sharing and risk-taking. Emerging church energies will be re-directed from creative worship arts to creative social enterprises which will enable long term sustainability. In both realms, women will come to the front as some of the most successful missional entrepreneurs.

This seems very important. The activities of many of the small ‘alternative worship/missional/emerging groups that I am aware of have tended towards re imagining worship- in terms of what is meaningful and authentic, but perhaps has also have had more than a whiff of exclusivity. We are starting to build community, but my conviction is that the strength and vitality of our enterprise has to be found in deeper and more loving community- and there is nothing like adversity to forge us together! I have noticed that in the middle of most of these groups is a person gifted with the spiritual gift of hospitality. they are the glue, and the oil, and the heart of the thing. Many of these people are women. In this new context- this feels like the most appropriate way to ‘lead’.

Creative social enterprises may well be the way to go- But I work for the public sector here in the UK, so I am not best placed to comment.

1930′ s writings from theologians Barth and Bonhoeffer will continue in their popularity (no-brainer) but we will also revisit Dorothy Day (USA) and Dorothy Sayers (UK).

Barth and Bonhoeffer I know, but Day and Sayers- must do some reading…

Having already “re-traditioned” and “re-sourced” our theological and missiological base for church and mission, we will feel more confident to launch out further into the world with transformational models that will change the world without draining the next generation’s resources. The next decade will be a time of sustainable outreach, measurable by a far more holistic criteria of success.

So this sounds like the possibility of church offering models of intervention- in the same way that social change happened in the 1930’s through small scale social projects and missions. Big, corporate level stuff is no longer viable, or no longer trusted. The alternatives are local, community generated and sustainable within local resources.

I hope TSK is right in this. It remains to be seen whether church can really make an impact for good in these rather troubled and vacuous times.

It is my impression that the 1930’s also saw a dominance of a form of Christianity that could be seen as ‘liberal’, left wing, socially motivated and engaged. This seems another echo with today.

Hmmmm…