Times of upheaval

The popular churches of the past have lost much of their relevance. At the latest, when the flow of money dries up, previous structures must be reconsidered. This is already becoming apparent today(FAZ article, in German). More and more people are leaving the old structures. However, this is not only a phenomenon of the traditional national churches, but in a different form it also happens in free churches. There, the “outflow of believers” is primarily a flow-through. This happens when people quietly leave because teaching and subculture are perceived as too confining and rigid.

But then there is another kind of upheaval. It takes place regardless of external affiliation. It’s about personal issues. This upheaval concerns the really important questions of life from a Christian perspective. It deals with topics like life and death, last events and how to understand the Bible now. If the communities do not offer space for this, development is sought outside.

Questions about questions

Those who are no longer satisfied with previously known answers can do two things: One can pursue the questions or give up a possible new answer already. If one encounters biblical passages that question one’s previous understanding of the Bible, then one should actually pursue such questions, shouldn’t one? Unfortunately, this is not desirable everywhere. Thus, questions may arise to which no answer is found, and what remains is longing and often frustration over unresolved issues and rigid beliefs.

Questions about questions … What is our God and Father like? What makes him stand out? Do we have a vengeful God focused on retribution, or is He a gracious God who comes to the end with all through Christ (Col. 1:20)?

And what happens when life takes a turn for the worse? What happens when Christians get into a divorce, or want to remarry? Is one then demoted from the community to a second-rate Christian? And if you live with someone in a committed way, but the state has not attached the label “marriage” to it, are such people then kept away from tasks in the community? The hypocrisy is sometimes repugnant. How do you deal with communities that are only inward-looking and stubbornly drive the people of the community up the wall with fixed ideas in their heads, or just deliberately tune them out? Or how about abuse in the church? With waste of funds? Questions about questions.

Not all of these questions are important to everyone. One question, however, is all it takes to embark on a personal journey. Some want to take this journey in faith, to engage in new things and to re-examine that based on the Bible. These people want a little less inlay of meaning and a little more interpretation of the Bible. This should not be about condemning others, but about personal reorientation.

The desire for authenticity

This personal development is based on questions about understanding the Bible. Is it not from the Bible that the impulse for a God-centered and God-given life should come? It is about authenticity and the meaning for one’s own life, beyond tradition and guidelines of the community. This can also happen when one notices that one’s own community presents itself as unworldly and closes itself off from an “evil” world. There are many ways people get into thinking.

Whoever stands in such a process does not throw faith overboard just because he wants better answers or seeks a merciful God. Critical thinking does not mean special doctrines or rapturous righteousness, but genuine questions of the kind that people have been asking again and again for thousands of years. Those who question their previous Christian perspective often do so not because they do not want to believe, but because they can no longer believe the previous. Previous answers are no longer sufficient. It needs a deepening of faith, a real confrontation. One seeks a better foundation and an authentic Christianity in this world.

Of course, there are also people who actually “discard” the faith. There are people who become Christian, but there are also Christians who become atheist, Muslim or Buddhist. There are people who choose a different path. However, this article is not about these people, but about Christians who consciously want to live Christianity, but do not find a viable environment for this in existing communities. They are rethinking, perhaps saying goodbye to certain assumptions about being a Christian, but very consciously orienting themselves to the Bible. They are traveling perfectly imperfectly, but doing so self-determinedly and by God’s grace. There are very many such people.

Assume responsibility

Rethinking is no walk in the park. Anyone who wants to break out of the familiar old structure needs courage. In particular, courage is needed when a new direction does not meet with the approval of the trusted circle. What to do when you can’t find anyone to share your questions with? This takes even more courage, because you are forced to either walk the path alone, or at best build a network with people with whom you can travel together. Perhaps such networks are the community of the future.

This process of reorientation remains current in life. Rethinking is a process and not a switch that you simply flip. Anyone embarking on a process can rarely see in advance where it will lead. The same process is also part of growing up, finding one’s identity, taking responsibility for oneself. It can also be the decision to finally get involved with the Bible, for the first time or to listen anew to what it actually says. Churches and congregations could be breeding grounds for spiritual life by accompanying people on this path and making processuality part of common life. Unfortunately, there are hardly any examples of this. Often only the tradition, the structure, is continued, repeated, as if that were the expression of spiritual life. Is it?

What then constitutes spiritual life?

The feeling of the center

Christian physician Paul Tournier describes uncertainty in times of upheaval as “the feeling of being in the middle.” It is the feeling of the trapeze artist who has to let go of the swing trapeze in the circus in order to “fly” to the next trapeze. In this moment “in between” the security is missing. This is the feeling of the center. It is the time between letting go and finding a new hold, the time in which one flies through the air “without a hold”. It corresponds to the time of a reorientation.

How can we deal with this uncertainty? There is not just one form of being a Christian. Understanding is shaped very differently depending on how we orient ourselves in the world. This realization is necessary. It is necessary because there are many forms of community in which it is said that something is “only so and so” right. Our being Christians does not depend on our or the other’s momentary knowledge, but on Christ who has called us. That’s a huge difference. A careful distinction should be made between the two.

It is amazing how much fear is triggered when an upheaval happens, when someone breaks out of old structures and goes in search of an authentic true faith. The community is sometimes afraid of change. People fear for any issues that might challenge the status quo. The person who rethinks is often also afraid. This one has to face his own fears. Fear is the normal thing: An upheaval is always associated with uncertainty. However, becoming aware that my past community, my past views, are simply a small imprint – juxtaposed with many other imprints – can we be a little more relaxed about it?

Let’s look back to the time of Tenach, the Old Testament. There, faith was religious, but there was no church. Nor is the calling of the people of Israel at the beginning. There was a time without any “official” religion or denomination. This is how it was with Abraham. Abraham was not a Jew. He was not a Christian. These “religions” did not exist until now. He lived faith before he was circumcised and after he was circumcised. God gave him great promises before his circumcision and confirmed them after his circumcision. Therefore, Abraham unites both the nations (uncircumcised) and the nation of Israel (circumcised). Paul refers to Abraham with the words “who is the father of us all,” namely the father of all believers (Rom 4:16). Isn’t that liberating? Abraham believed God, completely without denominations, seals of approval or ISO ratings of any community. “So folks – relax!” one would like to exclaim. Faith is not only possible or “right” in certain communities. Anyone who told you otherwise was pulling your leg.

“Guys – relax!”

Setting out for new shores

In an evangelical environment, thinking is often black and white. It is about what is “right” and what is “wrong”. Identity is not linked (only) to Christ, but to certain assumptions about being Christian, about what should be true. What is once internalized is often given the label “biblical truth,” especially in evangelical circles, even though the Bible does not speak of these assumptions in a single word. Here one confuses again and again the Bible with the human conclusions about the Bible. Untangling this knot can become exceedingly challenging. It is such topics that are highlighted on this website – as a stimulus for a more in-depth discussion.

That there are indeed such “knots” to untangle, I can well verify here on the website. The posts with the highest number of hits are those that have “hell” as their theme, as well as other related posts. The feedback I receive is not on posts like this one, but on arguments about specific passages in the Bible. There are the most pressing questions about these. One wants to test dogmatic ideas and is looking for suitable ways to do so. Why is that? Well, many – especially evangelical – circles are strongly dogmatic. Anyone who has questions about this must deal with the beliefs and also with the biblical interpretation. This is challenging because how do you test and where do you start? But this is precisely what was often never learned or cultivated among themselves. But that’s also where the departure for new shores begins.

“Love is strong enough to love even those who think differently from us; therefore, for the sake of love, we need not give away the truth.”

Richard Imberg

What’s next?

The difference from a dogmatic world lies in a listening heart. A listening heart is like a compass in a complex, big world. Let’s learn to listen, both ourselves and together. Let’s learn to use this compass better. On the way to new shores, we must learn to discern what really matters (Phil 1:9) and likewise we should recognize the love of Christ that surpasses all knowledge (Eph 3:19).

Concrete steps should support the comments above. For it is not a matter of this or that doctrine, but of knowing God better through Christ and living pleasing to Him.

1. Write down once what you want to clarify
2. What is the answer you have used so far?
3. Formulate the question
4. Are there chapters or related passages in the Bible (not: individual verses) on this question?
5. Have you heard alternative opinions?
6. What alternative rationales appeal to you? Why?
7. What are the alternatives to consider? What needs to be tested?
8. Check and determine the gaps
9. Check the gaps
10. Continue

All these things may be done in faith and trust, examining in prayer and comparing in conversation.

God bless you in this!