Venal Dogmata: A Parable of the Future Church.

An Interview with Jeff Christopherson

Lots of people are asking if this moment will have long term implications—will it dismantle the consumer-driven church? Will this lead to some church changes that many of us have always wanted?

Well, my friend (and partner in the SEND Institute) Jeff Christopherson actually had a book in the works that asks, “What is the future of the church in North America?”

I asked Jeff, who many of you know authors the pieces for our Missio Mondays, if he’d jump in for a quick interview on the book.

Ed: Jeff, I know this is not a book written knowing that there was a crisis coming, but many of the things you talk about in the book are on the minds of a lot of Christian leaders—particularly church practices. What do you think about the timing of this?

Jeff: You know that many of us have been watching the downward “bending of the curve” among evangelicals for a while now—so, no, I didn’t write this with a pandemic in mind—I actually wrote it with a different crisis in mind—the upcoming cultural whiplash against evangelicals.

Ed: Explain more of what you mean by upcoming cultural whiplash?

Jeff: Jesus said in Matthew 26:52 that “If you live by the sword, you’ll die by the sword” as Peter tried to create some kind of Kingdom advancement for Jesus through his own personal strength.It was an instinct that Jesus immediately rebuked, but it seems to be an instinct with which we struggle. In our attempts to regain or retain some semblance of Christendom we seem to instinctively go the route of Peter. But God’s Kingdom in never advanced through strength—only through weakness. And weakness is the dominating biblical metanarrative throughout Scripture. Inappropriate ...