New Coke and the Church

This morning’s Salt Lake Tribune had a front page story about a recent survey concerning religion in America, which says that we are a more religious nation than previously thought. But as far as where people are practicing their religion, particularly in the realm of Christendom, the survey basically said nothing that we haven’t known for the last three or four decades: Mainline Protestant churches are declining while independent evangelical churches are growing.

I’m not sure why the mainliners (of which I am one by denominational affiliation) don’t get this. The answer for the disparity is quite simple: it has to do with New Coke.

Work with me here…

Back in 1985, the Coca Cola Company decided to unveil a "new and improved" formula for Coke. It was supposed to be sweeter, better tasting, more palatable to the masses. They dubbed it "New Coke" and it was designed and heralded as a replacement for the old, outdated, pedestrian formula of the early 20th century.

Well, as many of you will remember, it bombed…almost put the company under. In less than two months, people had rejected this new attempt at sweetness–designed to please them, mind you–ad were clamoring for the old formula.  Classic Coke was reintroduced and has stayed the same ever since. The Coca Cola web site has an honest self-appraisal of the whole fiasco, if you’re interested.

So many of my mainline clergy peers like to call themselves "progressive" Christians and openly opt for whatever new theology has just come down the pike. Why bother with the old stories of atonement, resurrection, the cross and all that? Why have these debates about Jesus’ divinity, what constitutes sin, that whole doctrine thing? Believe whatever you want, they seem to want to say, because it’ll be sweeter for the masses. This is "new" stuff, new theology for progressive people.

Well, it’s New Coke all over again. People have left this mainline progressive liberalism to go back to what they consider to be classic Christianity, where belief matters, Jesus is Lord and not a first century Dr. Phil, and an empty tomb is still the bedrock of faith. Christianity grew and thrived in the midst of an empire out to kill it because its people largely stayed on a classic message of hope and grace. If the recent survey is any indication, they’re finding it (or at least a semblance of it) by switching brands altogether.

Now understand this…I’m not saying that the churches receiving mainline refugees are all biblically sound either. There’s a lot of stuff in some forms of evangelicalism that is a New Coke of a different kind (like faith is a self help movement, that belief is more important than action, and God wants you to be rich, that sort of thing).

What I’m saying is that unless the United Methodist Church and its mainline counterparts figure out that they need to recapture the classic formula and stop peddling the New Coke of "progressive" Christianity, they may find themselves out of business within a generation or two. Maybe that’s not a bad thing and it certainly would fit historically with the patterns of the past.

I do think, however, that there can be hope if more of our clergy and churches reflect on, preach, and call people to a classic faith where head and heart come together and "practical divinity" and "scriptural Christianity" are once again the focus. We can do that locally in our churches while at the same time telling our denominational executives that we like the classic stuff much better, thank you very much.

The United Methodist Church has just come out with an opportunity for clergy and laity to fill out an online "state of the church" survey. The link is here and I hope you’ll take a few minutes to participate. Even if you disagree with my assessments (and they are, admittedly, pretty biased), your input is helpful, even if only for the reflection it sparks in you. I’ll pass along the survey results when they finally get it all put together.

Think I’ll go crack open a Coke…classic, that is…

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