Understanding Nones

The Guardian has written a piece on a report from the thinktank Theos about those who say in opinion polls that they are not religious, or not affiliated to any religion. These so-called 'nones' are increasing as a percentage of the population, something borne out by both the polls and expected in upcoming national census data.

What is interesting for us is the next level analysis of people thinking of themselves in this way. Theos has done some valuable work, showing that such people broadly fall into three sub-categories roughly equal in size: the 'hard', the 'easy-going' and the 'spiritual'. The first category are actively against organised religion and may well have clear atheist views. The other two however often have an openness. The 'easy-going' are not really fussed either way, whilst the 'spiritual' most likely believe in some kind of god/gods/spiritual forces etc., and are likely open to explore.

This means that even with polls showing just over 50% of the population not being religious, about 16% of the population will still be 'spiritual' in some way, and another 16% are easy-going on the topic. That is echoed by the Talking Jesus research which showed non-Christians who had conversations with a Christian about faith subjects tended to remember positive aspects of those discussions.

My own experience bears this out. I meet lots of people who are quick to tell me they are not religious ... but the ensuing conversation shows that they do have a basic openness to things spiritual, and we end up having a fruitful time together. I repeatedly find that the openness is best explored by pointing people to Jesus, rather than trying to explain (or make excuse for) the church and its doctrines. It's another reason why I have the personal mantra: "Take people to Jesus, not to church!".

The 'nones' are on the rise, but that is not necessarily all bad. Be ready to point people to Jesus, and look for the genuine spiritual openness which is out there for sure.

My One Ask to Big City Big Churches

The really big churches in the cities have done wonderful things in recent years. They have made the services and approach contemporary and therefore more accessible to the younger/emerging generations. They have created first class online presence and content, and they have called many many people to put their faith in Jesus.

This is excellent!

The pandemic has accelerated their use of online presence, service streaming and such. They have attracted thousands of 'viewers', and though different this ministry has further enabled many to call on the name of Jesus to be saved.

This too is great.

Of course there are questions to be asked about followup and leading in long term discipleship, but I believe the big churches are aware of this and trying to minister to this as best they can.

But if I was given the pleasure of being put in a room (real or virtual) of big city big church leaders, and was allowed to ask of them one thing, it would be this:

Thankyou for your online presence/streaming - it is top notch. Continue to call on people to put their faith in Jesus, and continue to work out how to influence their discipleship albeit remotely. But please add one thing to your current 'pitch': as well as encouraging newcomers to continue to engage with your output, please also make absolutely clear the value of engaging with their local church. This will be a double win - it will be good for the newcomer, and it will be good for the Kingdom.

This ask calls for courage and a bigger Kingdom mindset in the leaders of the big churches. A courage to trust that by God's grace local connections will be fruitful. A mindset that the Kingdom may ultimately be better served by engagement with the local church (even if it doesn't have all the resources, bells and whistles that their big church has). That it is about empowering outwards than merely accumulating in.

Missionary Disciples

Nowadays there is much talk about missionary disciples. This is not new - 15 years ago the Baptist Union slogan was 'Encouraging Missionary Disciples', but the emphasis has come to the fore, and the perceived need certainly accelerated by Covid. So there are now conferences focusing on the subject, looking at how we enable there to be more missionary disciples in our churches.

But there are also a few voices who are saying something subtly different. They are encouraging us to see that 'Missionary Disciples' should be an unnecessary combination of words ... because Discipleship must always include being on God's mission. Therefore you don't need the adjective - all true disciples will be missionary disciples for sure.

I have to say that I completely agree with the relative few. When Jesus said 'Come follow me' (to Peter and other fishermen), he also said 'and I will make you fishers of men'. When he called Levi the tax collector to follow it wasn't simply to leave behind is dodgy dealings (though of course it did include that!) ... it was to join on mission (going straight back among his dodgy friends!).

True discipleship means to be on God's mission team.

That doesn't mean we will all be star evangelists, or all of us need to full on extrovert ... but it does mean all of us seeking God for how He wants us to be on mission, and it does mean being prepared to share the hope that we have in Jesus. To not do this, skimp it, park it, or even ignore it ... is simply not being true to the call that Jesus makes on us when we call on Him to be saved.

So I now believe we are selling ourselves short when we talk about 'missionary disciples', since it implies that there are other categories/types of discipleship on offer. Being missionary is intrinsic to the real deal of following Jesus - the other categories are not truly in Christ. What the intrinsic missionary call exactly looks like can vary widely across different people, but it cannot be negotiated out or bracketed off to a subset.

So let us not focus on 'making missionary disciples'. Let us instead repent and reform our thinking on discipleship, seeking His grace to be true to the mission calling that is in following Jesus.

Pyjama Christians

Zoom and other web technologies have helped us all through the pandemic. Churches were applauded for their adaptability and creativity in 'going online' at very short notice last year. Who knew the church could react and change so quickly!

But now conversations between church leaders run along these lines: do we want to keep streaming? The additional people engaging (connecting / viewing) with our services is encouraging ... but are we just putting out a kind of Christian entertainment? Are we forming real community? And what about real discipleship?

We know the term 'Rice Christians' - a negative term used to describe the (bad) scenarios where people seem to show allegiance to the Christian faith in order to receive aid (e.g. rice) in some far off land where access to food is an issue. Yet now, especially in the West, we are in danger of producing 'Pyjama Christians'! Of course it is easier to just click 'View' on the cusp of the meeting start time (or any time thereafter). Yes you can engage from the comfort of your own home, cup of coffee in hand ... take a break whenever you need or want.

All these increase the 'accessibility' of our church gatherings - which is sort of a good thing ...

But Jesus commissioned us to make disciples (Matthew 28). That means challenge, hard decisions, and life-on-life learning together in the Spirit. It suggests changing out of your pyjamas and dressing ready for some hard graft.

The teachings of Jesus (which we are commissioned to teach people to obey) are in many ways wonderfully simple ... and yet hard to live out. On the contrary our plethora of online content risks being sophisticated & complicated ... yet easy to consume.

Maybe simply looking to Jesus gives us a clue on this topic. For Jesus is God come to earth, born as human, living flesh and blood (aka incarnation). In Jesus we see that God is not remote or virtual! Of course the Spirit can work through our remote technologies ... just as the Spirit has worked through pen-friend campaigns and long distance short wave radio ministries in the past. Yet there is something about the together: real and physical that Jesus has already modelled for us. Maybe we were given physical bodies for a reason.