In the classic movie, “The Wizard of Oz,” Dorothy’s Kansas farmhouse is whisked away to the magical land of Oz. As Dorothy realizes she has awakened in a very different place, she utters the oft-quoted line, “Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.” It’s the line we now use when we realize our circumstances are much different than what we’ve expected or become accustomed to.
That’s why if I could say anything to the church, it would be this, “Brothers and sisters, we aren’t in Kansas anymore.” I’ve been the pastor of a local church for over 30 years and all of the realities that defined my ministry have changed. Nothing is the way it used to be.
For instance, when I started in the ministry everyone was a member of a church. They might not have ever attended, but they would tell you they belonged to a certain congregation and they expected certain things (hospital visits) from “their” church.
Now, over 60% of the people in Tennessee will tell us they have no connection to a faith community. There’s a catch with that number. We’ve discovered when people are asked religious questions they give an aspirational answer. That is, they give the answer they WANT to be true, but in reality, may not be. So, that means if you push that number real hard, what you find out is about 20% of them mean to go to church, but actually don’t. It’s more realistic to say 20% of the population of Tennessee is actively engaged in a faith community.
And we’re the buckle of the Bible belt…
Other things have changed as well. Immigration has brought a number of different people groups to Middle Tennessee, with over 90 different languages spoken here. We daily come into contact with people whose worldviews are very different from our own.
So, what does this mean for us, especially for members of our congregations? It’s simple. We’re no longer living in a Christian nation. We’re now living on the mission field.
And that changes everything about how we do church. We can no longer assume:
- That people recognize the authority of the Bible. We can’t even assume they have one.
- That people understand concepts such as lost, saved, forgiveness, justification, sanctification, and glorification. I love these words, but they are almost useless in our greater culture.
- That people are coming to our church and it will be our first contact with them. More than likely, it will be the greater community—in the places where we live, work, and play.
- That Bible studies will take place in the church. Instead they most likely will be started in homes, just like you would find in an international culture.
Like any missionary, we need to study our culture—its languages and its traditions. We need to listen to the music and read the books in order to understand the philosophical and theological premises that hold people’s lives together.
We have to learn to be patient in our evangelism. The conversations will have to begin in friendship and friendships take time to build. For most people, they will have to learn to trust us as friends before they can trust what we tell them about Jesus.
Lastly, we don’t need to panic. We’ve been here before. In fact, some of the best years in the church’s history happened in circumstances just like this.
But we do need to change some things.
- We need to pray longer, deeper, and harder. According to Jesus, there are some things that can only be handled with much prayer.
- We need to find ways to hold each other up. Few of us work in an environment where our faith is supported. It gets hard some days—for all of us. Take care of each other.
- We need to study the Bible with an urgent purpose. You never know when a friend is going to ask you about your faith. Be ready to gently, warmly but confidently state the case for your belief in Christ.
- We need to look differently at our world. If you were a missionary to America, what would you do? Well, do it because in all reality, you and I are missionaries to our own country. After all, we aren’t in Kansas anymore.
