Will the Church Eat the Seal Meat?

Classical Presbyterian left a comment on my last post suggesting that I apply the insights described in Collapse to the church. That was an intriguing idea, so here is my attempt to do that.

"Eating the seal meat" is a metaphor for changing deeply held cultural beliefs and practices when they no longer promote the continuing existence of a society. There is another factor that contributes to the collapse of a society that I didn't describe in the previous post: abandoning traditional practices in favor of new ones that are so inimical to the society's well-being that it collapses.

The example of this second factor that Jared Diamond used in the book comes from New Guinea. For centuries the natives in a remote mountainous region there had devised a successful way of irrigating their land for agricultural use. When Europeans first arrived on the scene they thought that the pattern used by the natives was wrong because it was different from what they were used to. They persuaded the natives to change to the European method with disastrous results--the topsoil rapidly eroded and the land was no longer arable. So let us understand the phrase "adopt European irrigation" to be a metaphor for changing traditional practices and values for new ones that are destructive because they undermine the very foundations of the group.

Sometimes the church should eat the seal meat. There is a church in our presbytery that has fallen on hard times. Once located in a "Presbyterian-friendly" suburban area, it has seen the area demographics change dramatically over the last 40 years and its membership decline and age. Other mainline churches sold their properties to ethnic fellowships and moved to areas more receptive to them. A neighboring church with similar problems proposed a merger, which this church refused. (The neighboring church recently merged with a third church farther away.)

A few months ago the church had the opportunity to sell the property for a large sum of money because it has highly desirable freeway commercial frontage. There was a fine piece of land a few miles farther down the freeway, also well located, that they could have bought and built on with the proceeds. But the congregation voted not to sell and instead to try to raise the money to do needed repairs and maintenance on their aging buildings. They would not eat the seal meat-- and I predict that this church will ultimately close as a result.

Sometimes change doesn't mean eating the seal meat and surviving, but results in adopting European irrigation and collapsing. A few months ago a Presbyterian pastor and session in Austin, Texas accepted an avowed atheist into the membership of their church, which is contrary to the membership requirements of the PCUSA's Book of Order. They wanted to substitute the membership standards of a political or social welfare organization in place of the church's traditional confession of faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Here is an example of adopting the practices of other groups in a way that is so contrary to the basic values of the church that the church will not survive if this continues.

These are two "micro" examples. Moving on to the "macro" world of mainline Protestant denominations such as the PCUSA, the Methodists, the ECUSA, etc., it is clear that declining membership and the financial problems that go with that suggest that these churches need to consider eating the seal meat. As people flock in large numbers to non-denominational churches like Lakewood, Willow Creek, and others, we see that those groups which use more non-traditional worship and membership practices are thriving. Mainline churches should be asking whether it is time to adapt for survival or whether we are going to leave as our legacy the 7 Last Words of the Church:" We've Never Done It That Way Before." Is there seal meat here and will we eat it?

It is not a simple matter, though, to separate adaptive behavior that brings renewal and survival from that which brings destruction and extinction. Many mainline churches have already decided that things like contemporary worship services, praise bands, "seeker-friendly" services, and projection screens are seal meat-- and they are eating it. Struggles over the ordination of gays, political and social activism of the church, and whether belief in Jesus Christ is the only way to salvation (among other things) reflect disagreement between those in the churches who see these changes as fatally destructive of their core values and those who believe that they must be embraced in order for the church to adapt and survive in the future.

When change is advocated, the church must decide whether or not the change proposed is consistent with its core value: the proclamation of the gospel of Christ. As a Presbyterian, I believe that judgment must be made with reference to the whole witness of scripture and the Book of Confessions. There are doubtless many ways in which the church can eat the seal meat, adapt and continue to survive. But there are also many ways in which it can be led into new practices, that like the European irrigation debacle in New Guinea, will bring its extinction.