Thinking about the Future

Wuthnow begins by suggesting that in thinking about the future, we are not trying to make specific predictions. We reflect on the future, not to control it, but to better reflect on the directions we are heading in the present. Here and now we can made decisions. As we understand what is happening in the present, in terms of where it will lead in the future, so it will expand our vision for dealing with the issues of today.
Wuthnow suggests that there are four sets of opposing categories that currently frame much of our thinking about the nature of the world and the role of faith within it:
-          individual and community
-          diversity and uniformity
-          liberalism and conservatism
-          and public and private.
‘Each of these pairs create a kind of space in which we can think about the present’ Wuthnow says (p.13).

Institutional Challenges

Wuthnow believes that, from a sociological point of view, apart from the theological, the church is and will remain a very important part of the expression of faith. It is a community, through which the individual finds identity: a moral community that unites individuals in worship, giving them specific ways of expressing their faith, their beliefs, and their values.
To a large extent, the different denominations present in the United States reflect the variety of ethnic origins from which the American people have come. Denominational boundaries have weakened. People are more frequently switching from one denomination to another. Nevertheless, Wuthnow believes that denominationalism will not go away, even though people move from one to another. Each denomination will have its own structures, its particular symbols, and even its own ‘in-jokes’. Episcopalians, he says, will continue to tell jokes about Henry VIII and Baptists about drownings and baptisms.
Wuthnow notes that there has been a proliferation of styles of ‘church’, and this has been enlarged by religious and quasi-religious communities such as university Christian groups, meditation centres, centres for spiritual direction, and groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous, apart from the great variety of special interest religious groups. Wuthnow believes that the functions traditionally performed by the local church in educating people about faith and providing a sense of community in worship and service, may be undertaken in a wider variety of ways, in which these other groups will participate. As this happens, the numbers of specialised ministries and institutions will expand. Congregations may share the spiritual care of people with Christian counselling centres, support groups of various kinds, Christian educational institutions, and so on.
People still need community, Wuthnow says. Some will find it in the church congregations. For others, the congregation will act as a referral system to a wide range of other groups and ministries. Many people will find their sense of community in small, and often transient, groups.

Sustaining Community

However, Wuthnow recognises that there are real challenges in sustaining community in a world which is becoming increasingly fragmentary, and where people have become more individualistic, living in anonymous places.
At present,the churches, however, are very important in providing communities of support. Wuthnow cites a study in which he asked people where they felt they could count on others for support. 64% of the American public said they could count on members of a church, compared with 50% who felt they could depend on people at work, and 35% who could depend on people from public agencies. Among church attenders, 86% said they could depend on people from church.
Wuthnow says that increasingly informal bases for support are being supplemented by formal church programs to ensure that such support is maintained.
Wuthnow notes that church attenders usually play a more major role than non-church attenders in local community interests. They are more likely to vote in local elections (77% compared to 49% of non-church-goers), attend community meetings (34% to 5%), discuss local issues with friends and neighbours (54% to 33%), and visit neighbours (45% to 30%).
According to a Gallup survey, church attenders are also more like to serve others in the community:
78% of church attenders compared with 66% of non-church attenders had given food, clothing or property to the needy;
73% compared to 64% had given money to charities;
46% had done unpaid voluntary work compared with 32% of non-members.
Yet, there are many signs that the churches’ ability to sustain this is diminishing. Attendances at church are declining and the degree of loyalty to a particular congregation or denomination is diminishing. People seem to have less time and energy for church work and church-related volunteer activities. Even the church attenders are more individualistic in their attitudes than they were. Wuthnow says that in order for churches to continue sustaining community, there must be some creative reconciliation between these individualistic tendencies and the sense of commitment to community.
One of the signs of hope to which Wuthnow points is the role of small groups. In a national American survey in 1990, 29% of Americans said they were ‘currently involved in a small group that meets regularly and provides support and caring for those who participate in it’. Another 12% said they had been involved in such a group in the past. Many of these groups are, in fact, sponsored by churches. People reported that these groups were very helpful in developing their faith and sense of spirituality. A major challenge of these groups, says Wuthnow, is that they do not usually provide anything for children, or for parents and children, helping them to pass on the Christian traditions. If the reconciliation of individualism and sense of community lies, at least partly, in small groups, then the churches must look very carefully at ways in which the Christian heritage and sense of identity may be passed on to future generations.

Australia

The picture Wuthnow paints of tensions between individuality and community bears many similarities to the Australian scene. Institutionally, Australia lacks the megachurches which have become increasingly significant in America, although the number of regional churches of several hundred serving a range of suburbs is certainly growing. For many Australians, the small group to which they belong is the local congregation. For others, small, intimate groups organised by churches are also significant in the provision of a community of Christian support. As in the United States, there are many groups which are not churches, some of which are Christian, and others not so, which are offering similar ‘communities of support’.
Australia faces deeply the challenges of continuing the traditions of faith. Currently, over two-thirds of all Australian adults remember a time when they went to church almost every week or more often. Among adults between 18 and 30 years of age, only 29% have that memory. Australia also faces the challenge of combining the need that people have for community along with strongly individualistic attitudes and behaviour.

Philip Hughes

Reference

Robert Wuthnow, Christianity in the 21st Century: Reflections on the Challenges Ahead, Oxford University Press, New York, 1993.