The end of Christendom: 3 critical ways to shift to Apostolic Mission

This is the second article in a three-part series on the end of Christendom and shifting the Church into a mode of intentional evangelization.

In last week’s article, I described how the recent book From Christendom to Apostolic Mission, published by University of Mary Press, defines two approaches that the Church uses to engage with the wider society in her evangelizing mission: Christendom mode and Apostolic mode.

A Christendom mode makes sense when the imaginative vision of society is informed and governed by Christian values, such as decades ago when Sunday shopping laws were in effect on the Lord’s Day.

On the other hand, the Church embraces an Apostolic mode when society’s imaginative vision is not aligned or is perhaps even hostile to Christian values. In this environment, the Church and her individual members are at odds with the prevailing culture.

Choosing the right mode depends on the environment in which the Church finds herself.

In 1947, Archbishop Fulton Sheen declared “Christendom is dead,” and Pope Francis recently told curia staffers “Christendom no longer exists.” If the Church is going to engage effectively with the wider society in 2021 and beyond, we need to move from a Christendom mode to Apostolic Mission.

The subtitle to From Christendom to Apostolic Mission is Pastoral Strategies for an Apostolic Age, and in this article I will share three shifts we can make toward Apostolic mission. In the third article I will provide two more to close out the series.

1. Shift from Christendom Power to Apostolic Power

Within a Christendom state, the Church gains prominence through the proliferation of Catholic institutions, buildings, and social enterprises. New members are attracted by the Church’s cultural influence, which expands the Church’s temporal resources. Yet hubris can set in when society favours the faith.

Contrast the Church of Christendom with that of the New Testament. The early Church had few resources to draw from and little prominence to lean on. The first apostles had no buildings, parishes, or dioceses. There were no theologians, seminaries, or seminarians. There were no hospitals, social agencies, or Catholic schools – only a few hundred followers and 11 priests. Had the apostles operated with a Christendom mindset, they would have been deluged with despair and paralyzed with panic, says From Christendom to Apostolic Mission.

This question needs to be asked: How could the Church today, so rich in resources, find herself tipping toward fear and wavering in its passion for mission, while the early Church, with so few resources and little political influence, moved forward with such great confidence?

The answer: Pentecost.

Two thousand years ago, the Pentecost event transformed the timid and untrained disciples into heroic and fearless missionaries. When the Holy Spirit descended upon them, he transformed their cowardice into conviction, their fear into faith.

The apostles gained new confidence in their message because they were confident it had the power to change lives. These men knew that their strength was not in numbers or political persuasion but in the intensity of the flame burning inside each of them. The apostles begged the Lord “to fill them with great boldness” (Acts 4:29) and the Lord answered their prayers often with signs and wonders.

Blind to what was lacking, the early Church members fixed their eyes on the power of the Gospel and the active presence of the Holy Spirit. The world undoubtedly needed to hear the good news as it does today, so off they went!

If we want to see the New Evangelization flourish in our time, we need to beg the Lord for a new Pentecost.

Christendom no longer exists. Maybe we have been reluctant to admit it or hesitant to concede previously establish territory. Perhaps we do not want to acknowledge the obvious because we are perplexed about how to respond. Regardless, the evidence is everywhere. The Church is no longer considered a trusted lighthouse for society. Cultural influence and political prominence are fading. The latest scandals and the negative impact of the pandemic only worsen the situation. The Church seems to be getting smaller getting smaller, divided – some would say polarized – and far less influential.

How will we respond?

Longing for the good old days, will we try to double down on strategies that no longer bear fruit? Or will we humble ourselves before God and ardently pray for a new Pentecost for the sake of a New Evangelization? 

2. Shift from Strategic Planning to Prophetic Listening

I am passionate about leadership. For some time I have advocated the Church to develop the disciplines of organizational development and management, overhauling much of the current approach to leadership development and using strategic planning, innovation, accountability, delegation, coaching, effective decision-making, and all things management. But the Holy Spirit is the principal agent of evangelization. Without him directing and empowering us, even the best practices in leadership and management will bear little fruit.

Someone once said, “If the Holy Spirit were to withdraw himself from the ministry of the Church, 90 per cent would still go on.” That might be an exaggeration, but the general principle is true – we desperately need the Holy Spirit. 

St. Vincent de Paul told his priests, “We will never be any use in doing God’s work until we become thoroughly convinced that, of ourselves, we are better fitted to ruin everything than to make a success of it.”

Christian writer Dallas Willard often said, “One of the primary works of God is to find people into whom he can entrust his power.” Prophetic listening honours a fundamental principle of effective planning: everything is created twice – the physical creation follows the mental creation. Ministry initiatives that are worth pursuing begin in the mind of God first and are transmitted to us through listening prayer and group discernment.

Jesus modelled prophetic listening for us in his earthly ministry. He persistently returned to the Lord in prayer and explained where he derived the power: “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing; for whatever he does, that the Son does likewise” (Jn 5:19). ) Jesus said what he heard his Father say. Jesus did what he saw his father doing. Just as Jesus followed the Father’s lead during his public ministry, so we need to let the Holy Spirit lead.

A shift into Apostolic Mission means being committed to prophetic listening. A clear word from the Lord comes before strategy. Discerning which way to go – to the right or to the left (Is 30:21) – comes before executing a specific plan to get there. Conversational intimacy in prayer with the triune God is not only a privilege but also a necessity in Apostolic Mission time. “Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labour in vain,” the Psalmist says.

Read the Acts of the Apostles to see how much directional guidance the early Church received from the Holy Spirit. For this reason the Acts of the Apostles is often referred to as the Gospel of the Holy Spirit. We read, “And the Holy Spirit said to them …” or “The Holy Spirit led them to …” and “Then the Holy Spirit stopped them from going near…”

It is almost as if the Holy Spirit was running the show, that he was in charge, that he wanted to lead. Of course, he did, and he still does. And the apostles let him. Would they dare do otherwise?

Prophetic listening means going to the Lord with an open heart and a blank slate, totally open to his vision and direction for the ministry. God loves when we pray, “Lord, here are our plans, please bless what we are doing.” But prophetic listening prays differently: “Lord, we ask you to show us what you are blessing, and we will do that.”

3. Shift from Christendom Messaging to Apostolic Preaching

There was a time when the Church did not have parish buildings. No Catholic schools, seminaries, hospitals, or universities. “But the Church has always had preaching” (Bishop Robert Barron).

In Christendom, the Church can make a dangerous assumption that everyone has heard the basic Gospel message and personally responded to it. Why would people of faith attend Mass if Jesus were not the centre of their lives?

Preachers can be mistaken in thinking everyone has heard the basics. If the kerygma is not needed, the Sunday sermon can turn into a demonstration of the Gospel’s relevance to the latest fad in pop culture. How many of us have heard sermons based on the book Chicken Soup for the Soul or quotations from Oprah?

It is a dangerous assumption to think everyone has heard the kerygma and responded to it. Not everyone has heard the basic message. Not everyone has personally responded to the call of Jesus, to accept his saving work and become his disciple. Saint John Paul II said it this way: “Sometimes even Catholics have lost or never had the chance to experience Christ personally: not Christ as a mere paradigm or value but as the living Lord, ‘The Way, the Truth and the Life.’”

He also said, “It is necessary to awaken again in believers a full relationship with Christ, mankind’s only Saviour. Only from a personal relationship with Jesus can an effective evangelization develop.”

The Catholic Church is a preaching Church. It always has been and always will be. Shifting our preaching from Christendom mode to Apostolic mode means a return to the simplicity of the basic Gospel message and continually extending an invitation to personal faith. Apostolic preaching is preaching Jesus Christ, crucified and risen from the dead, not with the eloquence of words or contemporary fads but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power.

Consider the coordination of global efforts in the fight against COVID-19. The reality is there is another overlooked virus plaguing humanity and it is 100 per cent contagious. Every individual on the face of the planet will catch it and everyone will die because of it. Yet, this virus is largely ignored in popular media, enhancing the danger. Sin is the virus and only the Christian Church has the vaccine.

I am not being trite, nor am I trying to trivialize the pandemic. Sin is a deadly virus. It infects us all and the prognosis is death, meaning separation from God. Jesus is the only one who can save us from this virus. Faith in him and receiving his grace is the only antidote. Therefore, Jesus is our message to the world. Should the Church ever forget that preaching the Gospel is the primary reason we exist, we will be in trouble.

I believe in the power of programs like Alpha and Catholic Christian Outreach Faith Studies. Their place in the evangelizing mission of the Church is secure. I am grateful that the Archdiocese of Vancouver is so committed to using these tools in our efforts for parish renewal. Visit weareproclaim.com. The time in which we live requires that our pulpits be set on fire with a clear proclamation of the kerygma, the apostolic proclamation of salvation by grace through conversion and acceptance of the saving sovereignty of Jesus Christ.

Every passage read in the Sunday Lectionary points to Jesus and the freedom he has won for us. Every Sunday affords the opportunity to invite hearers to accept Christ personally, not as a mere paradigm or value, but as Lord and Saviour.

Jesus reserves for himself the privilege of transforming lives. He allows us to participate in his great mission by stewarding the message he gave the Church to proclaim to the world. Why would we rely on our own creative ideas, relevant messaging, and clever words when the power of the proclaimed Gospel is more efficacious than anything else in the world?

The transmission of the faith is not reserved for those in priestly ministry, although their role is significant and ordained by God. The call to holiness and mission is a universal call conferred at baptism, not at ordination or the profession of religious vows. For this reason, Pope Pius X said, “What is the thing we most need, today, to save society? Build Catholic schools? No. More churches? Still no. Speed up the recruiting of priests? No, no,” said the Pope.

“The MOST necessary thing of all, at this time, is for every parish to possess a group of laymen who will be at the same time virtuous, enlightened, resolute, and truly apostolic.”

The Church is a mystical union between both spiritual and human dimensions. This week, I focused on three spiritual principles to help us make the shift from Christendom to Apostolic Mission. Next week, I will unpack two human principles.