Pew Research has put out their annual “Striking Findings” report in which they curate the statistics that they found most reflective of shifts in the United States during the year. “Striking Findings from 2022” includes fifteen items:

• Roughly four-in-ten Americans say none of their purchases in a typical week are paid for using their cash.
• If recent trends continue, Christians could make up a minority of Americans by 2070.
• Reparations to descendants of enslaved people were discussed more, with a clear racial divide related to who supports it.
• Adult TikTok users are increasingly getting their news from this platform as news consumption declines on other social media platforms.
• Most Americans who experienced extreme weather saw climate change as a factor, including a majority of people from both political parties.
• Americans are more likely to see Russia as an enemy of the United States.
• Most Americans are not absolutist about abortion, but believe there are cases in which it is reasonable for it to be legal or illegal.
• Americans were increasingly split along political party lines in whether they had favorable views of the Supreme Court.
• About 5% of Americans younger than 30 claimed to be transgender or nonbinary.
• While 76% of Americans thought that journalists should give equal coverage to all perspectives, only 44% of journalists agreed.
• Drug overdoses spiked for Americans, especially among Black men.
• Of U.S. teens, 46% say they usual the internet “almost constantly,” with another 48% saying they use it “several times a day.”
• The share of aggregate U.S. household income held by the middle class has continued to fall since 1970, now standing at only 42%.
• Growing shares of both Republicans and Democrats say that members of the other party are more immoral, dishonest, and closed-minded than other Americans.
• Respondents in most nations around the world see social media as good for democracy, but not in the United States.

Taken in its entirety, there are some key themes that the church can take away when considering how to position themselves evangelistically:

Disasters

On a nearly weekly basis, we are bombarded by news of disasters that have reached historical levels. The potential for nuclear destruction coming out of the war in Ukraine, the “tripledemic” of hospitalizations and death from flu, COVID, and RSV, the massive natural disasters and growing insecurity coming from climate change, the increasing levels of civil unrest in multiple countries–all of these things have exposed just how fragile our way of life is. In parts of the world with poor infrastructures, like Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, and Afghanistan, these things have led to mass starvation and humanitarian crises. In parts of the world with strong infrastructures, like the US and most of Western Europe, it has led to severe inflation as basic commodities have become harder to produce and purchase.

The church cannot ignore these realities nor can they just paper over them with appeals to focus on the spiritual and eternal. Jesus had no difficulty healing the sick, feeding the hungry, and providing comfort for the hurting even as he preached about the need to repent and enter the Kingdom of God.

This is a matter of stewardship. The church stewards the message of the gospel as well as physical, financial, relational, and many other resources. All of these are given by God for the church to share the abundant life of Jesus Christ with others. They do this through verbally proclaiming the forgiveness of sins through Christ as well as by supplying what people need in this world, whether physical and financial support for those affected by disasters, community for those who are lonely and suffering, counseling for the addicted, or any other sort of help for people to overcome the dangers that beset them. All these words and deeds can be made by the Holy Spirit into signs of God’s salvific power and love.

The time has come to bring an end to the long running theological and missiological posturing about whether the missio Dei calls the church to care for people in this world or to prepare people to face eternal judgment. The answer is that it must do both, just as its Lord did. A growing number of evangelistic and missiological treatises from evangelical and mainline authors have made this point in texts that have been published over the past few years (including me). A church that both proclaims and works for people to find good news in the face of the disasters of life as well as the reality of death is what the world needs now.

Race

The different experiences of living in the United States based on a person’s race still looms large. Combined with this is the growing awareness of the cumulative impact that historical injustices have on the current generation of African Americans, especially related to generational wealth, education, property ownership, relationship with law enforcement, healthcare and job opportunities.

At the same time these issues have been brought under greater scrutiny, the racial landscape of the United States has grown more complicated. The increasing Latino/a and Asian populations have forced a reconsideration of what being “American” means, especially insofar as these populations are bolstered by immigration.

Churches that want to be contextually relevant need to deal with the human experience related to all of this. This includes anticipating more diverse congregations as the United States becomes less homogeneous, getting involved with the increasingly common DEI or Human Relations commissions that are being put in place in local municipalities, and advocating for whoever is being legally discriminated against because of the ways that racism has been systemitized.

Engaging Online

The move toward people relating to the world through their devices has only accelerated since the pandemic. While people have gained a new appreciation for face-to-face engagement, and in-person community has proven itself essential to ministry, the church needs to recognize that most people no longer separate “real life” from “digital life.” Real life now simply includes both in-person and digital engagement. This is especially true the younger a person is.

If churches are to reach people, they need to reach them in all aspects of their lives, including the digital. This means that churches need to work toward making their online presence equally as interactive and engaging as their in-person presence. Online is no longer just a matter of being a static means of providing information with people, but a means of give-and-take through social media and content creation.

Mistrust

There is increasing evidence of civil society fraying in the United States. It can be seen in the opinion polls that show less trust in nearly every institution, including schools, healthcare, Congress, the church, the Supreme Court, and the Presidency.

Perhaps most concerning is the growing mistrust among people. This has especially arisen among people of different political perspectives, which often serves as a proxy for disagreements on a wide range of social issues. Some of these issues revisit our basic understanding of what it means to be human, such as how we understand what sex and gender are and how we should relate to one another based on this.

The church’s primary message is not about social reform nor should it be beholden to a political agenda. It’s mission is to make disciples, inviting people to participate in the abundant life of Christ both through receiving it and sharing it with others. This means that the church can neither ignore the social and political rifts facing the nation nor become a partisan of it.

The church needs to recommit itself to discipleship formation, especially teaching individual Christians how they can practice reconciliation and hospitality. Reconciliation provides Christians a practice for giving and receiving forgiveness. Hospitality teaches Christians to share the best they have with others while also graciously recognizing the blessings others have to offer them. Both practices decenter the individual Christian, helping the individual move toward experiencing life interdependently and humbly rather than independently and judgmentally toward others.

No Going Back

We all probably got tired of hearing the term “the new normal” during the pandemic. We did not want a new normal, we wanted our old ways of life back.

The truth of the matter is, there never is a “normal.” The fact that the church in the United States operated essentially unchanged for about half a century is a testament to nothing other than the church failing missionally. The culture of the United States hardly remained static during the the mid-20th century. The fact that the bulk of the church did not pivot with it, but sought to remain an unchanging institution created the kind of cultural gap that is growing between Americans and the church today.

The church is never called to normalcy. It is called to mission. The mission field will always be evolving and changing because culture, technology, language, and generations are always changing. The call of the church is to be at the forefront of this, relating to people where they are in whatever has become the ordinary ways of life, and ministering the abundant life of Christ to the world as it does.