Читать книгу Church for Every Context - Michael Moynagh - Страница 89

The last chapter suggested that new contextual churches have emerged largely in response to a growing disconnect between the church and its various contexts. This has begun to generate a state of disequilibrium as church members have sought to respond. However, a number of scholars, such as Steve Bruce (2002) and Paul Heelas (2008), believe that the current gulf between the church and society is too wide to be bridged. Profound social changes are propelling the church into terminal decline, especially in Europe. Though many people are seeking ‘spiritualities of life’, this demand is being satisfied outside the church, making a resurgence of the church unlikely.

This chapter asks whether such gloomy projections are right. The answer is developed in dialogue with three strands of literature – the secularization debate, discussions around the expressive (or post-materialist) self and Manuel Castells’s writings on the ‘network society’. These threads describe three ‘turns’ in society to which the church, if it is to flourish, must respond – an ecclesial turn, an ethical turn, and an economic and social turn. The chapter argues that new contextual churches fit well with these sociological trends.