Buried Alive in an Avalanche of Change

Racing Toward 2001,by Russell Chandler (Zondervan, 367 pp.; $17.99, hardcover);Wild Hope,by Tom Sine (Word, 343 pp.; $12.99, paper). Reviewed by Steve Rabey, religion editor, Colorado Springs Gazette Telegraph.

When it comes to forecasting the future, Christians would do well to heed the warning given by James: “Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow” (4:14, NIV). Despite the caution, new books by Russell Chandler and Tom Sine dare to go beyond tomorrow and tell us something about a few decades hence.

Also reviewed in this section:

40 Modern American Religion, Volume 2: The Noise of Conflict 1919–1941,by Martin E. Marty

42 Surviving in Ministry,edited by Robert R. Lutz and Bruce T. Taylor

42 Clergy Families: Is Normal Life Possible?by Paul Mickey and Ginny Ashmore

42 The Psychology of Clergy,by H. Newton Malony and Richard A. Hunt

42 Saint Maybe,by Anne Tyler

44 Systematic Theology, Volume 1,by Wolfhart Pannenberg

Chandler and Sine describe many of the same dynamics that will profoundly affect life in the future: changes in America’s demographics that will make our country more Hispanic, black, and Asian, as well as elderly; revolutions in international politics and economics that will make the world a baffling but electronically connected community of a dozen powerful nations; the worsening state of the global environment, which both authors believe will require a radical response; and the rise of ethical quandaries accompanying the rapid pace of technological innovation in medicine (where new procedures will allow humans to “play God” on an even grander scale) and communications (which will continue to blur the line between fantasy and reality).

Still, as the apostle hints, predicting the future is a dicey proposition. Already Sine’s discussion of prospects for the Soviet Union and Haiti have been outpaced by new, shattering developments. But perhaps Christian leaders who have watched as the church failed adequately to come to grips with the changes wrought by the 1950s (television), the 1960s (social unrest and antiauthoritarianism), the 1970s (the loss of idealism resulting from Vietnam and Watergate), and the 1980s (unbridled greed and increasing demands for “rights”) may think it is about time to start preparing for the future before it gets here—much as some corporations and governments do.

As Sine writes in Wild Hope, “The message of this book is if we don’t begin … to anticipate both the new challenges and the new opportunities the twenty-first century brings us, we will quite literally be buried alive in the onrushing avalanche of change.”

But not all is chaos as we continue on our collision course with tomorrow. Both authors see the changes that confront us as not simply earthshaking and challenging (which, indeed, they are), but as opportunities for ministry—if only Christian leaders will have the foresight and vision to seize the day. Firmly grounded in a transcendent hope, these books provide plenty of examples of Christian communities that are already making a difference in the world, although neither author cheerily assumes that all will be well if believers do nothing more than the church’s business as usual.

The Process Of Change

Chandler is a former pastor and journalist who last year took early retirement from the Los Angeles Times where he had spent 17 years as an award-winning religion writer. He is a self-confessed “clipper and saver,” and his book’s 31 fact-filled chapters and 911 footnotes illustrate the energy he devotes to the habit.

In the future pictured in Racing Toward 2001, Christianity will continue to flourish but under greater pressures. Today’s megachurches will be dwarfed by “metachurches,” which may claim 100,000 to 300,000 members in tomorrow’s crowded cities. The so-called constitutional wall between church and state will grow ever taller and thicker, as churches and Christian organizations lose special tax privileges and chaplaincies are eliminated—all part of an ongoing effort to remove any vestiges of religious advocacy from publicly funded institutions.

Picking up on the theme of his last well-received book, Understanding the New Age, Chandler thinks the church will face increasingly stiff competition from modern metaphysics and self-help psychologies. “As we reap the bitter fruit of this decade’s dysfunctional families, substance abuse, and other addictive patterns, we will see an increased fuzzing of the lines between religion and transformational psychology and occultism,” he writes. “Psychology as religion becomes an alternative altar.”

But just when readers may consider a dose of some mood-altering drug for a respite from the shock of the new, Chandler cites dozens of positive examples of churches (Chicago’s Willow Creek Community Church and California’s All Saints Episcopal Church), communities (Jesus People USA), and denominations (the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Presbyterian Church in America) that are meeting the future head-on with vibrant, biblically based responses.

A Crisis Of Vision

Sine, a “futurist” whose Seattle-based Mustard Seed Associates provides consulting and planning services to churches, organizations, and mission groups, is equally handy with facts. Focusing on the tension between America’s increasing technological sophistication and its inability to address the most basic human dilemmas, Sine asks provocative and probing questions about who will supply the vision and values to plot America’s course. He argues that only a church that is inspired, informed, and forward-looking has any chance of being heard above the din of tomorrow’s approaching hoofbeats.

Sine predicts that a diminishing number of people will be able to enjoy the lifestyles promised by the American Dream—and these will be sharply contrasted with the bleak lifestyles of growing ranks of the underclass. The walls of separation and hostility between the haves and the have-nots will grow taller. And in the global marketplace, the poor living in underdeveloped nations will provide Americans with organs for transplants and land in which to bury the mounds of garbage created by rampant consumerism.

Such inequities lead Sine to ask if the American church has not already lost the prophetic vision that would give it an effective voice in the future. Citing a National Association of Evangelicals’ 1986 document that stressed the importance of national security and the evangelical chorus for a return to traditional American values, Sine argues the church has turned its back on the biblical values of justice and compassion and bowed its knee to the values summarized by the late Francis Schaeffer as “personal peace and affluence.”

“While conservative Christians are growing in numbers … I don’t believe they are always growing in their commitment to God and God’s mission in the world,” he writes. “To the contrary, many conservatives are finding all kinds of ways to use their faith to sanction their own private pursuit of prosperity, position and power.”

Like Chandler, Sine concludes with examples of faith communities that are incarnating God’s redeeming grace in increasingly complex situations. And he challenges the church to a renewed approach to Christian discipleship through small-group accountability and community, regular prayer retreats, and a radically redefined view of stewardship in time and resources.

The Face Of The Future

The future has already begun. The stage for the significant events of the next decades has already been set by the past: the industrial and information revolutions, the transformation of America from a rural to an urban nation, the scope and influence of the mass media, the persistence of Enlightenment ideas about the perfectibility of humankind and society, and the deification of consumerism and ever-increasing standards of living. Both Chandler and Sine call Christians to plug in their brains, warm their hearts, and roll up their sleeves. But will their pleas be heard?

If recent history is any indication of how the church will prepare for the future, these two fine but demanding books will lag in sales behind a bevy of prophecy books that—building on a growing millennial fervor—will predict a series of dates for the cataclysmic end of the world. As a result, many well-meaning Christians may be lulled into focusing on the sweet by-and-by at a time when they need to take a hard look at strategies for dealing with the world God has given us.

Although they are not always comforting, these books will prove a helpful antidote to future shock while providing a blueprint for the church’s growth and survival. As Chandler writes about the coming battle for shaping the world, “The survivors will be innovators.”

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