67. How the Church Lost its Missionionary Identity

Christendom was that period of history in which Western culture considered itself to be formally and officially Christian.  It was an era in which Christianity had a lot of cultural power--a far cry from the Pre-Christendom time of the Roman Empire.

This episode will give you a lot of insight into how Christianity moved from being a marginalized and persecuted religion during its first 300 years, to being the most powerful cultural force in Western society for 1500 years.  And we’ll unpack how Christianity lost its missionary identity as it transitions to a Christendom culture.


THIS EPISODE'S HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE:

• Cody and Markus discuss how the Coronavirus threat has revealed churches’ dependency on having to meet in person.  But the need to cancel services provides an opportunity for churches to discover what it means to be the church without the weekly gathering.
• Markus reviews the characteristics of Pre-Christendom, which he and Cody discussed in episode 66, “The Improbable Growth of the Early Church.”
• Christendom is the period of history during which Western culture considered itself officially Christian.  It was at this time that the church lost its missionary identity.
• In a Christendom society everyone is considered to be a Christian.
• The era of Christendom began with the conversion of the Roman Emperor Constantine to Christianity.  This thrust the church into a position of power and authority.
• Constantine was neither baptized nor catechized until shortly before his death.  Because of this, Constantine offered the world a new kind of Christianity, one that required neither conversion nor commitment.  This paced the way to the church losing its missionary identity.
• Christendom affected Christianity in three ways:
  • The church lost its missionary identity.
  • The church emphasized a new distinction.
  • The church invented a new reason to exist.
• Christianity is not at the center of society the way it used to be.  We are moving out of Christendom and into an era we might call Post-Christendom.
• Post-Christendom gives the church the opportunity to rethink the reason for its existence.

RELEVANT RESOURCES AND LINKS:

• Books mentioned:
  • Missional Church, edited by Darrel Guder
  • Another City, by Barry A. Harvey
  • Beyond Thingification, by Markus Watson

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