Rev. Osagyefo Uhuru Sekou is an author, documentary filmmaker, public intellectual, organizer, pastor, and theologian. In a recent interview, his response to Sarah Van Gelder’s question about the role he sees for the churches now included these challenging words:
We have a romantic view of the church . . . I think a church has a role to play, but this idea of the Church, with a big C, I think is obsolete.
So What?
I encounter extreme views of the Church (capital C church of American Christianity) far more often than moderate perspectives. From within the church – especially my own Mainline Protestant traditions – I mostly hear romanticized ideas of what the church once was and what the church can be/become. From outside the church – especially from the religiously unaffiliated – I regularly hear caricatures of fundamentalist and even radical right wing Christians presented as if such is the one and only expression of Christianity.
If the church with a big C represents the institutionalization, bureaucratization, and hierarchical expression of Christianity, then I agree: it is obsolete. Actually, it has been obsolete for most if not all of my life. It has, however, only recently become normative for both those within and beyond its many denominations to speak honestly about such obsolescence.
- Do you agree or disagree with the obsolescence of the American church with a capital C? Explain.
- If the capital C church is obsolete, what are the implications for local congregations or communities of faith? In what ways is such a shift helpful? disruptive? frightening?