Gilbert Rendle
Rowman & Littlefield, 194 pages | Published May 14, 2023
In Countercultural, renowned church consultant Gilbert Rendle articulates the reasons behind the decline of the mainline church. His diagnosis? We have lost our voice. Rendle believes we have settled for fitting in rather than standing out. We focus on the felt needs and wants of people who see themselves as self-sufficient individuals rather than proclaiming the living God. No one is listening, because we do not present an alternative way of seeing and living in the world.
The cure? To regain our voice, Rendle suggests that we understand ourselves in a new way. The congregation is Rendle’s focal point: as congregations, God calls us to be countercultural. As congregations, we are to proclaim and affirm power and agency outside the reigning political and economic systems. As congregations, we are to focus on God, neighbor, and how to be in a relationship with both. But we do not truly know what a countercultural congregation looks like, and therein lies the problem. “What comes next for the role of institutional congregations in our fast and continuously changing culture is still a matter of discovery, not prediction.”
To become countercultural, Rendle encourages us to begin at the end of our rope, realizing that we live in a world without reliable order. We are to understand the fruit of our past as an institution and, at the same time, ask new questions about who God calls us to be – not easily accomplished, as our culture is constantly shifting and reshaping itself. We are to discover new public spaces in which to emphasize the common good, not just our own. Most significantly, we are to “let the church speak,” as we affirm that the good news of Jesus is enough.
I appreciate Rendle’s emphasis on discovery rather than prescription. We do not need another program for renewal and evangelism; we do not need a new strategy for church vitality. We need to discover what God is already doing in the world, particularly through our neighbors, and get on board. Rendle is not alone in saying this – he joins voices like Andrew Root in suggesting that traditional congregations chart a new route forward.
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