The Church in the Metropolis

Peter J. Leithart traces the decline of traditional denominationalism in today’s column :

A 2009  Barna survey  found that denominational commitments have gone squishy in mainline Protestant churches, and Evangelicals don’t fare much better than the rest. After a similar survey, Ron Sellers of what was then Ellison Research said that Protestants are as “ loyal to their denominations as they are to their toothpaste .” Denominationalism may recover, but its diseases look terminal. This toothpaste isn’t ready to return to the tube.

But he believes there is hope that Christians will increasingly unite with a sense of mission in the world’s growing cities:

What will replace denominationalism? The real answer is, we don’t know. Especially in times of crisis, the future is never a simple extrapolation from the present. God does new things. Yet we have some reason to expect that one big new thing will have to do with cities.

Read the full  On the Square  here .