In 2020, Carl Trueman wrote his insightful and timely book, The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self.  The book was not only celebrated by scholars, it was a commercial success.  When a book appeals to both the academy and the masses, you can’t help but conclude that there must be something in there worth reading.  And there is.  The book is not only good but necessary if you want insight into the historical, psychological, and philosophical antecedents that brought us to the disordered world in which we now live.   

Trueman states that his book is in many ways a prolegomena to the many discussions that Christians and others need to have about the most pressing issues of our day.  He opens his book by saying,

“I have no privileged access to the shape of the future and therefore can offer only some preliminary suggestions as to how the arguments of this book might form a prolegomenon to addressing various matters as they manifest themselves in Western society in the coming years.” 

At the end of Rise and Triumph, Trueman identifies several key categories he believes the reader should consider more closely as we make our way in this strange new world, and he offers some concluding thoughts.  One such category is the church.  He titles this section with a question, “Whither the Church?” Trueman asks,

“Given the rather bleak analysis above, what should the church be doing at this present moment?”  

He is asking Christians to think more deeply about how the church should respond to this disordered world the modern self has created. Trueman then goes on to offer some brief insights, which he briefly expands upon in his follow-up book, Strange New World.  

In 2021, I had the privilege of interviewing Dr. Trueman about his work.  Of the many things discussed, we touched briefly on the introductory nature of his project and how he hoped some of his ideas might be further expanded.  We talked about the church and discussed the role of the church in the modern world. We also considered the responsibilities laid upon the church to provide leadership for Christians and guidance within the world. 

Since reading Trueman’s book, and following our conversation, I have returned over and over again to the question, whither the church?  What is the church to be in this present generation?  What is the church to do in this present age? As a Christian and as a Pastor, I am driven to these questions every time I consider the world we live in and the manner in which the church is or is not responding to the challenges of our age.  

I grew up as a Christian and as a result, I have for most of my life been curious about the nature and role of the church.  Other times I’m haunted by the question of the church because it must be answered by every generation.  This generation should not try to create its own answers but seek to discover the answers as we turn to scripture and return to the wisdom of the church in history. 

Over the last several years I have become obsessed with Paul’s sermon in Acts 13 where he preached to the Jews in Antioch to persuade them that Jesus was the Messiah.  As Paul goes through redemptive history he comes to King David and says, “For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep and was laid with his fathers” (Acts 13:36).  God wants his church to serve his purposes in every generation.  In order to do that, some things will need to change. 

This is change, not for change’s sake, but born out of a desire to be faithful and effective.  And so to serve God’s purposes for this generation we must reexamine our understanding of what it means to be the church, as the local, first-fruit and foretaste of the kingdom of God on earth.  We must reexamine what it means to be a church on mission, to form our children after the image of God, and to better get our message out.  We must ask what it means to be faithful in this generation and how to position ourselves for the future. 

My hope is to start answering some of these questions.  To do that we must first see and diagnose the problems that are besetting Christ’s church.  I believe that God has begun a great apocalyptic work in his church, especially in the West.  His apocalypse reveals the problem by showing what the church is made of.  It is made of either precious things like gold and silver, or common things like wood, hay, and stubble.  To these problems, God brings the fire of judgment, to refine what has been built or to remove it. 

Once we’ve adequately identified the problems then we can seek out solutions.  One of those solutions is to build and rebuild, to uproot and to plant (Jeremiah 1:10).  We must build upon the foundation of Christ.  We must recover the precious things that God has given to the church in order that the church might be glorious.  We must be the church and do all that Christ has commanded, for the church has a responsibility to Christ and to the world. 

The world is disordered but Christ has given the church for the glory of God and the benefit of the world.  Whither the church?  We must ask the question and we must seek to answer it.