‘Christianity At A Crossroads’ Shows Churches Closing (And Growing) At Once
(REVIEW) American Christianity is changing faster than at any time in living memory, according to a new documentary, “Christianity at a Crossroads,” airing on public broadcasting (and available online).
An estimated 4,000 churches close each year, and 3 in 10 Americans now claim no religion at all. As folks living in the Northwest (aka the None Zone), this is far from a new topic. Despite the dour statistics, this new four-part public television series refuses to tell only a story of decline.
Filmed on location across the country, it holds grief and vitality side by side: the final service at Belding United Methodist Church in Michigan; a Minnesota farm-country Lutheran congregation; growing Hispanic, Korean-American and historic Black churches; house churches; new church plants; and even worship in virtual reality.
Longtime United Methodists will recognize familiar ground and themes. The series visits Church of the Resurrection in Kansas City and Silver Spring UMC in Maryland, a merged congregation that now shares its building with a displaced United Church of Christ congregation and its land with affordable housing.
It also listens carefully to voices some of us disagree with, from Christian nationalism to biblical inerrancy to secular humanist “congregations” built by people who left church. The series rarely takes sides, even when I wanted it to.
Personally, I think “Christianity at a Crossroads” would be well-suited to small groups and adult classes as it presses questions every congregation faces: What is the church for, and what must we carry into its future? What isn’t our work, and what must we leave behind for the sake of the people God would call into our lives today?
This article was originally published in FaVS News.
Patrick Scriven is the director of communications for the Pacific Northwest Conference of The United Methodist Church, where he leads storytelling, media strategy and public-facing communication across a regional network of congregations and ministry partners. He supports conference-wide events and initiatives, produces editorial and digital content, and helps leaders communicate clearly in moments of celebration, change and crisis. Patrick currently lives in the Puyallup Valley, where he is a pastor’s spouse and the father of three amazing children.