First Congregational United Church of Christ REDEFINING THE MEANING OF

A Youth/Adult Education Class Based on John Shelby Spong’s Book

“A New Christianity for a New World” Harper/San Francisco, 2001

In his book, A New Christianity for a New World, John Shelby Spong argues that the theistic definition for God conceived of by our earliest human ancestors is not only irrelevant but dangerous in a twenty-first century world. He defines the “theistic God” as a being, dwelling outside this world, and invading this world periodically to accomplish the divine will. Spong’s goal is to move beyond , but not beyond God. But who or what is God beyond theism? Who is when traditional concepts such as incarnation, atonement, and the Trinity are no longer meaningful? In addressing these and other questions, Spong goes beyond traditional to present his own alternative of what true faith should be today, offering a unified vision of a “new Christianity for a new world.” This book is the ultimate legacy of Spong’s struggle to discover and promote a faith system that can live in our new world. It is a call for a radical new that has left some deeply disturbed, threatened, and even hostile. It is also bringing renewed hope to multitudes of otherwise despairing Christians who have all but given up thinking that their beloved church might ever break free of an antiquated worldview and the theology it spawned. Topics to be addressed during this eight-week class beginning September 25th at 9:00 A.M. will include the following:

In the Beginning: God Theism, the , and Christianity Tradition and Reformation Moving Beyond Theism The Significance of Jesus The Problem of Evil To Whom Shall We Pray? Liturgy, Worship & the Church

This interactive class is open to youth and adults. Pastor Jonathan and Don Gall will serve as co-facilitators, utilizing lecture, discussion, and question/answer methods for engaging class participants in a dynamic learning adventure. Weekly handouts summarizing the material for each session will be available for advance reading on the church’s webpage under Education/Resources. Printed copies of each summary will also be available in the classroom on the day of presentation. Spong’s book, A New Christianity for a New World, on which this class is based, is available in the church’s library and can also be purchased at Amazon and other local bookstores. (Con’t.)

First Congregational United Church of Christ Why Bother To Redefine the Meaning of God?

GOD is not the name of the deity to whom we are introduced in the Bible; it is a word symbol that points to something beyond itself. The word, therefore, does not represent the reality of God but only what you and I understand that word to mean. A “description” of God would involve the use of language to create a word-picture or image of the “God-reality”—something the second commandment expressly forbids and something no one is qualified to do since no one has ever seen “God” directly. Conversely, a “definition” would use language to state the meaning of the word “GOD”, which is equally challenging since everyone on the planet may have a different interpretation of what the word GOD means to them. That leaves us with “belief”, which is an intellectual ascent to a propositional truth about who or what God is. There are at least four such beliefs or “propositional truths” afloat in the universe: Theism, Deism, Pantheism, and Panantheism. Each has been a part of humanity’s quest to “explain” God over time, but it has been Theism that has dominated that quest from the beginning and which has shaped Christian theology. Theism is a belief in a supernatural being who dwells outside this world and who invades this world periodically to accomplish the divine will. Modern science and the advancement of human knowledge have rendered such a worldview untenable for many people today, thus calling into question the foundation upon which theism is built. Hence, Spong’s assertion that theism “is not only irrelevant but dangerous in a twenty-first century world” and thus our need to “redefine the meaning of God” for our time. Despite Spong’s sense of urgency, however, an overwhelming majority of still self-identify as theistic Christians. For them, the belief in a supernatural Being who intervenes in human affairs through miracles and answered prayer, and who has saved sinful humanity through the substitutionary atonement wrought by Jesus on the cross, is not irrelevant at all. It is Gospel! But among most of the socially liberal, “thinking” denominations (of which the United Church of Christ is one), the steady attrition in the number of congregations, individual members, and financial support is leaving many people fearful for the future of the church. Although most other mainline denominations (even Southern Baptists) are experiencing a similar decline, the UCC’s numbers have plummeted. We have lost 37% of our congregations and half of our members since the UCC was formed in 1957. During the first decade of this century, we lost 12 % of our congregations, 35% of our members, and 41% of our Sunday school enrollees. The number of staff employed at the national level has been cut from 300 to just over 100, and 40% of all remaining congregations now have budgets smaller than the “bare minimum” needed to sustain a fulltime minister. Projections are that by 2045, the UCC will have shrunk by another 80%, reducing our total number of congregations to 3,100 and members to 200,000. While there are many other factors impacting mainline churches today other than an outdated definition of God, the seeming irrelevancy of religious faith and the church for more and more people is having its effect, leaving us with some important questions to consider: Why is belonging to and attending a church even necessary today? What does religion or church affiliation add to a liberal lifestyle? Why does one need a church to become a volunteer for Habitat for Humanity, or a church to tell you that gays and lesbians are entitled to marriage equality, or that Black Lives Matter? Or have liberal Christians who have abandoned religion and the church simply forgotten the deep wells of faith from which the waters of liberalism have been drawn?