If it’s fair to define Christendom (in a popular sense) as “a culture in which Christianity is the officially endorsed religion of the state or in which Christian sentimentality (morals, values, traditions, etc.) plays a major role is the shaping of that culture,” then it should be fairly easy to see and declare the increasingly Post-Christendom nature of Western culture in general. Such a shift brings with it new challenges, but also the opportunity to ask fresh questions and consider new perspectives.

This week, we’d like to host a conversation about the issues facing the North American Church given the increasingly Post-Christendom nature of the culture we inhabit. 

• (How) Does Post-Christendom manifest itself where you live and serve?
  
• What new challenges do you see as presenting themselves as Christianity recedes from the center of societal influence?
• What new opportunities do you see as presenting themselves as Christianity recedes from the center of societal influence?

With regard to these issues and questions, consider the workshop below, “From the Lands of Oz and Ice: Perspectives on the Life of the Church After Christendom” w/ Alan Hirsch & Gary Nelson. Alan Hirsch (coming from an Australian context) and Gary Nelson (coming from a Canadian context) speak, as it were, “from the future.” While they are both quick to admit that there are very real and important differences in the shape of Post-Christendom in these various contexts, the experiences and insights they offer remain incredibly instructive for those who are grappling with major theological and ecclesiological questions facing Christian leaders who are dealing with the fallout of such a significant cultural shift.

Workshop Description:

An Aussie and Canuck discuss the realities and implications for the Church living in a Post-Christendom society. Recognizing the journey of the Church in America to the same After-Christendom reality they have lived for years, the facilitators will explore the missionary significance for a de-centered and culturally marginalized church in a society that increasingly has less and less Christian memory.  How will we re-imagine the church not just as a reaction to past experiences as we did in Christendom but instead as a Post-Christendom contextual reality? What possible scenarios might be envisioned?

The audio download of this workshop is available HERE and is available for free all day today, 7/8/13 (discount automatically applied when you add the workshop to your cart).

Other resources featuring Alan Hirsch:

• Being Human, Becoming Christian: An Embodied Reconciliation Of Heaven And Earth (w/ Cherith Fee-Nordling, Tory Baucum, & Deb Hirsch)
• Reconciling Spirituality and Sexuality (w/ Deb Hirsch)
• The Missional Potential of the Five-Fold (w/ JR Woodward)

Other resources featuring Gary Nelson:

• Rhythm & Reign: Living As Church On The Margins Of Culture & Foretaste Of The Kingdom (w/ Fred Harrell)
• Living Missionally in a Borderless World: The Need for Informed Multicultural Mission (w/ Leroy Barber)