Perspectief 2014-26

Perspectief 20 prof. dr. Henk Bakker of five will probably visit the church on a regular basis. Church attendance is problematic, because churches are not really to be trusted after all. Churches struggle with their bad image, which they have, according to public opinion. Part of this negative image is its divisiveness, its lack of concord and respect when it comes to accepting the form of Christianity of other Christians. The church notoriously seems to talk with two mouths: on the one hand we firmly believe that the Gospel crosses bridges, unites, reconciles, heals and overcomes breaches between persons and institutions. Yet, on the other hand we just don’t care so much about visible unity, and building lasting relations with Christians who differ from us is a troublesome, inconvenient and unpredictable undertaking. Many secularized ears not only hear, but also understand the talk of this two-sided tongue. The church is hopelessly divided, beyond the possibility of restoration, they think. However, among Dutch people the awareness of God or something (‘ietsisme’) like God also increases. People seem to be more susceptible for the transcendent than thirty years ago. And there are more hopeful signs. Although church attendance still diminishes, a growing group of young Christians between 17 and 30 years old tend to become more faithful church visitors than their parents and grandparents. They are depicted as ‘new orthodox’, and in part even as ‘neo-fundamentalists’. What is going on? Old forms of church, and especially old expectations of being church, are being replaced by fresh initiatives for church renewal and church planting. It is a challenging enterprise to visit a church on Sunday morning or at another moment of the day, especially for younger people. This is an interesting development: older members of churches tend to skip services or even to withdraw themselves from the church, whereas younger members remain more faithful. Also among Baptist churches, which are slightly growing as a Dutch denomination, fresh expressions of Christian communal awareness are of importance. For Baptists in general, ecclesial adaptability has historically always been a means of overcoming times of distress and marginality. Baptists are Congregationalists and find their ecclesial minimum not in the sacraments or the institute or the ecclesial office, but in the community of conviction that covenants together. Baptists like to call themselves a covenanting community,