Horizons 2025
Annual Vision & Partnership Meeting:
Meeting Location & Time:
Location: 159 Rochester Hill Rd. Rochester, NH 03867
Dates: March 26, 2025
Time: 6:30-7:30pm
Welcome to the ELEVENTH annual “Horizons” Vision & Partnership gathering for The Commons Covenant Church.
“Sow for yourselves righteousness;
reap steadfast love;
break up your fallow ground,
for it is the time to seek the LORD,
that he may come and rain righteousness upon you.”
+ Hosea 10:12 +
Businessman and author Max Depree once posited that it is the job of a leader to “define reality.” A daunting proposition, and crucially important, if so! But, before anyone presumes to take on that job, the first task at hand for leadership (and all too relevant in an age of misinformation, “alternative facts” and algorithmic siloes) is simply to see, and acknowledge reality. And the reality - the plain data, the sociological math of the matter - is that over the course of the last fifty years the American Church has fallen into a state of “irreversible decline”. The numbers are in, and what they demonstrate is, frankly, an ecclesiastical, statistical, extinction curve.
I understand: this is not a popular observation to make out loud. And, anecdotally - individually and/or on a congregation-by-congregation basis — one may or may not experience or feel this to be true. But, if and when we lift our eyes to consider the whole, the data speaks loudly.
Here in the U.S., between 1987 and 2022, the seven major denominations which make up the Protestant “mainline” have declined by an average of 50%. Half. Over the course of 35 years. And that “curve” has been steepening. Mathematically, this indicates that well within my lifetime, we can expect that American mainline protestantism - United Methodist, American Baptist, Episcopal, PC USA, etc. - will effectively cease to exist. “Evangelicals” ( a relatively newer movement ) have been somewhat slower to reach this statistical drop-off, but - “take heed, lest ye fall…” - the “curve” is coming for Evangelicalism, too. This isn’t particularly “newsworthy”, here in New England. Our region, historically the birthplace of multiple spiritual awakenings, is now well known as one of the most deeply secularized and spiritually moribund areas of the nation.
We consider, too, the clear generational trends: Millennials (born 1981-1996) very briefly held the designation of “least churched generation in history”, only to be quickly dethroned by Gen-Z (born 1997-2012); the (new) least scripturally engaged, most traumatized, lonely, depressed and generally mentally unwell generation that our nation has ever seen. The “kids”, as they say, aren’t alright. And, neither is the Church. The task of leadership begins with acknowledging this reality.
To be clear, we haven’t come to find ourselves in this state for lack of trying. Pastor Jon Tyson (Church of the City, NYC) remarks, “In the American Church, we’ve tried everything: better programs, better practices, better personalities. We’ve seen the most polished version of Evangelicalism that man can build… and it’s led us to a place of irreversible decline.”
As I was contemplating these things in prayer recently, I was struck by the profound pastoral implications of this moment. Faced with living and leading amidst the statistical “extinction curve” of American Christianity, I realized that the pastoral vocation essentially bifurcates into a choice between two ways of understanding and approaching ministry. We are - all of us - either hospice ministers, or revivalists. We are either ministering as a faithful, caring presence alongside the deathbed of the American Church, helping her pass away with as much dignity and grace as possible, or we are hair-on-fire intercessors, beating on the doors of Heaven to cry out for renewal.
We’re either planning a funeral, or praying for resurrection.
And here is the conviction that has determined my choice in the matter: I know what the math says, but I know what my GOD says, all the more. I know that redemptive history comes to us in waves of renewal, and decline, and renewal. I know that what the math of the last 50 years presents as a path to statistical extinction is simply another valley of vitality, inviting the people of God to meet the spiritual urgency of our moment with the renewed hunger of our hearts, our communities, our regions, in prayer. I know that the Lord will not leave Himself without a witness in this generation, and I am committed to be among them. I know the “If/Then” promises of God, ( “IF my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face…”) and there is a burning in my bones that we should claim them, in our day.
Tyson continues his observation: “We’ve seen the best (Church) that man can build… but we have yet to see the best that God can build.”
There it is.
I’m not ready to plan a funeral, yet. I’m longing, praying, asking and expecting that God’s best work is yet to come!
Over the last couple of years here at The Commons, we’ve been intentionally leaning into the invitation to establish an ever-deeper well of prayer as the foundation and source of everything else that we do. This continues to be a calling for us to grow into, together. There is still much “fallow ground” in our lives, individually and corporately, that the Spirit would invite us to let Him plow up, turn over, and prepare for the implanting of His own presence, love and fruitfulness; preparing the soil of our hearts, to receive the seed, to yield a harvest. What we need in this season, and this moment in history, is not just more human effort, but for a move of the Lord in our midst. Our conviction is that the time has come for the people of God - in our church, in our city, and across our region - to prayerfully contend, seeking the Lord for a new season of enlivening in the Spirit.
With Hosea we acknowledge: it IS TIME to seek the Lord. So, dear friends, let us seek Him.
Let us pray, “Revive us, O lord!”
- Pastor Chris
Meeting Materials:
A PDF copy of our Horizons booklet - including membership, leadership, financials and budget information - can be accessed via the link below.