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When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.
"It may be a death like that of the first disciples who had to leave home and work to follow Him, or it may be a death like Luther's who had to leave the monestary and go out into the world. But it is the same death every time - death in Jesus Christ, the death of the old man at his call."
– Deitrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship.
The world is changing rapidly.
American culture is following on the heels of the broader West in regard to religion. Each generation has a lower respect for historic Christian beliefs than its predecessor, with as little as 1% of adults under 30 holding to a "Biblical Worldview" in belief and practice as of 2023. Furthermore, the trend is growing to understand the Christian way of life as not only irrelevant, but actively harmful, backward, or in need of dismantling. Certainly, an always-reforming Church has room to grow in regard to hypocrisy and inconsistency in which rules to enforce and which to turn a blind eye to. However, the data is clear that our wider culture is becoming increasingly hostile to any form of religion that does not adapt itself to the secular ethics universally preached through our education, business, media, and political institutions. Culture always shifts unevenly, usually beginning with cities. And post-Christian cities such as Providence are showing us that the future of the West is unlikely to look much like the Christendom of the past ~1700 years.
Instead of the typical doom and gloom culture wars, Providence School of Mission has a much different perspective on this shift. We believe that such a challenge is precisely where Christianity can not only survive but thrive! After all, in the wildly faithful and successful first three centuries of its existence, it was illegal in the Roman Empire! Jesus came to a people in exile, ruled by those who despised and oppressed them. The disciples spread his message far and wide amid great opposition and violence. The New Testament letters were written to a variety of communities and individuals, all of whom dwelt in cultures actively hostile to their faith. With few resources, virtually no power, a mostly illiterate laity, literally hundreds of competing religions, and a near-constant sense of insecurity and uncertainty, an obscure sect of a few hundred Jews eventually became the dominant religion of the Roman Empire.
This should be no surprise. Jesus himself promised this would happen. "I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it" he tells his disciples in one of only two passages where the Savior himself uses the term "Church". The Church was born in a battleground, in conflict, under-resourced by the world's standards, carrying a message that offended the religious and sounded insane to the worldly. So why isn't it thriving in America as our culture shifts away from the old Christendom?
In short, we have forgotten. So many centuries of prosperity and power have warped our methods and even how we read scripture. Even as many in our day are rightly praying for and seeking revival, few are ready for what God means by revival in a season of exile. We have so many forms and structures that, while may have been appropriate for the generations past, are much too fragile for the world to come. And far more critical than our fragile forms and structures is the glaring fact that our next generation of leaders are still being trained for a world that is largely positive (or neutral at best) towards Christianity.
What we need are Christian men and women who are fully hearing Christ's call to "come and die". What we need are leaders who are ready to stand firm, even as the church loses political ground or gets trapped in political compromise, no matter the cost. What we need are disciples who have a firm grasp of the true Gospel amongst many competing religions and philosophies, who are personally forged in both understanding and practicing of the Way of Christ, who understand Jesus' resilient strategy for multiplying disciples, and who are practically equipped towards a "monastic funding model that prioritizes small businesses and personal ownership over donation models that thrive in the world of tax breaks and exemptions. What we need are men and women who have a "Titus 2" informed multi-generational view of the church, who are willing to rise to the massive challenge of faithfully passing the baton to the children and young adults in their churches, as our culture is screaming false gospels and competing ideologies through virtually every major cultural institution.
To rise to this challenge, The Neighborhood has started the Providence School of Mission. Built upon the tools and accreditation of the Antioch School of Church Planting and Leadership Development, and situated in the local context of The Neighborhood, Providence School of Mission will provide future leaders with intense, on-the-ground ministry experience and training in the midst of the third-most post-Christian city in America. Whether you take this experience back with you to whatever part of the world God has called you to serve or embed yourself longer term in one of the 25 diverse neighborhoods of Providence to ensure Jesus' Church flourishes here in the generations to come, this will be a time in your life that you never forget. You will develop a mastery of Scripture that transcends denominational hand-wringing, deeply mature as a man or woman of God, build lifelong relationships with other passionate disciples of Jesus, see God's redeeming power amongst the broken and forgotten, and see with your own eyes the promise of Jesus to build a Church that defeats all of the defenses of the powers of hell.
We are planning to host a series of vision meetings over the coming months. If you are ready to see if Jesus is calling you for a season of training and discipleship in the weird and incredible city of Providence, fill out the form below.