Dear Church: Did We Forget to Say 'Sorry?'

Yes, another piece based on public polling. I’m sure we’re all tired of the Pew poll by now, but please indulge me for a few moments to take a quick look some other polling data.

According to historical Gallup survey data, it wasn’t that long ago that Americans held up religious institutions — the church in particular — as trustworthy. The majority of Americans had a “great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in the church as recently as the early 1970s. Today, though, the story is, unsurprisingly, bleaker — the level of public trust in religious institutions is significantly lower than 50 percent.

Lest you think for a moment that this is only the case for religious institutions, take a look at a few other institutions polled. Only about a quarter of Americans trust public schools, down from over half. The trust in the newspaper industry is below even that.

In the last half century, American public trust in institutions has waned precipitously. In many facets of public life, Americans now look to alternative, more fragmented sources for education, for information, and now for faith. Newspapers of record are being replaced with Twitter feeds. The university is being overshadowed in the public by TED talks. And increasingly, people are finding spiritual connection completely apart from any organized religion — the rise of the “nones.”

I can’t disparage many of these innovations. Of course there are ways to be educated outside of schools. Giving a communication platform to the masses is a powerful tool for social change. And it’s good to recognize that God can be found outside of the church. Perhaps a decline in church membership and Christian identity is in part a consequence of a broader cultural shift away from trust in the exclusive authority of institutions.

And so many institutions, the church included, have gotten into gear to discover ways to re-engage with the public. Wonderful. As the church looks to the future, I do pray that we will engage the creativity and insights of many faithful leaders to envision a new future for the church. Already in my own denomination, church members and pastors are focusing resources on meeting the un-churched and de-churched where they are and investing in creative and alternative church models.

I have been in this conversation like many others, excited about a future of possibility. And yet it occurred to me that I forgot to do something in all of this panic and evaluation and re-visioning.

I forgot to say I’m sorry.

There’s probably a reason that public trust in the church, like government and education and the news, is at an all-time low. Through small acts and large, we have betrayed the trust of the people God has called us to serve with integrity. Sometimes we have sinned profoundly and sometimes our sins have been less conspicuous. Nonetheless, we have eroded confidence in the church. This is our own fault.

I have seen many half-hearted apologies, often for those “other” people in the church. The “other” people who are small-minded. The “other” people who abuse Scripture. The “other” people who are so preoccupied with their buildings and they forgot to care for the people. But it can’t just be “other” people. It’s us, too — all of us. If we’re really to be a Body of believers and followers, then we’re all going to have to own up to the sin of the church.

So for those times when we have forgone fidelity to Scripture for fidelity to a political party, we’re sorry. For those times we have abused our children and covered up our sin, we’re sorry. For those times when we have kept the peace rather than spoken on behalf of those who are oppressed, we’re sorry. For those times we excluded and marginalized people and their stories, we’re sorry. For those times when we silenced doubts and questions rather than listened, we’re sorry. For those times when we have condemned, shamed, dismissed, and ignored, we are profoundly sorry. For the ways in which we still do all these things, God forgive us.

By no means can one paragraph’s worth of apology cover over the many sins of the church. Only God’s grace can do that. Perhaps, though, we would do well to take account of our sins, repent, and begin to re-earn the trust of the people to whom God has called us. Surely God is not done with us.

Chris Chatelaine-Samsen is a pastor in the PC(USA). He has a M.Div. from Princeton Theological Seminary, and worships with the Church of the Saviour community in Washington, D.C., an ecumenical network of church communities and non-profits.