Director, Chaplaincy Innovation Lab Programs
Charts don’t matter:
Religious / Non-religious Social Impact Collaboration
Pastoral Study Project – Funded by Louisville Institute
American Christianity is at an inflection point. 80% of Americans say the influence of religion on public life is “shrinking.” 48% perceive a conflict between their own religious beliefs and “mainstream American culture.” The percent of Americans self-identifying as “Unaffiliated” is skyrocketing, while those who identify as mainline Protestant, Evangelical, or Catholic is declining. US church membership as reported to Gallup is the lowest it has ever been.
Whether churches wish to arrest or even reverse these trends, the role in American public life of those who are religiously / spiritually unaffiliated by choice – that is, they have either considered Christian congregational life and rejected it, or have never considered it at all – is growing.
By leveraging the Chaplaincy Innovation Lab’s extensive network of collaborators and partners, we will convene a “roundtable” of leaders working in church ministry, on the one hand, and in religiously unaffiliated associations / groups on the other. The animating question will be “How can we set aside concern over demographic trends, instead seeking common ground toward enhancing the common good through identifying how religious and non-religious communities can combine resources and collaborate on major social crises? How can these groups work together to lessen mistrust and heal division in American society?”
In many denominations, this demographic landscape occasions fear, resentment, or fatalism, a sense that the American church is “dying.” Instead, this project extrapolates from the profession of chaplaincy and pilots a model in which statistics do not drive conversations or exert influence over public engagement. This project offers both the church and the “nones” a way to collaborate effectively, respectfully, and in a manner that is integrated for both “parties.” It intentionally sets aside anxiety over who “belongs” where and, instead, focuses on pressing social crises like social isolation and social division over religious and political differences. These areas and more are sites of common ground where dedication to care for the human spirit – totally separate from religious affiliation – drives meaningful, sustainable change to the betterment of American society. By drawing on the model offered by the profession of chaplaincy, the project will deliver a vision of cooperation and collaboration across lines of stark difference to heal the many divisions that currently mar both the American Church and society more broadly.
This project’s activities include:
- Convening a monthly roundtable of 8-10 leaders to discuss a priori assumptions, visions for social impact from their own communities, and speculation on social impact together. The roundtable will be professionally facilitated by two co-facilitators, intentionally selected for religious/non-religious diversity. Each meeting will feature a brief presentation by a roundtable member on a specific example of social isolation and/or religious/political division in their own context or community. The meeting will then discuss the presentation as a “case study,” brainstorming potential, speculative collaborations to address the presented issue.
- The roundtable will iterate on a strategic vision for public consumption at the close of the project. This vision will be distributed via the Chaplaincy Innovation Lab; the roundtable will launch said vision through a free, public webinar at the end of the project.
Additional resources related to this work: