Tradition, Tension, and What the Church Could Look Like Beyond 2025
Over the past few weeks, we’ve has hosted conversations with Canadian church historians—first Dr. James Tyler Robertson, and most recently Dr. Stuart Macdonald—to ask where the church has been, what the trends actually say, and how that history clarifies our next faithful steps. Taken together, these episodes invite us to read the past honestly so we can respond to the present responsibly.
Stuart frames the historical shifts, interprets the data, and names the course corrections with clarity. The following post gathers some key ideas that stuck out to us from the Dr. Stuart Macdonald episode. This post is meant to be a place where we can revisit, discuss and apply some of what is put forward in the podcast episode. For additional context, we encourage you to listen to Rev. John’s earlier conversation with Dr. James Tyler Robertson.
Listen Here
Ministry Forum Podcast — Conversation with Dr. Stuart Macdonald about his new book, Tradition and Tension
Ministry Forum Podcast — Conversation with Dr. James Robertson and his book Overlooked: The Forgotten Origin Stories of Canadian Christianity
We encourage reading this alongside these episodes.
Culture Shift in the 1960’s - The diagnosis beneath the decline
The steady erosion of church participation since the mid-1960s is part of a wider cultural shift shared by other community institutions—service clubs, lodges, volunteer associations. Society moved away from belonging by duty toward belonging by choice, from community approval to individual self-fulfilment. Churches did not stand outside that current; they swam in it. As Stuart says “…any response that treats the problem as purely “internal” (fixable by a single program tweak or structural reform) risks misreading the moment”.
Why is this important to understand?
If the primary change was cultural and formational, administrative solutions alone will disappoint. The church’s task is not simply to reorganize but to re-form people in Christ.
We equipped people to “serve” the church more than to “speak” of Christ.
For decades, churches became very good at committees (agendas, minutes, processes…) while neglecting sustained Christian education.
The unintended result:
many can navigate a meeting;
fewer can narrate the gospel. People were equipped to “serve on” the church more than to “speak of” Christ.
Don’t get us wrong, good governance is a gift. But order and systems on their own do not disciple.
Without clear, repeated, communal teaching our congregations become busy without becoming deep.
Why is this important to understand?
Although sessions and boards remain necessary, the centre of gravity must shift from maintaining systems of governance to forming disciples who know, love, and can articulate the faith.
We don’t remember how to evangelize
When Christians lack a shared grasp of the faith, evangelism does not usually turn pushy—it goes quiet. In many PCC settings, people were faithfully taught to serve, meet, and manage; they were not equally taught to name the centre of the faith. Without a learned and loved gospel, there is little to say.
Scripture sets a different expectation: “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have—with gentleness and respect.” (1 Peter 3:15) The emphasis matters: hope first, reasons next, gentleness throughout. Evangelism just the ordinary speech of a people in whom hope has taken root.
Our own Living Faith describes it this way:
“… in the spirit of humility, as beggars telling others where food is to be found, we point to life in Christ.
We witness to God in Christ as the Way, the Truth, the Life, and invite others to accept from him the forgiveness of God. We are compelled to share this good news.
The bottom line is to focus on worship, education, and evangelism, not institution for its own sake; and to recover a simple, honest witness— why living with Jesus is better than living without Jesus.
What could the church look like in 2025?
Not in theory—in your place, with your people, given who Jesus is and what he asks of us now.
Join the conversation below. To make the thread useful to others, consider responding to one or more of these prompts:
One practice you will start or stop between now and Easter—and why.
Your two-sentence answer to 1 Peter 3:15: “This is my reason for hope in Christ.”
One sign of life you already see (however small) in worship, education, or evangelism.
The moment calls for courage, not panic:
Teach again.
Pray again.
Invite again.
Bold next steps do not need to be complicated.