Thawing the ‘Frozen Chosen’
Scholar Diana Butler Bass discovers lively, creative churches exploring spirituality in new ways.
By Anne Underwood
Newsweek
Updated: 6:00 p.m. ET Oct 18, 2006

Oct. 18, 2006 - For years, America’s mainline Protestant churches were in serious decline, with plummeting membership and a voice that seemed irrelevant in national politics. All the energy seemed to have drained out of them, flowing inexorably toward evangelical and Pentecostal denominations, with their burgeoning megachurches and media empires. But a new book finds hope for the mainline. In “Christianity for the Rest of Us” (HarperSanFrancisco), independent scholar Diana Butler Bass contends that a spiritual renewal is underway, and to prove it, she marshals the examples of 50 mainline churches that are anything but dead. As Butler Bass says of her own Episcopal church (the Church of the Epiphany in Washington, D.C.): “They’re not just the ‘frozen chosen’ anymore. They’re starting to thaw.” She spoke to NEWSWEEK’s Anne Underwood.

How are these churches re-engaging with spiritual practices?

In the 1960s and 1970s, churches tried to become “relevant” or “modern.” They did that through social action … and the rewriting of prayer books and hymnals. The church was cut loose from its moorings. It was as if a big cultural sledgehammer shattered their traditions. What’s happening now is that churches are picking up the pieces of glass and making new mosaics with these shards from the past. It’s coming out in new patterns.

What does that new mosaic look like?

We have Methodists who engage in Celtic spirituality, Episcopalians who walk the labyrinth and Presbyterians who do reiki. You find Protestant churches engaging in the Benedictine rule or reading the ancient Christian fathers or practicing contemplative prayer. They’re mixing elements of contemporary culture with ancient spiritual practices. A lot are engaging in the Christian practice of hospitality, which doesn’t mean serving tea and cakes. It’s a process that goes back to the heart of monotheistic religion, where Abraham and Sarah welcomed three strangers. It means not just welcoming people who are like you, but young people, homeless, gays, minorities and having them be real members of the congregation.

the rest of the interview