How Can the Church Transform Our Anti-Social Society?
There is a myth that Americans were happily social before the events of 2020. But once the pandemic hit, we retreated into isolated lives and only now are we inching our way out.
As journalist Derek Thompson points out in an interview with Lora Kelley, the “anti-social century is the opposite of that story.” In truth, “Every single demographic of Americans now spends significantly less time socializing than they did at the beginning of the 21st century when some people already thought we were in a socializing crisis.”
He is, no doubt, referring to the work of Robert Putnam. In his groundbreaking book Bowling Alone, Putnam noted the loss of social capital in the world. As the title suggests, once we bowled in leagues, now we bowl alone. Long before the time when the internet became the wallpaper of our lives (Putnam’s book was released in 2000), there were already signs of our culture becoming increasingly disconnected from family, friends, neighbors, and other social structures. Putnam notes that as the 19th century turned into the 20th, social capital was also at a low point. Urbanization, industrialization, and widespread immigration uprooted Americans from friends, social institutions, and families. New organizations were created to fill the need. His book argued that the same need would need to be met in the 21st century.
Overall, Thompson said, “Americans spend about 20% less time socializing than they did at the beginning of the century. For teenagers and for young Black men, it’s closer to 40%.” As one economist told him, “We were more alone in 2023 than we were in 2021.”
Some of this can be attributed to technology. As Thompson notes, “with cars and television, and ultimately smartphones, [Americans can] privatize their leisure.” But since Putnam’s work came out in 2000, and the first smartphone wasn’t released until 2007, there would seem to be something deeper at hand.
I would argue for the loss of our collective understanding of and participation in the Christian community. A loss that comes from our world becoming increasingly post-Christian.
Lest we forget, community flows into humanity from the very nature of God. The idea of God being about community finds its essence and definition deep within the very Being of God, for God Himself is a community of three Persons in one Being. God is love, and that love flows between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Now, love, by its very nature, seeks to give of itself. And because God is Himself a community of oneness, He created us to be a community of oneness as well. One with Him and one with each other.
When God created Adam, the Bible says that God was displeased with the fact that Adam was alone. Adam had a vertical community with God but no horizontal community with another human being.
As long as the man and the woman were in a right relationship with God – the Creator of community – they were able to maintain their own oneness with each other. The moment they violated their relationship with God by turning their backs on Him and going their own way, their oneness with God and with each other was shattered.
Their fall led to the ongoing disruption of community throughout the growing human race. But God did not quit on us. Out of the wreckage of the Fall, He drew together a new hope for community. God called the Jewish people into a community – Israel – through which He reestablished the pictures of His oneness and oneness with each other to the entire world, culminating in the coming of Jesus.
When Jesus willingly died on the cross for our sins, it was for a reason. The vertical dimension of the cross suggests the restoration of our communion with God. It symbolizes the need and potential of every human being to enter a saving relationship with God through Christ. It reestablishes that communion with Him for which we were created but which was forfeited in the Garden. And we have continued this rejection individually with our own cumulative sinfulness. The horizontal dimension of the cross symbolizes the other aspect of community that the cross offers—that we can be reconciled not only to God but also to each other and be brought together to form one body.
So through Christ, there is a new community, in a new oneness with God and in a new oneness with each other.
But apart from this? We are left with nothing but the chaos of Babel.
So, is there hope? Of course. Following the resurrection of Jesus, the birth of the Church occurred on what is now called the day of Pentecost. On that day, the people present suddenly heard each other speaking in many languages declaring the wonders of God so that all would understand. It was the Tower of Babel in reverse. Due to the power of the Holy Spirit to mark God’s true community of people, the many languages were made one. Harmony and unity were now possible through Christ.
And the Church reflects the oneness God intended in so many ways: relational unity; caring for others at their point of need, such as those who are poor and hungry and homeless; coming together as a body in their use of spiritual gifts; and, supremely, the extension of community to others through Christ. Because the heart of the Church’s mission is the invitation of others into community.
“Self-imposed solitude,” writes Thompson, “might just be the most important social fact of the 21st century in America.”
He may be right.
What is certainly true is that it is the most important social fact for the mission of the Church.
James Emery White
Sources
Lora Kelley, “How Solitude Is Rewiring American Identity,” The Atlantic, January 8, 2025, read online.
Derek Thompson, “The Anti-Social Century,” The Atlantic, January 8, 2025, read online.
Robert Putnam, Bowling Alone.
James Emery White, Christianity for People Who Aren’t Christians, order from Amazon.
Photo Courtesy: ©Getty/fizkes
Published Date: January 23, 2025
James Emery White is the founding and senior pastor of Mecklenburg Community Church in Charlotte, NC, and a former professor of theology and culture at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, where he also served as their fourth president. His latest book, Hybrid Church: Rethinking the Church for a Post-Christian Digital Age, is now available on Amazon or from your favorite bookseller. To enjoy a free subscription to the Church & Culture blog, visit churchandculture.org where you can view past blogs in our archive, read the latest church and culture news from around the world, and listen to the Church & Culture Podcast. Follow Dr. White on X, Facebook, and Instagram at @JamesEmeryWhite.
Originally published January 23, 2025.
