One of the ads ran by Urban Village Church in 2011 pairing seemingly opposite kinds of people. Photo courtesy of Urban Village Church.

We were fortunate when we started Urban Village in 2010 to receive funds from the denomination to do a advertising campaign on the trains in Chicago. We paired seemingly opposite kinds of people (eg Cub fans and Sox fans) to let train riders know that they were loved. One pairing of people included doubters and believers.

At the time we wanted people to know that they didn’t have to have it all figured out in order to be part of our community of faith. Doubters/seekers/questioners were welcome! I know that is still the case in pretty much of all of the churches in our conference. And that’s a good thing because surveys show that certainty about the existence of God—especially among young people—continues to decline. 

As much as I encourage people to wrestle, question and doubt, however, I wonder if I/we have not made room for belief. Have I encouraged questioning so much that I have eroded my own sense that God can and does do a new thing? I don’t think so, but there is a quote that I keep coming back to in order to stay rooted in the fact that we believe in an active God.

Matt Miofsky and Jason Byassee wrote a short book in 2018 called 8 Virtues of Rapidly Growing Churches. It has many helpful things to think about (including reminders to think locally, elevate the practice of giving and integrate new people quickly), but the quote that has stuck with me over the years is less practical and more theological:

“Acting as if we believe that the Holy Spirit is up to something in our midst is the single greatest game-changing decision a church leadership team can make. Talk to any of the pastors we interviewed and you will instantly see that before there was any evidence that a church would work, these pastors believed that God was up to something, that God was going to do something significant. They were determined to be a part of it. Acting as if the Spirit is moving changes everything.”

Acting as if we believe that the Holy Spirit is up to something. That reminds me of the Parker Palmer quote about functional atheism, the belief that the ultimate responsibility for everything rests with me and not God. 

There will always be room for doubters. And there should be! But let’s make sure we’re leaving spaces for believers, too. Those who have an unshakeable faith that the Spirit is up to something.