By Jimi Calhoun
This entry is the seventh post in a series of bridge-building, theological-cultural reflections by Jimi Calhoun, Pastor of “Bridging Austin,” in Austin, Texas.
CPR, or cardiopulmonary resuscitation, is used to manually pump the heart in an emergency until more advanced medical treatment can restore heart function. Today, the church is in critical condition. Its dwindling size and decline in cultural influence bear that out. In fairness, its condition is a result of many factors, but the most prevalent in my view is heart failure. Medically speaking, that occurs when the heart is unable to circulate enough blood to function correctly. Spiritually speaking, a church that abandons its social responsibilities can mirror a weakening heart as it becomes unable to sustain life, resulting in slow spiritual deterioration.
At Bridging Austin, we flip the script by living out the directives found in Psalm 82:3-4. What that means is we intentionally advocate for the less powerful and affirm the rights of the poor and vulnerable, acting as a buffer between them and those who exploit and harm them. We believe that when the church neglects its prophetic role, a kind of spiritual atrophy sets in. One of the most troubling aspects is how easily it escapes detection.
A case in point is found in a statement by Bob Smietana of Religion News Service to an NPR reporter for an article on the crisis of church closings in the U.S.: ”He worries about how the U.S. will cope with the sudden evaporation of community services that churches once provided — food banks, help for troubled teens, addiction treatment and other programs … So, when those services disappear, there really isn’t anything to replace them.”[1] To counter that, we believe the prophetic imperative for the resuscitated church is to pursue the good of all in practical ways—personally and daily! With that in mind, let’s look at three practices that fuel our spiritual and personal passions and comprise our definition of Spiritual CPR.
First up is Contemplation. For us, contemplation is a form of prayer that deepens our understanding of God. It is not a means of escape. It is done to build a base to exercise our faith, which we see as a verb. From a theological perspective, contemplation can clarify and condense the essence of the many teachings one encounters throughout one’s spiritual journey. People often develop a hierarchy of divine attributes and then engage God accordingly. Contemplation is a way to consider God’s attributes and characteristics independently, forming a bridge to intimacy with Him.
Second up is Pentecostalism. The Pentecostal movement began with the descent of the Holy Spirit as described in the book of Acts. Concurrent to that, pentecostalism, with a lowercase p, began when people from very diverse ethnic backgrounds came together in complete harmony as a result of the Spirit’s empowerment, and it is action-oriented. This is important because Jesus makes it clear in John 16 that His departure would allow the Spirit to step in as the main teacher of spiritual realities. Was he wrong? No, of course not. That is why people at Bridging Austin are convinced that pentecostalism, a verbal noun with a lowercase p, allows the Spirit to act as an umbilical cord between God, ourselves, and others.
Connected with that is the Relational component of our ministry, as evidenced by our commitment to open dialogue. This approach invites congregants to share their unique life experiences and beliefs comfortably, without fear of rejection or correction. In the context of church life, “preaching to the choir” refers to discussing matters in ways that are already agreed upon. We go further by encouraging people to form new choirs who will, figuratively speaking, sing their own unique songs to a spiritually starving world. We hope that when the “other side” begins to sing our song and take up our cause, the battle for justice is on the way to being won. Just as heart failure disrupts circulation, a church that stops loving unconditionally disrupts the spiritual flow in its veins, leading to eventual death within the body of Christ. CPR on the church keeps the church alive until further work can be done to clear the blocked arteries that prevent inclusion and seal the leaky capillaries that reduce the quantity and quality of love moving in and out of the church. Ultimately, Christ’s body must be a faithful conduit of God’s mercy and justice, which we believe is at the heart of the gospel.
[1] https://www.npr.org/2023/05/17/1175452002/church-closings-religious-affiliation
You may contact Jimi Calhoun at Jimi@Bridgingaustin.org.