My wife and I were out driving recently when we passed a church sign with a saying on it. I’d seen the phrase before and there was a time when it might have been right. It said, “Believe. Belong. Become.”

Of course, in a highly churched and Christian world this might work for many. People are raised in a faith tradition and adopt its beliefs. If they move, they find people with shared beliefs and join there (i.e. – a Methodist who moves joins a Methodist church, Lutherans who move join a Lutheran church, etc.). And over time people who are involved in faith life grow – they become their mature selves in Christ. Believe – belong – become.

This certainly doesn’t work that way for most people now. Most people in the US and Canada don’t come from well-established faith roots. They have varied, eclectic and unclear beliefs. They aren’t trying to connect with others like them who already believe. In fact, they aren’t thinking about being a part of a faith community much at all. So they don’t start with a belief that is looking for a home. They tend to be much less clear on what they believe.

And in our society people often don’t have natural connection points and belong to anything at all. The attraction of QAnon, Proud Boys, etc. is rootless people can find connections and with no belief structure, adopt a worldview that identifies whose fault it is that they lack these things. In other words the desire for belonging and the need for belief are now much fuzzier.

If the church is to work in a world like this, then it must not assume people who think what we think will be attracted to us and want to belong. We have to recognize that the society in which we live is less grounded and hungrier than ever before.

In response, the church needs to provide three things:

Belong. Believe. Become(ing).

This is the order that is closer to most peoples’ realities. If you are to reach new people and ground them in Christ, then  the faith communities where you are need to become invitational and welcoming, so people are invited to come and explore faith. They need to be able to teach and dialog about the questions people bring. And they need to help people grow deeper in faith as they connect with and follow Jesus.

How are you helping people create a welcoming and invitational culture? What do you teach and make space to discuss when people gather? And how are people growing and becoming more mature in their Christian faith?