Faithfulness Without Mission Is Not Renewal

A Lay View by Johannes

Across many Christian traditions, churches are shrinking. This reality is undeniable and painful. How we interpret it, however, matters enormously — because interpretation shapes direction, priorities, and hope.

One increasingly common response is to suggest that decline should be accepted, even embraced, as an opportunity for greater faithfulness among those who remain. Depth rather than reach. Intensity rather than invitation.

At first glance, this sounds wise. But it risks turning the Church inward at precisely the moment it most needs to look outward.

Decline may be a fact — it is not a virtue

There is nothing holy about empty pews. They may describe where we are, but they do not define what the Church is for. To reframe decline as spiritually beneficial risks confusing realism with resignation.

The Church has never been called simply to preserve itself. It exists to proclaim, to invite, and to serve — especially beyond its own walls.

St Charles Borromeo, whose name our parish bears, was clear on this point. Writing to his clergy during a time of upheaval and hardship, he insisted:

Charles Borromeo
“We must not think only of those who already belong to us, but of all those whom God wishes to bring to us.”

That is not the language of retreat. It is the language of mission.

The burden is being placed on the wrong people

Calls for “greater faithfulness” are often directed at those who are already present. Yet these are the people who pray, serve, volunteer, give, and persevere. Asking them to carry responsibility for institutional decline subtly shifts attention away from mission and towards internal performance.

Faith risks becoming something private and self-contained — measured by intensity rather than generosity, by inward devotion rather than outward witness.

Smaller does not automatically mean healthier

Smaller communities can be vibrant, loving, and deeply faithful. But size alone tells us nothing about health. A church can be small because it is faithful — or small because it has quietly stopped expecting growth, conversion, or return.

Without an outward horizon, devotion can become preservation. Preservation can become defensiveness. And defensiveness can slowly harden into irrelevance.

Mission is not optional

The Church does not exist only for those who already believe. From its beginning, it has been sent outward — to the doubtful, the wounded, the distracted, and the distant. That calling does not expire because the task is difficult or the culture has changed.

A Church that focuses solely on sustaining its inner life, however sincere that life may be, risks losing sight of the very people it exists to serve.

A fuller understanding of faithfulness

Faithfulness is not withdrawal. It is not consolidation. It is not learning to live comfortably with less.

True faithfulness holds depth and reach together. It nurtures prayer and worship while expecting encounter. It values tradition while still speaking a language people can hear.

Hope has always been part of the Christian vocation — not naïve optimism, but the refusal to believe that decline is the final word.

As Pope Leo XIV has reminded the Church, “A Church that speaks only to itself betrays the Gospel it claims to proclaim.”

The Church is at its most faithful not when it learns to live smaller, but when it continues to love, invite, serve, and speak — even when the response is uncertain.

Anything less may preserve a core.
It will not renew a Church.

11 January 2025