The Surprising Power of Hopelessness

Those who have nothing to lose can be the most dangerous people. Hopeless predicaments can crush some people into a complacency of going through the motions. But for others, having nothing left to lose can be a kind of superpower.

Why don’t more church leaders and Christians channel the power of hopelessness? What if all fear were gone? What if, instead of living in despair, churches acted with desperation? Desperate times call for desperate measures, and I believe we are living in just such a time.

Authoritarian regimes don’t want their people to feel hopeless. Despots and dictators want their subjects to live with a fear that things can still get worse. The illusion of hope can be a cynical ploy to ensure submission.

Many Christians today feel an increasing degree of hopelessness about their churches. And yet, too many are not yet hopeless enough. Leaders keep holding out the promise of a miracle cure, telling members to keep the faith, that change is just around the corner.

This lack of hopelessness, in my opinion, is a major obstacle to renewal and remissioning. Why have most Christians and churches today not embraced the power of hopelessness? Living under false hopes spurred by either nostalgia or ideology, many church leaders haven’t given up. They still believe in their own ability to find a magic solution.

Here’s the truth I wish churches would understand. Things are bleak. Most North American churches are in real trouble. There is no ready-made fix, no forty-day cure, no miracle-working preacher who can turn it around.

For most, the decline of their churches is not mechanical or technical. It’s not that we preach too poorly, sing too weakly, or serve coffee that’s bland. Rather, non-church-goers are outright rejecting traditional ways of gathering, and this trend is not going to suddenly change. We face a hopeless situation that extends across the landscape of churches. 

It’s not even a matter of faith. Believing more is not the answer. God is not waiting on churches to “find the right words” before blessing them again. Most Christians would gladly trust God more if that were the solution.

What is needed today is a kind of revolution in thinking and imagination. Churches need a radical change in the way they see their mission. For many centuries, Christians have been able to build buildings, put on a good program, and expect people to come. Some individuals were expected to “do evangelism” here and there, but the main work of the church was to gather and effectively hold onto those who walked in the doors.

The age of “only gathering” is gone. We live in an age of scattering. Christians must learn to go and do church among non-church-goers rather than hoping new people will come.

This change of posture can only come out of a sense of desperation, which I believe can be deeply empowering. What’s more, this move can give space for the Spirit of God to reform and reshape the church for the radically transformed world in which we live. Without such desperation, we cling to our existing ways in the hope that it will all work out.

A failure to accept the hopelessness of doing church as we know it is preventing churches from embracing this necessary posture. Our current ways are still satisfactory for some percentage of people (perhaps 30%). But without the desperation of needing to reach the remainder of our world, how will we reimagine our work?

The mission of God compels us to embrace the hopelessness of our current ways. We have little left to lose. Why not throw caution to the wind and accept that we must make hard choices? Forever kicking the can down the road in the name of hope will only further isolate us from the world God calls us to reach.

So I suggest we lean into the surprising power of hopelessness.

(For further reading, check out Miguel De La Torre’s Embracing Hopelessness [Fortress Press] and Terry Eagleton’s Hope Without Optimism [Yale University Press].)