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I just finished a pre-Lenten study (it could also be used during Lent) on my latest book (A Different Jesus: A Christian Theology Big Enough For An Interfaith World) at a local Presbyterian Church.

What I learned from the participants is that they are the reason I wrote the book.

They no longer believe Jesus is the only way to God, but they don’t know what to believe in its place. They are the new majority among Christians, according to the Pew Research Center.

For the past three weeks we have had stimulating discussions about why atonement theology that says Jesus died on the cross for the sins of the world is not the only way to understand who Jesus was…about how and why the cornerstone of Christianity is not the crucifixion but the resurrection…why believing in the bodily resurrection is not as farfetched as it may seem to progressive thinking people…and a host of other issues related to these.

The people who were in both study groups confirmed what I have believed for a long time, that our churches are full of lay people who want to talk theology (though they may not say it that way), who want to explore their questions, who have moved beyond the Sunday School faith they grew up with, but don’t know where to go to learn more.

In short, there are more than a few lay people who would welcome the chance to engage in the kind of theological discussions ministers have among themselves all the time.

But it seems many churches have been content to keep their adult education on a children’s level by avoiding the tough theological issues faith naturally raises. That practice has not helped the people or the church.

Theologian John Cobb once remarked that the modern church has forgotten how to think.

That, I believe, summarizes the great challenge before every minister and every congregation – to become thinking churches again, communities where theological discussions are normal, frequent, and expected.

It is the primary way I believe congregations can avoid becoming totally irrelevant to the lives of the very people who want the church to give them more than they are now getting.