Churches are always affected by societal and economic changes; constant vigilance is needed, while not losing our mission.

Along the way, we ask: Where mistakes were made that we do not wish to repeat?

Part 1. Christian Century?

World War I was supposed to be the ‘war to end all wars.’ It wasn’t—not close. The century that began with the presidency of Theodore Roosevelt (a classic Dutch Reformed member) was soon followed by the Azusa Street Revival (1905) in Los Angeles (which was the beginning of modern Pentecostalism) and the sinking of the Titanic.

The ills of the American Civil War had begun to dissipate, wealth was growing, industrialization had become common, and social stability was the norm. Churches were growing and amalgamating—the 1910 Edinburgh conference launched the modern ecumenical movement which seized the imagination of Protestant denominational leaders.

The optimism (and set of assumptions) is seen most clearly in a particular act of branding. In 1900, a magazine that was originally The Christian Oracle (est. 1884) was renamed The Christian Century. American exceptionalism is one thing, but seldom before had an entire century been named and claimed. Moreover, the chosen name for the magazine was not so much an eschatological expression of distant hope as it was a signature of immanent confidence.

The first quarter of the 20^th century saw great enthusiasm for the mission of the church and for the prospect of converting masses. If the 19^th century had been the century for missions, it certainly was not halted by the flipping of a calendar page for a new century.

University of Chicago historian Martin E. Marty wrote a short work, The Irony of It All, the first of four volumes on Twentieth Century American religion (beginning with the World Parliament of Religion in Chicago in 1893 and ending at the end of World War I). Marty employs the concept of irony as a novel approach to discovering much of the past century’s religion.^[1] Historical interpretation, suggests Marty, may not be readily aware of irony’s presence. A historical recounting, thus, may need consciously to distance itself from the grandiose conclusions that are often claimed by original participants, denied the opportunity to measure success by a larger stretch of history.

The five most impactful events of that first quarter of the 20^th century were:

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