MPT presents documentary series Christianity at a Crossroads, featuring Timonium church

Maryland Public Television is serving as public TV's presenting station for award-winning filmmaker Martin Doblmeier's new four-part documentary series, Christianity at a Crossroads. The film includes a segment about Church of the Nativity, a Roman Catholic parish in Timonium, Maryland.

A preview is available at https://bit.ly/4hBDonK.

Subscribe

Episodes one and two of Christianity at a Crossroads will air on MPT and the MPT livestream on October 17 at 6 p.m. and 7 p.m., respectively. Episodes three and four will similarly air at the same times on Sunday, October 18. Encore broadcasts will air on MPT2 starting on Sunday, October 18. The film will also be available on the free PBS app.

Doblmeier's Christianity at a Crossroads explores the current state of Christianity in America during a period of immense change. Although it's been the nation's majority religion since its founding, growth has mostly flatlined, leading to declining church attendance and thousands of church closures. As the film shows, however, there are encouraging signs of life.

"Our hope was to put a human face to all the data around the decline of Christianity in American life today," says the Alexandria, Virginia filmmaker. "Whether you are religious or not, this is an incredibly complex and timely story that has rippling effects for so many millions of Americans, but we also wanted to show how there are congregations across this country filled with vitality, imagination, and growth if you know where to look."

Filmed on location across the country, Christianity at a Crossroads visits thriving megachurches, dwindling congregations, historic church buildings, and virtual reality services. Pastors and congregants from a variety of denominations and political leanings share heartfelt stories, with insightful commentary from scholars, theologians, demographic experts, and religion journalists. Among the issues addressed in the documentary are:

• Thriving churches: The film visits booming evangelical megachurches and a Catholic parish, Church of the Nativity in Timonium, Maryland, which has doubled attendance since borrowing from the megachurch playbook of energetic services, contemporary music, and plenty of small groups and programs.

• Church closures: As many as 100,000 churches are expected to close or be repurposed in the coming years. Doblmeier illustrates the emotional pain of such closures through the story of Belding United Methodist Church in Belding, Michigan, which closed recently after 120 years. Down to a dozen members, the church had no choice but to close, a wrenching decision for members whose families belonged for generations.

• Immigrant Churches: Some of the most vibrant churches in America are found in immigrant communities, as the film shows with profiles of the Korean Presbyterian Church in northern Virginia; a Hispanic Catholic parish, Sacred Heart Church in Richmond, Virginia; and The Gathering, a Latino-led multi-ethnic Pentecostal church in Orlando, Florida.

• Culture Wars: American Christianity is marked by ideological rifts over sexuality, abortion, racism, women's issues, and social justice. Christian political positions range from far-right to "hard center" to progressive. The film introduces gay pastors, women pastors, and pastors who make a case for Christian Nationalism. It features interviews with conservatives such as Robert Jeffress of First Baptist Dallas; Albert Mohler of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary; and progressives such as Rev. Jacqueline Lewis of New York City's Middle Collegiate Church; Rev. Howard-John Wesley of Alfred Street Baptist Church in Alexandria, Virginia; and Adam Hamilton of Resurrection Church in Kansas City, Missouri.

• Christian Nationalism: "The deep convulsions in American Christianity were on full display" at the insurrection on January 6, 2021, Doblmeier says in the film. "These events were 'deeply disturbing' to many millions of American Christians." Russell Moore of evangelical magazine Christianity Today says he was "angered at every level, outraged as a Christian" seeing fellow Christians building gallows at the Capitol. "The fundamental question is not does the Church live up to its ideals and principles, but does the Church have ideas and principles?"

• Nones and those who leave: "Nones," those who claim no particular religious affiliation, are the fastest-growing group in America's religious demographics. Viewers hear from people who left church because of traumatic experiences, and from members of a secular humanist gathering.

The changes seem to be coming fast and furiously. "It's unfathomable for me to describe how much religion has changed in America in the last 30-40 years," says Ryan Burge, religion statistician at the Danforth Center and author of The Vanishing Church. He is one of several religion researchers and pollsters who lend their expertise to the film, including The Pew Research Center, Gallup, and Public Religion Research Institute.

With a wide range of voices and stories and informative expert commentary, Christianity at a Crossroads brings to life the complex and emotional story of Christian faith in America today.

Christianity at a Crossroads is a presentation of Maryland Public Television. The series is being presented nationwide by American Public Television. Major funding was provided by Lilly Endowment. Additional funding was provided by the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation and the Catholic Communication Campaign.