When Andrew Root steps into the conversation at ONE this October, he brings more than academic insight. He brings a reframing of the questions many churches have been asking, and a challenge to the assumptions beneath them.
Root, a professor at Luther Seminary in the United States, has become one of the most influential voices helping the Church understand life and ministry in what is often described as a “secular age.” Drawing deeply on the work of philosopher Charles Taylor, Root argues that the challenge facing the Church today is not simply declining attendance or cultural marginalisation. It is something more profound: a shift in how people experience meaning, identity, and even the possibility of God.
In interviews and lectures, Root consistently returns to a striking observation. The Church, he suggests, has often responded to decline by becoming more strategic, more program-driven, and more focused on outcomes. But in doing so, it risks losing sight of its centre.
In one reflection on his work Faith Formation in a Secular Age, Root recalls a moment that unsettled him. Surrounded by leaders discussing how to address the rise of the “nones” and the decline of youth engagement, he realised that “never once had they talked about God.”
That insight cuts to the heart of his contribution. For Root, the crisis of the Church is not primarily organisational, it is theological. When the Church begins to rely on sociological strategies rather than the action of God, it subtly shifts its foundation. As he puts it, there is a danger of “exchanging the divine action… for pragmatic strategies” aimed at preserving the institution.
This is what makes Root such a compelling voice for a gathering like ONE.
Rather than offering quick fixes or new programs, Root calls the Church back to a deeper vision of ministry—one grounded in encounter rather than efficiency. In interviews, he has emphasised that the future of ministry is not found in better techniques, but in creating space for people to encounter the living Christ. As one podcast summary of his work puts it, the focus shifts from sustaining programs to “encounters with Jesus.”
This has significant implications for how the Church understands its mission.
In a secular age, belief is no longer assumed. Faith is one option among many, and often not the most obvious one. Root’s work suggests that this does not mean the Church has failed. Instead, it means the context has changed, and with it, the way faith is formed.
He resists the temptation to respond with anxiety or defensiveness. Instead, he invites the Church to see this moment as an opportunity: a chance to rediscover what is essential. Not relevance for its own sake, but presence. Not attractional models, but relational depth. Not busyness, but attentiveness to God’s activity.
This is where Root’s thinking connects directly with the vision of ONE.
At its core, ONE is not about building a bigger event, but about renewing a shared sense of calling. It is about becoming a people who can live faithfully and imaginatively in a changing world. Root’s work provides a theological framework for exactly that task.
He helps name what many leaders already sense: that the old approaches are no longer enough, and that the future will require something different. But he also resists the idea that the answer lies in innovation alone. The Church does not need to become something new, he argues, it needs to become more deeply itself.
That conviction carries a quiet confidence. Even in a secular age, Root points to signs of what he describes elsewhere as a “quiet revival” moments where people are drawn not to polished programs, but to authentic expressions of faith and community.
For those attending ONE, this is likely to be both confronting and encouraging.
Confronting, because it challenges ways of thinking about success, growth, and leadership. Encouraging, because it re-centres the Church’s life not on its own capacity, but on God’s ongoing action in the world.
Root does not offer easy answers. But he does offer clarity. And perhaps more importantly, he offers hope, not as optimism about the Church’s future, but as confidence in the God who is already at work within it.
As the Church gathers in October, his voice will serve as both a guide and a provocation. A reminder that the question is not simply how to bring people back to church.
But how to become a people who can recognise — and join in — the work of God already unfolding around them.
Visit the One website for more information and to register.
