by Darrell R. Hamilton, II
There is something deeply human about our fascination with the future. We dream about it, plan for it, and imagine what could be.1 But if we are honest, we often love imagining the future far more than we love doing the work required to build it.
There’s a phrase I often come back to that says: people romanticize their plans but dread the execution. And as I reflect on the state of the progressive church, I am increasingly convinced that the future we want—a more just world, a more inclusive church, a deeper and more expansive faith—cannot be built on imagination alone. It must be built by doing the slow, disciplined work required to sustain ministry over time.
We are not called to build for the moment, but we are called to have generational impact and lay a good foundation for the future.
Spaces to Belong
A progressive church is not simply a church with non-conservative beliefs. It is a community committed to taking scripture seriously, following Jesus faithfully, and engaging the realities of the world honestly and without the constraints of religious rigidity.
According to a recent article in Baptist News Global, people aren’t just looking for progressive ideas—they’re looking for progressive spaces to belong.2 And if we do not build churches that last, what will we leave for those who are longing to find them?
If we are going to build churches that last, we must build for a future beyond ourselves.
Eating from Trees We Did Not Plant
The prophet Jeremiah and a story about Howard Thurman teach us something essential about how progressive churches ought to think in this moment.
In Jeremiah 32, the prophet is living in a terrifying moment. Jerusalem is under siege. The nation is falling apart at the seams. The future is bleak. Exile is imminent. Yet, Jeremiah does the prophetic act of buying his cousin’s land in Anathoth, placing his faith in a future he will never live to see.
I remember Otis Moss, III, pastor at Trinity United Church of Christ, tell a story about Howard Thurman. As a young boy, Thurman was living in Florida when he saw an elderly man planting pecan trees. The young Thurman asked him why he would plant pecan trees if he would never live long enough to taste their fruit.
The old man said, ‘Son, all my life I’ve been eating from trees I did not plant. It’s my job to plant for somebody else.’”
Like the old man and Jeremiah—who it is worth noting was an old man himself—we are not called to build for the moment, but we are called to build for generations.
Building for the Future
And this is not just about our buildings. This is about our faith.
Because more than once, as a pastor, I’ve been asked: what is the point of faith when the world is burning? What is the point of prayer when injustice persists?
And underneath the questions I hear a quiet assumption—faith is only worthwhile if I get to see the results of it in my lifetime.
One of the major losses of the progressive church is that we have lost sight of something essential: all of us have been eating from trees we did not plant.
We all have inherited a faith that was carried, preserved, and passed down by people who believed without seeing. Who prayed prayers they never saw answered. Who held onto hope in seasons where there was very little evidence that there were things to hope for.
Nevertheless, they left a foundation of faith for us to stand on so we might leave one for others. So the question becomes: Will we continue to trust God when we do not eat the fruit of what we have planted?
Bearing Fruit
On his way to Jerusalem, Mark 11:12-14 says Jesus sees a fig tree from a distance, covered in leaves. Hungry, he approaches it and under closer examination discovers that it was “in leaf but not bearing fruit.”
This is what happens when churches fail to build for the future.
From a distance, things look vibrant. There are activities, programs, and engagement in our congregations and communities.
We attend the right protests. We host the relevant teach-ins. We have the right flags waving in front of our churches.
But under closer examination, we are hemorrhaging money. We are drawing down our endowments. Wages are not keeping up with the cost of living. Burnout is rampant. Membership is shrinking. Discipleship is dwindling.
We are in leaf but not bearing any fruit.
A Good Foundation for the Future
And this is where progressive churches must improve. It is not enough to care about justice—we must also be strategic about how we pursue it.
I have observed a persistent myth in progressive spaces: that moving toward financial strength somehow compromises our integrity. But what if the opposite is true?
What if financial sustainability is what allows the church to do real justice?
We know how to give our space but struggle to generate revenue. We know how to respond to crises, but we lack long-term financial and operational strategy. We know how to show up in the moment, but neglect how to build for the long term.
Being well resourced allows us to:
1. Provide sanctuary for the vulnerable
2. Substantively fund organizing efforts and community initiatives
3. Support staff with livable wages and stability
4. Invest in long-term communal and institutional transformation instead of short-term activism
Without these, our impact will always be determined by our capacity to survive rather than our capacity to thrive.
The early church was instructed not just to believe, but to store up treasure as a good foundation for the future (1 Timothy 6:19). And if we are not careful, we will sacrifice ourselves on the altar of doing “business as usual”—while watching our churches close and calling it justice ministry.
Passing Down an Inheritance
Progressive churches do not have a generosity problem. We have a sustainability problem and must develop a theology of generosity and stewardship that envisions the work of God continuing beyond this current generation.
“For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Houses and fields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land” (Jeremiah 32:15).
Therefore, we must have faith to invest in and envision a church beyond us. Because the church that will change the world tomorrow is being built—or neglected—today.
And like the generations on whose foundations we stand,
We are called to act in faith now.
To build with intention now.
To invest with courage now in a church that our children, and our children’s children, will one day inherit. Our hope in God is the foundation, and our stewardship determines whether that foundation will last.
1 Psychology Today has an interesting article called “How We Dream of Our Future”, and they claim that humanity’s fascination with the future is wired into our DNA. “How We Dream of Our Future.” Psychology Today. Accessed September 25, 2025.
2 Baptist News Global, “It’s Hard for Most Americans to Find a Progressive Church,” March 19, 2026.
Rev. Darrell Hamilton is the Executive Pastor at First Baptist Church in Jamaica Plain He is an ordained Baptist minister and graduate from Wake Forest School of Divinity where he received his Masters in Divinity in 2017, and earned his degree in Political Science from the University of Central Oklahoma in 2012. His ministry and leadership is centered on advancing diversity, inclusion, and advocacy for the vulnerable and marginalized to inspire our world toward greater justice and love for all people.
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