The age of Church is over — or is it? Lessons from ‘Toy Story 5’ for the future of the church
Photograph by OGPawlis via Wikimedia Commons. Own work, Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.
Rev. Dr. Michael Woolf
This summer, “Toy Story 5” gave us the latest installment of a Pixar classic, as Jessie the Cowgirl, Sheriff Woody, and Buzz Lightyear dazzled our screens again. This time the toys are in the fight for their lives, as screens have taken over the lives of children, and they must face the fearsome menace of the Lilypad, which threatens to make playtime obsolete. One phrase that struck terror into the hearts of the toys has a strong resonance with today’s church: “The age of toys is over!”
I have been in countless meetings where many people wring their hands over the fate of the church. Facing a steep decline in attendance, especially in the liberal spaces that I have pastored over the course of my career, the outlook can seem bleak. I recently asked a candidate for ordination why they would want to give their life to a dying institution, and I meant it as a serious question. It’s easy to focus on what we don’t have — money, people, and cultural power — and I can find myself drawn to our lack instead of our gifts. No one has outright said it, but the tenor of those conversations can basically be summed up as: “the age of church is over!”
That fatalistic exclamation comes early on in the movie, but what we see are toys that show a remarkable amount of staying power, even if screens threaten to push them out. While not every kid is as committed to their toys, the dazzled faces as Buzz Lightyear toys descend on a school playground or the way that the main character Bonnie and Blaze are able to find friendship through their shared playtime experiences, shows that there is still plenty of life in these toys — and that gives me hope for the future of the church as well.
To be sure, the data seems to bear out the dropping church attendance. Since 2007, the percentage of those who have attended a church service at least monthly has dropped from 54% to 40%.[i] That certainly seems like a catastrophic collapse, and I don’t think that church attendance is coming back to levels last seen decades ago. However, there was some good news recently as Exploring the Pandemic Impact on Congregations published a report that showed median in-person attendance increasing to pre-Covid levels this year. There is still a remarkable number of people who are engaged in religious life in America. We’re not dead yet.
It might be that the age of toys and church is over, but God is not done with us yet. I have Jessie, Woody, and Buzz to thank for that lesson.
No one can tell what the future holds, but I don’t think that I would count the church out. We are in an in-between time, where few institutions hold the moral capital that the church has, even if fewer people are interested in sitting in a church pew. In 2025, we saw many clergy and denominations enter the fray against ICE’s campaign of dehumanization to great effect. Faith-based institutions are among the few organizations that can tease apart the difference between what is moral and what is legal, and that is exactly what we need in today’s America.
What matters is that we continue to speak prophetically, bringing the values of Jesus into the public square. If we do that, then we might find that there is an audience; whether or not those people actually end up in our pews is not the point. The church is like toys; both are meant to be used. It is through play that toys come to life, finding their purpose, and it is through our commitment to standing up for the vulnerable that the church can find its relevance again. If anything, the past year has shown me that people are listening.
It’s not likely that we will ever go back to the “good old days” — toys are not going to supplant screens and people are not going to come back to our churches in droves. But I don’t think that matters very much. We are always moving forward, and there is still so much wonder and joy to be had in our churches, even if it’s different and less institutional.
It might be that the age of toys and church is over, but God is not done with us yet. I have Jessie, Woody, and Buzz to thank for that lesson.
Rev. Dr. Michael Woolf is senior minister, Lake Street Church of Evanston, Illinois. He currently serves as the co-associate regional minister with the American Baptist Churches Metro Chicago. His book, published in 2023 by T&T Clark, is titled “Sanctuary and Subjectivity: Thinking Theologically about Whiteness and Sanctuary Movements.” He is also the co-founder of Challenging Islamophobia Together Chicagoland, an initiative that brings together people of all faiths to counter Islamophobia from a religious perspective.
The views expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of American Baptist Home Mission Societies.
[i] Pew notes that their surveys pre-2019 were conducted by phone, with subsequent surveys conducted online. Additionally, since 2020 they have included virtual participation (for example, live-streamed church services) as an attendance category. These changes in survey methods and design prevent a direct comparison of pre- and post-pandemic surveys. However, the trend toward declining religious participation was already being reported in Pew surveys from 2007-2019.
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