How has Individualism Impacted Society and the Church?
Rev Charlie (November 2025)
Ever since humanity grasped at autonomy in the Garden, human beings have been inherently sinful and, by extension, selfish. Augustine of Hippo famously referred to the human condition as ‘incurvatus in se’, meaning ‘curved inward on oneself.’ However, for most of human history, an individual’s cooperation with the clan, tribe or kinship group has been essential for survival. The concept of the individual was not embedded in ancient cultures as in modern Western society; and a person’s “identity” would have derived from their relationship to others. Today, in the West, we cherish our right to autonomy, independence, self-expression and personal agency above all else. In short, we are wedded to individualism. We are a society that tends towards the ‘me’ rather than the ‘we’.
The question of how we got from there to here is a hugely complicated subject, and not the purpose of this article. Suffice to say that Christianity, the scientific revolution, political and economic changes, the sexual revolution, and modern technological advancements have all had a part to play in leading us to a hyper-individualised society. Consequently, families are crumbling, commitment of any sort is waning, and face-to-face communication is declining. Parallelly, loneliness, mental ill-health, and depression are on the rise.
The problem is not that we see ourselves as individuals, rather that we have taken it to the extreme. From the outset, the Bible makes it clear that we matter as individuals. Each one of us has been made in the image of God, who has a purpose and a plan for our lives. One of the fundamental assumptions of Western civilization is that the poor, powerless, uneducated person is worth something; a concept that is rooted in Christianity. Your value is what you are worth to God, and in God’s eyes you are infinitely valuable. We must be careful not to throw the baby out with the bathwater.
That having been said, the Bible makes it equally clear that God never intended us to be independent. Rather he has created us to be dependent on him and interdependent on one another. Paul’s teaching about the ‘body of Christ’ demonstrates this particularly clearly:
For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.
(Romans 12: 4-5)
One of the most pernicious heresies of our day has to do with the idea that we can have a ‘private faith’ disconnected from the Church. But a Christian who wilfully separates himself from the Church has effectively dismembered the body of Christ, to his own detriment and that of the Church. As an individual one might ask, ‘what can the Church do for me?’, but a true follower of Jesus will ask, ‘how can I serve Jesus and his Church?’ Christianity places tremendous value on the individual, whilst excluding individualism.
Broadly speaking, the world has three possible responses to the matter at hand. The first is to embrace individualism; but this has led to the erosion of vital social structures, such as the family and the Church. The second response is to go in the opposite direction, which generally means a move towards communism (or some other form of autocratic government). Whenever this has been tried, individuals have been reduced to dispensable cogs in a very large machine. The third response, and one that is currently being trialled in the West, is to form clans or tribes based on political affiliation, gender, sexual orientation, race, and so on. This has proved extremely divisive and has led to the rapid polarisation of our society.
Christianity offers us a better way. A way that enables us to value all individuals equally and celebrate their unique gifts and talents, whilst being part of Christ’s body (his physical presence on earth), and experiencing the unparalleled unity of the Holy Spirit.
For many, the idea of surrendering their life to Jesus is frightening and feels somewhat oppressive, yet that is the only way to discover one’s true identity and experience genuine freedom. A life curved in on itself can only be remedied through repentance (turning away from all that is wrong), faith in Jesus, and imitation of his character.
During the last supper Jesus told his disciples:
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13: 34-35)
The next day Jesus ‘bore our sins in his body on the cross’. To love as Jesus loved is to lay down one’s life for the other. We cannot love perfectly as Jesus did, but that is the kind of love we aspire to, and with the help of the Holy Spirit, we can move steadily closer to it.
There is no doubt that individualism is hurting our society, and to some extent the Church. The remedy is to reject the idolatry of self-worship in favour of worshipping Jesus; the only one who can teach us how to live well in his world.
