I noticed, or perhaps woke up, to a disturbing realization recently. I looked around my church the other day and realized the people I used to rely on being there on Sundays and connecting with are slowly disappearing. In fact the number of people in their 20's and 30's (with the exception of our College group which has been doing pretty good at keeping the kids involved) has been declining. Some have left for various reasons, some just don't come to the main services. Those of us who are there have been there for years, but you rarely see a new face. This really disturbs me. I've been praying about it a lot. Maybe its just my perception of the situation. I know numbers aren't the sign of a healthy church, and I'm not trying to say that's the issue here.
This has been the main topic of thought for me lately, which I think means perhaps I'm supposed to do something. Dan Mayhew said this week at HS group as he taught that sometimes you know God is leading you to do something because the idea just won't leave you alone, it keeps needling you. Well that's what's been happening to me lately. I can't leave this idea behind. The question is what am I to do? I have no clue what my role is to be in this endeavor. In fact the idea is daunting. But I know I really want my church to be a place where my generation, my friends, can feel comfortable coming together as a body and seeking the Lord together. I want to spur others on to meet God and grow in relationship with Him and each other. I want to be relevant to the culture we are in and not tied to traditions of the past which make no sense to us. Yet I don't want to give in to the culture and have it be our master. It would only lead us to be irrelevant again in a few years! I want to be able to bring people who aren't churched there and have them feel comfortable journeying to know the true God. Right now that's not something I can honestly say I would do. I've been making excuses about this issue for too long, because I truly do love the people there.
I took a first step this week and met with a trusted pastor at church and explained my heartache over the issue and my desire to do something. My second step is to say it out loud in this forum too. Now I can't just forget about it and not respond because you all can hold me accountable. I have only ideas so far, and no true word from the Lord on what to do. So far all we've committed to do is pray and seek the Lord further. For now I am careful in not getting to attached to plans and ideas. I'm resolved only to take steps forward in the realm of prayer and petition, and to just wait on the Lord to lead and inspire us to move forward. Better his plan and timing than mine, that's for sure!
There's a whole generation of people in their 20's and 30's who are definitely interested in spirituality in Portland, but they aren't comfortable usually in the standard traditional church setting. Which means they'll go look to Buddhism, Hinduism, Wicca, you name it. Sometimes I think this culture is so obsessed with being different that's the main draw to some of these faiths. Most often they are so turned off by the "Christian Right" they won't step foot in a traditional church. It can represent so much hatred, bigotry, and ignorance to them. Whether that's true of the local church or not doesn't matter, those issues still plague our ability to reach this community. They seem to know that's not what Christ is, but they can't separate it. One of the only answers to this is that we truly need to be the essence of Christ in this community. They need to see him through us.
I want to reach this generation without losing the key values and core of the church. We can't let the pendulum swing so far that we lose sight of what those who've gone before have already learned. The one thing I'm most afraid of is ending up with all younger people and no elderly wise counsel anywhere in sight. I would be so misdirected without the mentors I have in my life. I definitely think we can't forget the call in Titus 2 to have the younger trained up by the older generation. If everyone is young, you totally miss out on these discipleship opportunities.
I've been reading up on the Emergent or Emerging Church movement lately. This is the kind of church my friends and I are drawn to. Its characterized by lots of free expression of thought, art, media, interaction, value of the "sacred" and core values Christ demonstrated (helping the needy, poor, cast outs of society). I am drawn to this too, but some of the statements I've been reading from these churches and leaders, and trends I've seen are very close to bordering on heretical. Not all of course. There is a group that is emerging for a reason! This generation's church will and has to look different. Just think about the technology changes we've had in the last 10 let alone 20 years. We can't think doing church the same way we always have will work. Its just like putting our heads in the sand and hoping to ride out the storm. I want to be careful though not to just follow some fad that in 10 years from now we look back on and laugh at. Plus we know formulas don't work. We need to uniquely move forward in the mission field God has for us, it may end up looking very different from what others are doing.
So if you feel led, please pray that God will guide us in this new endeavor whatever it may be. Pray that he would raise up the core group that will passionately care about this idea and get involved. If you have thoughts on any of this feel free to share. I'm a verbal processor so that's part of what this all is.
4 comments:
Great stuff here. I'm finding myself a bit out of place as a 20something Christian, especially living in a Christian mecca of sorts (Colorado Springs). I know that sounds funny, but I guess I really feel too isolated from the rest of the world. One of the reasons I loved Seattle was because there was so much diversity. It really opened up my eyes to seeing how my faith really meant something, instead of being caught up in a evangelical bubble.
However, I will say that the diversity that attracted me, which, consequentially is the same diversity that attracts people in the emergent church, really could be taken out of hand. The term "emergent" is so hard to categorize, so I don't want to stereotype it; however, even though some emgergence can be profitable, it's been taken to the fringes in some respects, so that the culture now transforms the church, instead of vice versa. Relevance has always been something with which the church has struggled. In it's best moments, relevance expresses itself in the form of taking the truth of the Gospel, and presenting it in a current and understandable way to the culture. However, as the church goes more and more into a post-modern phase in it's history, the tables are being turned. Now, cultural values are shaping the theology and practice of the church. We're adopting values that are largely aesthetic and popular, in the name of cultural relevance. Which is fine, except that it has the potential to override relevance in the name of truth.
I like a lot of the ideas in the emergent church. I am also very wary of it. Have you read any Brian McLaren? He's kind of the godfather of the emergent movement. Really interesting stuff. I like him, though I highly disagree on some issues.
Check out this thread on my favorite online forum, artsandfaith.com. It's a thread about relevance, the emergent church, truth, culture, etc. (note: you might have to register, but it's free, and you should anyway, because it's an amazing forum!)
I think it's wonderful that God has put this issue on your heart. I've got to say that for me personally, I feel really alone and out of place when I go to church lately. For me, I don't think it really has to do with me not enjoying the service itself; I simply find it excessively difficult to develop friendships and community. People in the church seem to be so hit and run, if I may use that term. Quick fix. As a guy in my 20's, I'm not looking for the perfect aesthetic environment; I just want friends and community to be able to rely on. I've attended an anglican church downtown Colorado Springs a few times, and sat in the back around the same people. Every time, during greeting time, I sat akwardly alone, and NO ONE out of the 150-200 people came up and greeted me. I was effectively a ghost.
What people really need is to feel like they belong. Is that going to come through a more relevant church service? I don't know; but I do know that we'd see a TON more people in their 20's and 30's at church, if they felt part of the community; it people would make a higher effort to reach out. And I don't mean just saying hi to strangers at sunday service; I mean creating a life environment where people are supported week-round. If the church has committed a true spiritual crime, it is that it has allowed individualism to creep in, and no one has done a thing about it. People like me aren't going to sit around and wait for people to show up and start reaching out. We're going to move on.
Anyway, to tie that back in with the point, I think that the part that the Emergent movement gets most right are the ideas about community, providing a life-pattern where people can find support and friendship for every part of their lives, not just go to a support group to learn about fasting once a week.
Anyway, great post, good ideas, I miss being able to discuss this kind of stuff with people. The Christian bubble I'm in really lends itself to isolation and loneliness. Maybe I should come back to the NW!
I'll be in prayer, for sure.
Oh, and finally, check out my new blog! See it here.
Hi Eucharisto! Thanks so much for the post. I love what you say here and I totally agree. The more I talk with those of like mind here the more I hear the call to community more than changing the facade of what we do (music, environment etc...). That is one of the main things I think we need to focus on. Thank you for your prayers. We need it.
Could it be people aren't attending for practical reasons, like having little children? I've often thought that if the church near me had a playgroup-type worship where parents could come bring their young children, bond with God and with each other, it might make them feel closer to the community. It wouldn't have to be Sundays, maybe Saturday morning. Just a thought.
Hi K- Thanks for visiting my blog. Yes we definitely have lots of parents and kids running around, but it would be great to have the possibility of worshipping together with the kids. We met this weekend to pray for God's direction and one of the things we had mentioned repeatedly was that there are a lot of single parents in our area. Apparently we started a bible study for the single parents that goes on while our Wednesday night Kids Club runs. Its been a good success and I think we definitely need to do more of this kind of thing.
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