There is much ado about the number of young people missing from the church (18-35 year olds) and rightly so. Ed Stetzer has done the best research that I’ve seen on this very real issue with the Church in America. The question being asked is how do we reach these people?
My response is not scientific. But, as usual, I feel fairly committed to my opinion. Here’s the problem:
- When we become territorial as pastors and volunteer ministry leaders and fail to replace ourselves, we have a leadership problem.
- When we view methodology as sacred, we have a problem of relevance.
- When we over-emphasize non-essentials and treat them like core doctrines, we have a problem of scriptural integrity.
- When we preach materialistic hyperbole, we have a credibility problem.
- When the message we preach does not mirror the message we live, we have a congruency problem.
- When the directives of Jesus are simple and focused and we teach a broad, undisciplined message, we have a problem of mission.
- When we focus on reaching a particular generation at the exclusion of others, we have a problem of isolation.
- When we fail to appreciate the needs of a diverse culture, we have a problem of tunnel vision.
- When we fail to understand cultural and sociological trends, we have a problem of elitism or separationism.
If we focus too much on who is missing, we may actually recreate our current problems, institutionalize those problems, fail to really correct the core problems of the Church in 2007, and then realize our current
generation gap problem again- only delayed a few decades in the future.
If you want to see missing generations return to the Church, then begin being the church as opposed to being an archaic, frightened, nice little boys club where grannies dictate style and decor and men who lack control in their own homes, jobs, and lives exert their repressed desire to weild authority over a limp wristed, undecisive, lame 7th Heaven type of a pastor.
Simply focus on the mission of Jesus and live it. Communicate Biblical truths. Live out loud. And, expect to see people’s lives redeemed. This is no weak Jesus that we serve. Yet, we treat Him as though He is unable to function. We are not helping Him. We are serving Him as a great privilege. Let’s go for it and stop being so tentative in our ministry perspectives.
Filed under: emerging church, missional church
Amen Travis! I had the honor of leading a young adult to Christ today and I am always amazed how open people become to Christ when we genuinely love them. She came in my office and poured her heart out. As I listened to her I was also listening for the Holy Spirit to speak to me about her. And He did! When I shared with her what the Holy Spirit laid on my heart she was amazed and said “I need to repent!” WOW!
So many things come our way to distract us from the mission of Jesus. Many of these things have caused us to repel those outside the church. When we are known more by what we are against then what we are for then there is a problem!
I think that one bad rap a lot of new churches get is that they are soft on sin or water down the message. I think people want the message minus the hype or hyperbole. Then, if you are in this because you love Jesus and the people God has placed us on the planet with, things naturally come together.
Unfortunately, it seems that instead of pastors and Christians being missionaries, we are an assembly of quality control inspectors giving the thumbs down to whoever isn’t measuring up to our pharisaical standards. At that point, we are missing the point.
One big thing that I see missing in many is transparency/being genuine. The “hype” I have seen is a tradition of being theatrical (in church). Are we flexible enough or sensitive to the Holy Spirit enough, to adjust how we “do” church and how we personally relate to those outside the church? Paul was intentional about communicating effectively to the Greeks & relating to their context while still maintaining the integrity of the gospel.
Travis, I remember you saying in a sermon years ago that you would be glad to see the church filled with the unchurched (paraphrase). That has stuck with me over the years. Last Sunday there was a wiccan guy sitting on the front row when I was preaching and he attends 3 out of 4 Sundays. He wears all black and a long trench coat which makes some of the older folks nervous. Imagine how nervous they would be if God filled the place with people like him! Well I am going out to get them! Tonight I will be going to the community center to play video games with 18 -29 yr olds 99.9% of whom are not Christian. That is my new tradition. Last week I was there and I was able to minister to a young couple who would have never stepped into church.
Finally, I highly recommend the new book Unchristian, by David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons. http://www.unchristian.com/ This book confirms and goes a step farther then Ed Stetzer’s research. The book proposes a new generation sees Christians, in general, as Unchristian and I believe it!
Great post Travis,
I think you have spoken my heart in a way that it has never been done. The key frustrations in my ministry have been outlined. I do not pastor a new church but a turn around church and have been teaching these truths for 8 years. Change is coming. Thanks for being willing to speak out.