Young Life – Old Church

 

One of the big discussions happening in the Church is that of reaching to the next generation, most who have never and may never darken the doors of a Church building for a variety of reasons. The pool of research is growing into this field, seeking out how the Church can be effective witnesses of the Gospel.

Everything that I have read so far shows that really what the next generation is looking for from those of us currently in the pews is not necessarily a particular worship style or worship, but rather a warm authentic community. Be it a church providing high liturgy and the Eucharist every week, or a more modern setup with a rockin’ worship team and a pastor in ripped jeans. The coming generations (particularly Gen Z and Gen Alpha) are really caring about the authenticity of the relationships and community that their place of worship has, rather than being attached to a certain style of worship (See the book Growing Young by Kara Powell, Jake Mulder and Brad Griffin).

In my lifetime my experience with much of the Church has been more concerned with the form of the worship over the community the participated. I’m sure there are those who share this experience, or have very different experiences. Because of the general acceptance of Christian morality in the West for the last several generations, a form of malaise has grown over our eyes as the culture around us generally mirrors how the Church is called to live.

What has happened in the last 20 years in particular is a vast shifting in the US (something that was already rapidly happening in Canada and Europe) of the perspective of the Church and the Christian message. Now, just like the early church in some ways, we are the counter-cultural force at play. This is scary for many of us, causing us to respond with suspicion and fear to the shifting sands around us, rather than responding with the attitude of opportunity.

This needs to make us take a deep look at our outlook as the Church in regards to our interaction and perspective. We are no longer the pre-supposed middle of the conversation. With polarization on both political fronts, the Church is finding itself being sucked to two extremes that are impossible to bridge. Instead, we need to focus on what we were called to be. In, but not of this world.

If we are wanting to be attractive to the next generations, we must offer something that no ideology, Tik Tok fad, virtue signaling, or political movement can provide.  The Church offer vital and life-giving community centered around the Gospel, which is a life-changing message of hope and new life in a world that is spiraling as it searches for meaning. Our modern world gives us the ability to reach and share with people as unheard of speed, with the truth of an ancient message that has been practiced by other broken, and then made new people for over 2000 years.  

We may need to look at hybrid models of doing things. A sold combination of alternative forms of church (commonly called fresh expressions) and what we commonly think of as the Church to meet the needs of people who are in just as much need of new life in Christ as we are, or the Jews & Gentiles of the 1^st Century AD were. I don’t know what that all looks like, or means. The Holy Spirit is calling the Church to remain faithful to the faith once for all delivered to the saints, while not being tied to how we’ve always done things.

Let’s drop the facade of “doing Church” and instead really live as an intentional community who loves God, loves people, and live sent to proclaim the Gospel, whatever that looks like.