Wednesday, March 30, 2011
So, It All Begins; Let's Get to It
Today I will begin to blog, but I am not going to begin with a lengthy explanation about why I blog. I am blogging because it can be a format for discussion. Facebook recently has been fun, and the sharing there has been insightful. I have had some exchanges there about the Bible and Theology, but the format is limited; so this is likely to be better. This week I will be preaching on "Will Our Children Have Faith?" That theme has been on my mind much recently as I reflect on the church and the unnerving statistics about the numbers of our young people that abandon their faith as young adults. It is equally unnerving to hear of young people who are quite committed to Christ, and who in some cases are even in Christian ministry, but who want little or nothing to do with the formalized church, thinking that it is now passe'. My thought process at this point is not so much asking the question, "what must we do about this?" as, "what do they wish to get away from?" "How have we so poorly exemplified Christianity that they are so easily drawn away?" However, I am not much interested in what I consider to be the not-so-discerning answers I often hear about the modifications we need to make in our worship style or the songs we sing, or in the kinds of things we preach or teach--in our theologies. These things play a role, and modifications need to be made, but for me they are not the heart of the matter. Today, I am more interested in praxis and priorities. Perhaps the songs we sing need to be changed, but more important is the spirit with which we worship. Preaching needs to impact more the heart, but the question of whether or not our hearts belong to God, leading to life transformation, is more important than whether or not we are emotionally stirred by a thought-provoking story told on a Sunday morning. How we speak to each other at the supper table, or in an Operations' meeting is more important than what the lesson was in Bible class last week. Time spent laughing at the supper table is more important than time spent at the Board Room table. We need to continue to make strides in Churches of Christ in restoring authentic Christian faith and practice, overcoming the unbiblical sectarianism of the past (and we have made great strides!), but consistently living out some simple Christian truths is even more important. Again, don't get me wrong, modifications in how we do church are in order. But I tend to think that authentically lived Christianity is in every generation more important for our effectiveness in passing on our faith than the somewhat cosmetic changes that reflect generational preferences. Forty years from now claims will be made that our young people are leaving the church for reasons quite similar to the claims made now (antequated worship styles, stale preaching and teaching, irrelevant theology), and these claims will be made about church as it will be conducted by those who are now young (if they hang in there). Retention of the young then will depend on what I see as the most important factor for their retention now-the praxis by the not so young of authentically living before them the priorities of biblical Christianity.
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good stuff. looking forward to reading.
ReplyDeleteGood thoughts. I agree that it is about much more than just worship styles. You may be interested in a documentary I saw last fall on this issue called Divided. It is certainly controversial, but I think some of the points it makes need to be taken seriously.
ReplyDeleteHmmm... I put a link to the documentary on my last post but it didn't seem to work. http://dividedthemovie.com/
ReplyDeleteFirst off, I will try to follow this blog often. I think it will be fun, but I think that you are right that it will be a place to conduct some interesting, and hopefully provocative and honest conversation. I think by your own admittance in your post, your question should not be, Will our children have faith? Obviously not every current young Christian will continue to have faith throughout their entire lives, but I believe that most of those who have a real idea of what faith is, will continue to hold their beliefs close to their hearts. It seems to me, and correct me if I'm wrong, is that you are more asking, will they continue to be faithful to the idea of the church, as it is now, imperfect and trying to be better? The "nitpicky" things that are "wrong" or "right" with the church are generally based not on beliefs but on preferences and tradition. The Church has made great strides since it left what Jesus originally intended it to be and became required by a Roman Emperor (whichever one that was), and was turned into a ruling body by the Catholic Church. And now we are turning back towards the original concepts of community, acceptance and giving, which Jesus exemplified for us. There are good things that the Church is doing right now. But I think that fundamentally the Church still has more ground to gain on the original concept of itself. Community is the key, and not just community on Sunday and Wednesday nights, but a community that is constantly living the part of followers of Jesus Christ. I think you are right in saying that the small discrepancies within the Church body are far less important than the intent, faith and motives behind them. Here is the point: Those people who are not involved with the church, are not seeing the intent, and discipleship of the Church through all the things that they do not like. And those who are involved with the Church are not seeing the intent and discipleship of those who are not involved through their traditions and practices that they do like. If the traditions and details could be forgotten and we could all agree that the basics of being a follower of Jesus are what matters, these two factions (for lack of a better word) would be able to coincide much more easily, and further the evolution of the Church.
ReplyDeleteRyan, my main intention was to say, especially to young parents, that the key to the faith of their children is the authenticity these children must see in their parents. Some (young parents and others) today leave the impression that the key to the thriving of authentic faith is a rejection of the traditional church. With this I disagree. There are those trying to pass on faith to others who are very much part of the traditional church; and they can be successful where they live out their faith in authentic ways. The same goes for those who live out their faith in non-traditional ways. So, it is too simplistic to just choose one or the other; and this should be particularly considered by those who are convinced that non-traditionally expressed faith is the key. I think you are right about the centrality of community and the need to live faith out all the time. But I think this can be done in the traditional church as much as in the non-traditional. As far as the need to not focus on the traditions and details, it largely depends, in my view, on what you mean by the details. For example, not taking seriously the sacraments is to my mind a serious mistake. Thinking we can just be lone rangers out there with no consistent connection to church community, is to my mind a mistake (and with this you obviously agree). Tying one's life closely to Scripture is traditional and one of the details the church has always supported in teaching and practice; de-emphasizing Scripture would be fatal. Doing things differently than say . . . the way they have been done in the C of C in which you grew up can be important; in fact some things within this group need to be changed if we are to have the impact both on our children and on society that we wish to have. But this doesn't have to mean a wholesale rejection of everything about the traditional church. BTW, I am convinced that dumping the traditional church can be detrimental to the faith of those leaving, depending on how and why this is done. It also hinders the traditional church when those who see the need for change simply leave. That hampers the efforts of the traditional church in implementing changes to its traditions and details that need to be changed. We need to enhance our "intent and discipleship," but I would like to think this could be done from within the traditional church and not just from without.
ReplyDeleteThank you for inviting me to your blog and I appreciate the intent of it as well. Seems I am trying to sort out some of these queries' myself. I just finished reading two books by Francis Chan that coincide with what you are discussing here (Crazy Love and Forgotten God). You should take a look at them; challenging insight but one to be taken seriously. Bex
ReplyDeleteBecky, I saw your blog for the first time this morning, right after I posted to mine on false dichotomies. You said things about worship that connected with/contrasted with some of my comments on dichotomies. It was an interesting coincidence. My thoughts were stirred by Facebook comments by Blair Roberts and Darrell Buchanan.
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