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About the Theme of the Week Theme of the Week: Teenage Christianity Topics: Theme-of-the-week, Youth Issues
We have traded liturgy for lattes, hymns for "praise music," sacraments for pizza parties and catechisms for concerts. Innovations completely alien to historic Christianity like short-term missions trips, church-hopping, seeker-sensitive outreach, age-segregation, entertainment-centered services and even clergy in casual attire, have become commonplace and held as spiritually ideal for all ages. The phenomenon spans nearly all denominations and communions across the Catholic and Protestant spectrums, and threatens to turn what once served as creative outreach efforts to youth into integral practices for the entire Church. What happened? As John Stonestreet explains in this week's "ReEngage" video commentary, these trends represent the normalization of an "adolescent" version of Christianity which emphasizes consumerism, cultural and stylistic "relevance," and doctrinal shallowness as essential to winning converts and filling pews. But citing the work of Thomas Bergler, author of "The Juvenilization of American Christianity," John contends that these efforts have done indescribable damage to American Christianity, allowing teenage culture to reshape the Faith in its image and turning out a generation of spiritually immature, consumer-minded Christians whose belief depends on an emotional experiences. But this kind of foundation cannot stand. Christianity is not entertainment, and it does not rely on clever advertizing or trendy outreaches to make converts. It relies on the work of the Holy Spirit through the preaching of the Gospel. And as John Stonestreet discussed recently with author, speaker and pastor, Skye Jethani on "BreakPoint This Week," nothing hurts the Church more than taking the posture of a marketing firm, or resorting to cheap ploys and kitschy imitations of the world's social trends in order to appear "contemporary" and "relevant." As one Christian blogger bluntly writes: "Our kids meet the real world and our 'look, we’re cool like you' posing is mocked. In our effort to be 'like them' we’ve become less of who we actually are. The middle-aged pastor trying to look like his 20-something audience isn’t relevant. Dress him up in skinny jeans and hand him a latte, it doesn’t matter. It’s not relevant, It’s comically cliché. The minute you aim to be 'authentic,' you’re no longer authentic! From a Noah’s Ark themed nursery, to jumbotron summer-campish kids church, to pizza parties and rock concerts, many evangelical youth have been coddled in a not-quite-church, but not-quite-world hothouse. They’ve never sat on a pew between a set of new parents with a fussy baby and a senior citizen on an oxygen tank. They don’t see the full timeline of the gospel for every season of life. Instead, we’ve dumbed down the message, pumped up the volume and act surprised when they get smart." Are entertainment and emotion wrong? Of course not. Are cappuccino shops and contemporary music the problem? Not at all. As John is careful to point out, these things have their place. But the passing whims of youth culture must never be allowed to alter the timeless Faith and foundation of Christ's Church. They cannot substitute for true conversion, or robust discipleship. And no matter how much shallow appeal or elegance they may have, they can never replace the "foolishness" of the Gospel message. We hope you'll take advantage of some of the resources below, and stay tuned as John leads us on a week-by-week tour of the days leading up to Resurrection Sunday, and the worldview of Holy Week. Explore This Week's Theme
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Comments:
I also would have liked to hear a balanced warning. Churches that are too tied to traditional style sometimes fail to consider the Spirit's prompting to make changes that will provide more room for the lost to hear the "foolishness" of the Gospel.