Generation to Generation
Yesterday we looked at Psalm 78. Focus again on these verses from the beginning of this psalm attributed to Asaph:
I will teach you hidden lessons from our past--stories we have heard and know, stories our ancestors handed down to us. We will not hide these truths from our children but will tell the next generation about the glorious deeds of the LORD. We will tell of his power and the mighty miracles he did....so the next generation might know them--even the children not yet born--that they in turn might teach their children. So each generation can set its hope anew on God, remembering his glorious miracles and obeying his commands. (Psalm 78:2b-4, 6-7, New Living Translation)
Yesterday I made brief reference to three big complaints about church. This came from Dieter Zander, co-author of a book called Inside the Soul of a New Generation. He tells about visiting with some college soccer players in southern California back in the early 1980s. He had encouraged them to visit his church (a very vibrant, contemporary church, by the way) but none of them would ever come more than once. As he talked with them about what they did not like about church, he said their reponses fell into three basic categories:
"1. 'Church is boring.' They weren't saying it was boring for the people who went there; they believed that the people who attended church got a lot out of it. But for them personally, it didn't engage them. 'It just doesn't fire me up,' they'd say.
"2. 'Church is irrelevant.' Again, they were sure that other people found it relevant, but church simply didn't connect with the issues they were encountering in their daily lives.
"3. 'There's no one like me at church.' They saw church as a fine place for older people and for families raising their children, but they didn't see anyone in their age group at church.
"Hearing those reasons again and again really affected me, because I saw that, through their eyes, they were right. [Our church was] a wonderful church for Baby Boomers, but my soccer friends felt left out."
Does this sound like anyone you know?
Have you heard comments like this from anyone in your circle of friends, family, coworkers or acquaintances?
I also referred to Leonard Sweet, author of Aqua Church: Essential Leadership Arts for Piloting Your Church in Today's Fluid Culture.
Sweet says: "Notice something about water. Water is a liquid that fills the shape of any receptacle...Every generation needs a shape that fits its own hands, its own soul. Each generation, every person, needs a different handle from which to receive the living waters of Jesus. Our task is to pour the living water into anything anyone will pick up...This is what Paul meant when he talked about our "becoming all things to all men" that we might win some (1 Cor. 9:22). I am a virtual fundamentalist about content. I am a virtual libertarian about containers...Unfortunately, much of the church is as fundamentalist about containers as I am about content, and as libertarian about content as I am about containers...A lot of churches are languishing because they won't trust the gospel to fit and fill containers with handles they don't like."
Have you seen "containers" that some churches use that may turn you off at first? Be honest with yourself!
Reflect also on this article in Saturday's Chronicle on the struggles that churches have in attracting and keeping men. The article talks about a book by David Murrow called Why Men Hate Going to Church.
What do you think?
Finally - make this your prayer:
O God, from my youth you have taught me, and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds. So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me, until I proclaim your might to all the generations to come. (Psalm 71:17-18, NRSV)
posted by Robert Stutes at
8:23 AM
3 Comments:
I thought Pastor Stutes comments about witnessing to our non churched or "secular" friends was an interesting one to say the least. Sometimes, we in the church seem to have a language of our own, and we don't know how to relate to those who didn't grow up as we did. I think when most of us think about witnessing we think about living a Godly life and having our influence rub off on someone, and maybe, just maybe, we will be the difference maker in their life. I know that most of the time if I'm given the opportunity to witness to someone, I find myself trying to sell my church instead trying to sell my faith story or what God has done for me. So instead of really witnessing, I'm trying to sell my church, not my way of life. I once heard an evangelist say that inviting somebody to church was a cowards method of witnessing to someone that didn't know the lord. Not a whole lot of people are good at confrontational evangelism, but everyone that knows Christ should have a story. So why is it so hard to tell that story to others?
After saying what I did on Sunday, I also thought about a powerful learning I received from Andy Stanley - a pastor in the Atlanta area. He has developed a whole-church evangelism strategy called "Invest and Invite." He suggests churches once focused on Invite - knocking on stranger's doors, handing out literature - things that seemed uncomfortable to most folks.
Later there was a more natural emphasis on "lifestyle evangelism" - focusing on relationships. Though this was more natural (and certainly appropriate) it did come up short - in the sense that many of us do not have the equipment to take our friends very far down the path of discipleship.
So Stanley came up with "Invest and Invite." Make sure each one is involved in investing themselves in folks outside the church.
But there was also a focus on Invite. A big part of that was making sure that everything about their church - worship, atmosphere, children's ministries, etc. - would be appealing to folks once first-time attenders did come.
They also found that when the church worked hard on being "user-friendly" to the "outsider," insiders were much more comfortable doing inviting.
So perhaps it's not so much "either-or" but "both-and!"
More thoughts...I ran across this quote from a pastor colleague:
"Pre-Christians can refute how we interpret the Bible, but no one can refute any one of us when we say, 'You are forgiven. I know, because I was forgiven. My wife forgave me once when I didn't deserve it.'
They might not agree about the Lordship of Jesus Christ, but they can't deny that my wife forgave me. And they can't deny that the way I understand Jesus is through the forgiveness he allowed in my life.
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home