Monday, August 23, 2010
The Perils of Hipster Christianity - WSJ
This is an interesting article to consider, given evangelicalism's myriad efforts to attract the postmodern, unchurched demographic surrounding it.... Sometimes I wonder if we just try too hard to fit in to the culture, when the opposite is really what we are after, after all...food for thought
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2 comments:
Selling Jesus is unfortunately not limited just to "cool" Christianity such as this author laments. Co-mingling with political movements is yet another way the Church struggles to be "relevant." Once the Church, out of fear, flips the upside-down kingdom upside-down, we offer something no different than anything else. Good news isn't good news if it's just more of the same.
I don't think your comments address the point the author was making, but I'll respond to what I think you are trying to say.
Do you *really* think that the church is 'co-mingling with political movements' in an effort to be 'relevant'? I can understand that comment as regards a very liberal pastor like Jim Wallis, but I think the opposite is true regarding conservative churches, which is what I think you were referring to.
For the great majority of traditional churches, becoming more vocal on social issues is the death knell for the pastor, who is afraid to speak up for fear of a great pew exodus (which does happen - the truth is often not kind to our ears). This is why the church, by and large, has only mutely noted the holocaust of millions since Roe v. Wade.
Indeed, the church bears great responsibility for the many societal ills that we live with today. Why? Because by and large, churches remained silent as lives, marriages, families and communities broke down around them. They failed to speak to the core issues that were attacking the very foundations of those institutions. They chose to blithely maintain the numbers of their increasingly anemic and powerless flocks, at the price of what was going on outside (and sadly but not surprisingly, inside) their own walls. They failed to be the salt and light they were called to be, and we are all now paying the price.
No Ron - churches that do take a stand on controversial social issues hardly do so in an effort to be liked, to be relevant, or to gain new members. Rather, they take a stand because they have courageous leaders who would rather preach the truth at the expense of numbers and ridicule (from both within and without), than preach otherwise to tickle our ears and 'just get along'.
I thank God for those preachers who encourage their flocks to take an unequivocal stand for the truth of God's word, no matter how uncomfortable it may make us feel. Without them I might be just another muted Christian, trying to bend, mold and ultimately change what the Bible teaches into a view that more agreeably fits into the world I see around me (and for that matter, my own mirror)...
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