Mr. McCracken was responding to an opinion piece written by
Rachel Held Evans regarding “Millennials” (i.e. the youth of this generation)
leaving the church because the church does not respond to their needs. (See her
article at http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2013/07/27/why-millennials-are-leaving-the-church/)
She stated in her article “I would encourage church leaders eager to win
Millennials back to sit down and really talk with them about what they’re
looking for and what they would like to contribute to a faith community.”
McCracken mostly opposes this thinking and states, “How
about the opposite? Millennials: why don’t we take our pastors, parents, and
older Christian brothers and sisters out to coffee and listen to them? Perhaps
instead of perpetuating our sense of entitlement and
Twitter/blog/Instagram-fueled obsession with hearing ourselves speak, we could
just shut up for a minute and listen to the wisdom of those who have gone
before?”
He further writes, “And for pastors, church leaders, and others so
concerned with the survival of the church amidst the glut of “adapt or die!”
hype, is asking Millennials what they want church to be and adjusting
accordingly really your best bet? Are we really to believe that today’s
#hashtagging, YOLO-oriented, selfie-obsessed generation of Millennials has more
wisdom to offer about the church than those who have thought about and
faithfully served the church decade after decade, amidst all its warts,
challenges and ups and down?
Part of the problem is the hubris of every generation, which thinks it
has discovered, once and for all, the right way of doing things. C.S. Lewis
called it “chronological snobbery,” defining it as “the uncritical acceptance
of the intellectual climate common to our own age and the assumption that
whatever has gone out of date is on that account discredited.”
But a deeper problem is that Christianity has become too obsessed with
how it is perceived. Just like the Photoshop-savvy Millennials she is so
desperate to retain, the church is ever more meticulously concerned with her
image, monitoring what people are saying about her and taking cues from that.”
He continues, “But at the end of the day, the Christian gospel is defined
outside of and with little regard to whatever itch people think Christianity
should scratch. Consumerism asserts that people want what they want and get
what they want, for a price. It’s all about me. But to position the gospel
within this consumerist, give-them-what-they-want framework is to open the door
to all sorts of distortions, mutations, and “to each his own” cockamamy variations.
If Christianity aims to sell a message that scratches a pluralism of itches,
how in the world will a cohesive, orthodox, unified gospel survive?”
McCracken summarizes his article with this, “As a Millennial, if I’m
truly honest with myself, what I really need from the church is not another
yes-man entity enabling my hubris and giving me what I want. Rather, what I
need is something bigger than me, older than me, bound by a truth that
transcends me and a story that will outlast me; basically, something that
doesn’t change to fit me and my whims, but changes me to be the Christ-like
person I was created to be.”
Now to the comments. Here is a sample
of the 70 plus comments by the readers.
SuburbanRabbi
I think the issue here is far
more complex than having a cool church or a real church, etc. Our culture has
changed dramatically in the past 25 years. America has switched hips to rest on
since the Beatles, the killings of JKF, RFK and MLK along with Viet Nam,
Woodstock and finally the resignation of Nixon. After that decade of change
everything has been up for grabs, including church. Then we had the decade of
"Friends" and the public sex drama of President Clinton and Monica
Lewinsky. Our newscasters don't report news anymore. They make it. Language and
culture are important. Music and technology have shaped our hearts. The church
in America is now at the edge of our culture. That's where we were in the 1st
century. We did OK. We had too. We will still. Keep being authentic and keep
learning about the early church. What they believed is what they did! So what
do we really believe by the evidence of the things that we do?
AmyEdits
I wandered around in church
life for 40 years--mostly Protestant. Then I found a home in the Orthodox
Church. It is deep, rich, challenging, and incredibly worshipful. Why settle
for fragments of the church when you can have the fullness?
geoffrobinson
I am now Reformed, but I grew
up Roman Catholic. And although I have major disagreements now with Roman
Catholic theology, I'll explain really easily why I hated going to church until
I was 16. I was an unregenerate sinner. I would offer for consideration
that many of the issues here is that many of the young hate God and the things
of God.
Bookwyrm
I have been saying some of
these very things, although not as eloquently and clearly. But the reason I
stayed in the church while growing up is that I saw Jesus in the lives of the
saints who worshipped at my church. They were very unhip - some poor, very
old-fashioned, some uneducated (although others were highly educated and
well-off), but they were the genuine article. They lived up to what they
believed and their lives had a grace and peace that I thought was miraculous
and I attributed it to God. They loved me, were interested in me, cared for me
through some awkward years...and they lived lives of generosity.
DrivenB4U
I would offer that you could seek professional help to
repair the damage religious delusion has done to you. Also the young don't
hate god. They've just figured out it's a trick.
Is it just a trick? Is the church to change with the time to be
significant or relevant? Should the
church import the latest music, dress, lifestyle, etc.? If the church in America is currently “on the
edge of our culture” where is the drop off point? Ask yourself, “Is my church providing worship
in a “deep, rich, challenging” way? Or
is worship not the point anymore? Are
members of the church living up to what they believe and emulating Jesus in
their lives and making an impact on others?
What are your thoughts?
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