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Well, here we are.
We made it to the 21st century, and the beginning of a new
millennium. We survived Y2K
(well, some of us did, at least), and are eagerly awaiting all that this
new era has to offer. Next-Wave
is celebrating its first full year as a publication this month, and in
four months, I will be graduating from college in the class of 2000.
Welcome to 21C.
Before we go any
further into this brave new world, I think we should lay down some basic
principles for ministry in 21C. I have composed some simple ABCs of ministry.
These are not laws, axioms, or methods to be applied to all
churches in all situations. Bottom
line: these are my opinions of
perspective. I guess this
is the beauty of the Internet. Any
poor slob can sell himself as an expert.
don’t worry; I’m
not asking you to buy it. Some of
these ideas are humorous, and some playful, yet some are very serious.
In true postmodern fashion, I will leave it up to you, the
reader, to figure out which ideas are important to ministry in the new
millennium.
A
is for “Authority”.
My advice to pastors and other leaders is this: do not sling your
power around too much. Authority
is viewed with skepticism and approached with caution, if at all.
You are not the authority. Say
that with me: “I am not the authority.”
don’t you
feel better? You are just a
perspective. If you fail to get
this, then “A” will also stand for “Arrogant.”
This will be how many of the new era will view you. But do not
forget, you are still a leader…
B
is for “Boredom”.
Boredom is the cardinal sin for this generation.
They want to be anything but bored.
And you are no different. Don’t
make anything boring - not meetings, not planning sessions, not
conferences, and especially not worship!
Our attention spans just simply don’t work that way.
This advice does not mean put on a show; this can be equally
sickening. engage us.
C
is for “Community”.
Kurt Vonnegut once said, “Communities are all that is
substantial about what we create or defend or maintain in this world.
All the rest is hoopla.” Community
does not happen just because you decide to have a potluck dinner.
Building community takes time, effort, and vulnerability.
But this is where healing can take place and where we experience
God. With a generation of
broken families, broken relationships, and broken dreams, community is
what we yearn for.
D
is for “Disciple”.
That’s what you are as a Christian. You are a disciple, which
means “student.” You are a
student under Christ. What
have we yet to learn?
E
is for “Evangelism”.
In the 21st century, we need continue to share the
Gospel. However, I would
suggest that we do not always do this the same way for every generation.
As St. Patrick learned when sharing the Gospel to the Celts:
Things that work in Rome don’t always work outside of Rome.
He had to re-contextualize his Gospel to a different culture.
Missiology should be the chief area of study for any believer
hoping to awaken this culture to the grace of God.
Author Lesslie Newbigin covers in the subject well in several
books (The Gospel in a Pluralist Society comes to mind).
F
is for “Friendship”.
The Church needs to learn how to make friends and to be friendly
people again. As disciples
and missionaries to this generation, we need to practice our
friend-relationship abilities. This
generation yearns for connection; but my girlfriend Melissa said it
best: “We spend more time
with ‘FRIENDS’ (the TV sitcom) than we do with our friends.
We know more about the characters from 'FRIENDS' than we do our
own friends.” Please step
away from the TV and the chat room.
Start meeting people.
G
is for “Global village”.
Marshall McLuhan originated this concept (I think).
However, the future will have several global villages--
not just one. We will
diversify more and more. Such
diversity requires people who themselves are tolerant and versatile.
How diverse is Christian culture?
Let us celebrate and increase our diversity.
H
is for “Holiness”.
In my own community, many of our songs center on the attribute of
God’s holiness. It’s
just a darn good word. I
believe theologian RC Sproul has a special voice for the postmodern ear,
even though he is considerably rationalistic and modern.
His ministry focuses on the “holiness of God.”
Our ministries should as well.
Why repent if God is not holy?
Our best apologetic is personal holiness.
People need to see that we live differently, but yet
(paradoxically) we are still just like everyone else.
I
is for “I”.
Ayn Rand (author of Anthem and The Virtue of
Selfishness) will probably roll in her grave; but the Church needs
to move from “I” to “we.” Too
many of our programs are individual-centered.
The result is the Church is reduced to personal therapy and
self-help. We need to
re-envision the concept of a corporate body.
True healing can occur when we gain a truer perspective:
the world does not revolve around us.
The world revolves around, and because of, God’s will.
J
is for “Jesus”.
Yep, you guessed it. Everything
we do needs to center around the person
of Jesus Christ. This
concept will not and should not ever change.
Christianity, as a system, will not give life-- Jesus Christ
alone gives life. Faith,
hope, love, truth, joy is found in Jesus and a relationship with Him.
“J” can also be for “Jewish.”
In a multi-cultural world, we need to be reminded that Jesus was
Jewish. Likewise, our faith
is more ancient than we sometimes give it credit for being.
K
is for “Knowledge”. Hosea
4:6 says, “My people are destroyed from a lack of knowledge.” What
knowledge is this? Knowledge
of God. I cannot say this
enough: “Theology is still very
important in the 21st century.”
We need to reclaim our student-ness.
But this goes beyond knowing the material, we need to love
the knowledge of God.
L
is for “Laughter”.
The son of promise, Isaac, was named “laughter.”
Have we lost our sense of laughter in a cynical, sarcastic
society? Could laughter be
the forgotten sacrament? Laughter
is not about the pastor telling a stupid “intro-joke” to every
single sermon. It is about
the open expression of joy. Laughter
is a universal language. As
with all universal languages, I do not doubt God speaks it from time to
time in each of our hearts.
M
is for “Missionaries”.
We need some missionaries to this generation.
Just like a foreign missionary learns to speak the language of
the country that he/she is in, and studies the culture he/she engages,
we need to do likewise. Any
takers? Once again, I refer
to Lesslie Newbigin.
N
is for “Nietzsche”.
Now here’s an interesting fellow.
I would argue that all the core tenants of postmodern theorists
such as Derrida, Foucault, Baudrillard, and Lacan could be traced back
to this guy, Fredrich Nietzsche. Not
all nihilists are postmodern, nor are all postmoderns nihilist.
It is more complex than that. But Nietzsche’s nihilism does
seem to be a dominant attitude for this generation.
Of course, without God— what else do you really have?
The Gospel is the only thing that can restore meaning and purpose
to a generation hurting and calling out in pain.
There is no alternative.
O
is for “Ordained Ministry”.
This generation is raising several young men and women who have
answered a call to serve God. While
some denominations have complained that no one wants to be a
“preacher” anymore, I find this to be far from the truth.
Instead, these new ministers are serving God within the context
of their own passions and pursuits.
Is the ordination process an outdated model for confirming the
call of disciples? Maybe.
How do we restructure ordination so it fits the biblical example
and cultural setting we are in? What
will the clergy look like in the 21st century?
I can only think of the timeless reform doctrine of the
“priesthood of all believers.”
P
is for “Police”.
According to Next-Wave publisher Charlie Wear, if these people
show up, it is an indicator that you’ve had a good attendance for your
skate park outreach ministry. For
more on this ministry, check out his January article about the skate
ministry he is a part of.
Q
is for “Quality”.
Franky Schaeffer (son of Francis Schaeffer) wrote an incredible
book Addicted to Mediocrity.
He addresses how we have reduced the arts to cheesy bumper
stickers and t-shirts. We
have taken the rich heritage of Christian art and ignored it.
Art speaks. The
medieval cathedrals did not just use stain-glass windows as a teaching
device because everyone was illiterate.
The art was used because the Church understood the creative power
inspired through God’s Spirit. They
used it to glorify God. We
give our best to God… not just witty slogans professing a cheap grace
of therapy and politics.
R
is for “Real”.
As Morphius from The Matrix would ask, “What is real?
How do you define ‘real’?”
In a seemingly plastic world of sitcom families and fast food,
something authentic eludes us. We
desperately search for the ultimate experience or at least a close
facsimile. This attitude
requires something of the Church that we may not always practice:
honesty. The courage just
to say, “I don’t know.” And
the courage to just be ourselves— not superhuman, just human.
S
is for “Scripture”.
We need to look at how we understand scripture, in order to be
the church of the 21st century. This
generation is not only hungry for the Word itself, but the history of
the Bible’s development and the study of hermeneutics.
These studies may sound boring to the moderns who just want
“the bottom line” and to “keep it simple.”
But postmoderns realize that complex issues require complex
answers.
T
is for “Truth”.
A lot of fundamentalists get all burnt out over this word.
Saying we lost “Truth.”
(As if we could?) A
lot of people are belly-aching over this monster called relativism.
But what they really mean is that
we are scared because our system is no longer working, and we
want it back. Is relativism
a problem? Yes and no.
It is just the new environment we are ministering in.
Don’t worship and idolize the abstract concept of “Truth.”
Worship Jesus-- the person of all that is good and beautiful and,
yes, true. Truth is more
than propositional (if that, at all).
Truth is the diversity of perspective.
It is the shared experience.
It is the mystery of faith and the mystery of reason.
But “It” is still an “it.”
Instead, focus on Him.
U
is for “Understanding”.
In order to speak, we must first listen. (How’s that for
fortune cookie wisdom?) We
may have a lot to say— this also means we have much to learn as well.
Don’t just study the demographics and assume that if a person
was born between 1965-1981 that they are apathetic and angst-ridden.
Get to know people. Talk
to them. Learn what they
love, hope for, and dream about. God
created this diversity for a reason.
We can worship in the understanding of how beautiful God made His
people.
V
is for “Value”.
Do we really value people? Our
do we just place worth in what they do?
If you have a good job, you are a good person.
If you serve a valuable purpose, you are a valuable person.
This is heresy. People
are not a means to an end. We
need to get beyond the utilitarian view of personhood.
God created all people with value and dignity even in their
fallen state. Not because we
are good, but because God is good.
Jesus valued people. Maybe
our churches are declining in attendance because we fail to truly value
God’s creation. This is
not humanism - this is learning to love the way Jesus loves.
W
is for “WWW,” a.k.a.,
the “World Wide Web”. We
are in the midst of a techno-frenzy.
While I strongly believe we need to be capable and educated users
of these tools, let’s not get burnt out on the gadgets.
Yes, go ahead and have a cool “interactive” site.
But if you spend more time updating the site, than spending with
people... Houston, we have a problem (Next-Wave staff is no exception).
X
is for “Xenophobia”.
In a multi-cultural conscious society, this is a no-no.
Even in small doses. Multi-culturalism
is not about political correctness at all.
But in America, a land where the Ku Klux Klan rallies were held
at churches and thought of as “good Christian fun,” we have a
serious image problem to deal with and a lot of wounds to heal.
So tell me: how white is your community?
For this generation, truth is found in diversity.
That includes diversity of ethnicities, cultures, and economic
groups. Seeking diversity
will mean partnering with other communities and working with other
groups where power is shared equally.
Y
is for “Youth”.
I grew up with a very nice youth program.
But what made the youth group successful was its ability to
integrate these youth into the daily life of the entire Church.
To live in 21C means teaching and showing youth what it means to
live in a community of several age groups and backgrounds.
Not just “working for” the elderly, but also “working
with.”
Z
is for “Zzz”.
This should not be a foreign concept to you.
If God took rest on the seventh day to enjoy His creation,
shouldn’t you? We are
probably most guilty of ignoring the Sabbath.
I know you want to save the world; but we must reject the
contemporary perversion of the Puritan work ethic.
Rest is not bad. Do
not live for your jobs. Live
for God. Live for family.
But don’t fall into the 9 to 5 hole.
Slow down. Get some
sleep. This generation
needs to hear this message, before they become like their parents.
Welcome to 21st
century. Enjoy the stay.
We’re going to be here a long time.
Glory to God.
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