Please Don't Start Another
Postmodern Ministry!

By Dann Pantoja

God was there!

God visited a humble gathering of spiritual leaders who desire to touch people with God's love.  It was a gathering called Connecting: A Conference Facilitating Postmodern Ministry.  It happened last October 16-18, 2000 in Winnipeg, Canada.

In that Conference, I experienced the Creator and the Sustainer of the Universe among the hearts and minds of different people who love and serve God.

God touched me through the life of Tim -- a brother who led his team in initiating this Conference.  Their spiritual community went through painful experiences in their journey.  In the midst of a healing process, they sponsored a Conference to communicate the need "to connect a real God to real people."

I experienced God through the story of Karen, a sister who knows what it means to be broken, when ministry dreams were not realized the way it was originally painted in her creative imagination.  And yet her strengthened commitment to please God and to touch people in a real way made me reaffirm my love and commitment to God.

Scott was there.  He's the coolest spiritual leader that I know of.  Not just because of his earrings or his pukashells.  To me, he's the coolest church planter not because of the fact that God used him to plant a church for those who hate church that grew from a handful of people to around 400 people in four years.  (No, he's not boasting about this number-stuff.  Really.  He shared it in the context of his frustration.  He's having a tough time facilitating community life because of numerical growth.)  The coolest thing about him is his willingness to be a wounded healer among his people.  While crying "Ouch!" he radiates joy and shalom.  It's so energizing to be around him.

Then there was Jordon.  He knows and has experienced for real, that life sucks!  But his life shines!  He brought so much sunshine in my life when we had dessert together that Fall evening in Winnipeg!  When he talks, I really keep quiet.  His gentle words are loaded with wisdom from above.  (He's a lot younger than I am.)

Len Sweet's heart and mind always inspire me.  He was the major speaker.  He presented the updated summaries of his books -- SoulTsunami, AquaChurch, and SoulSalsa.

Oh yeah.  I have to write something to justify my title, right?  Please Don't Start Another Postmodern Ministry!  I'm not really sure why I chose this title.  I guess that's the most significant message I heard from this particular Conference.  Whether it's a message from God or merely the effect of caffeine, I'm not sure.  Maybe both!  I don't know!

Let me try anyways... Okay.  Here we go...

Please don't plant a postmodern church just because you're ticked off about your present church!  I was talking to an aspiring church planter during one of the Conference's coffee breaks.  He was pretty enthusiastic about the theme of the Conference: "I'm ticked off about our traditional church so I'm seriously considering to be a church planter...I think this postmodern model is the right method for our generation...I've attended a Willow Creek conference and a Purpose-Driven conference.  But I think the Postmodern approach is the most relevant...This is it, man!  I will plant a postmodern church!"

"Postmodern approach?  Postmodern church planting?" I asked him in return.  "What's that?"

"You tell me," he replied, "You're one of the speakers."

I didn't know what to say to him.

Postmodernism is not a strategic model for church planting.  It's the era we're in.  Actually, the term postmodern doesn't describe our era accurately.  We're both postmodern and hypermodern.  We're both rational and relational.  We're both linear and non-linear.  We're both physical and spiritual.  We're both mystical and propositional.  Postmodernism is paradoxical.  It's not an either/or thinking.  It's both/and thinking.  It's not just a fad or a trend.  It's a worldview change.

Well, why don't you just read Stanley Grenz's book, Primer On Postmodernism?  It's my favorite, especially for moderns who want to understand the postmoderns.

For me, there is no such thing as a postmodern church.  There's only a biblical church, something like The Body of Jesus, localized in the context of postmodernism.  The story, the picture, and the journey of the Body of Jesus must be read from the collection of ancient sacred writings called The Bible (sounds familiar, eh?).  Please don't read it as a textbook on Ecclesiology.  My 20+ years of church planting taught me that, that textbook stuff doesn't change lives.  In my experience, every time our spiritual community dared to trust God in our journey, God shows up!  Not always in accordance with how and when we wanted God to show up.  In fact, my problem with God is that, GodActions don't fit with my spreadsheet plans.

Church planting in the context of postmodernism could mean being a spiritual community who actually experiences the spiritual reality of God in our world.  It could mean building up a spiritual community who would honestly testify of the brokenness and sufferings of this world.  It could mean building a serving community who would do ministries of justice and compassion as a testimony that God is present in this broken world.

Church planting in the context of postmodernism is beyond what this article can articulate.  As I said, God intervenes beyond the how and the when of the church planting team's expectations.

Allow yourself to be surprised by God.

Please don't start a transition process from your present strategy to Postmodern Strategy.  I don't believe that there's such a thing as Postmodern Strategy!  

An older pastor approached me: "Dann, I'm quite skeptic about transitioning our church from Purpose-Driven to Postmodern.  Every time I attend a conference and start the changes in our church, I tend to create new enemies!"

"Please..." I begged him, "do not make your church a Postmodern Church.  Be skeptical when conference speakers like me would sell ideas, programs, and eventually materials about a better church strategy, even if they call it postmodern."

"Now you're really confusing me," he said.

In response, I reminded him of a familiar story about the Master Violinist.  It's the Master (God) who creates music.  The violin (instruments or strategies) will work not by themselves, but only when they are in the hands of the Master.

I admitted to him that, when I was a pastor, I often hand the violin to the Master and would say something like this: "My Master, Head of the Church, please use these strategies the way you have used them in Illinois and in California."

To my surprise, the Master, with mercy and grace, used it!  Our church experienced growth!  But then, I began to regard the violin as a sort of magic wand, and would even use the violin to impose my wishes to the Master.  It was a painful lesson to realize later that the violin had no magic, and that the Master cannot be manipulated.

Right now, I'm waiting for the Master's music (another church plant or career ministry).  Maybe the concert I'm in right now is in a sort of intermission.  Maybe the music piece is playing that silent category in the art of music called rest.  But I'm sure the Master is present.  Whether the Master will play according to my schedule or expectation, or whether the Master would use my instrument (whatever!), will not affect the creation of music.  As soon as I hear the Master's music, I'll start dancing.

Please don't buy multimedia stuff or other digital toys believing that they will postmodernize your ministry.  Postmodern people appreciate multisense-experience in learning and in communications.  

Digital technology, such as a website, may help enhance the people's multisense, interactive experience.  However, it is equally possible to enter into multi-sense, interactive experience even without digital, multimedia systems.

One Sunday in the Spring of 1999, I did the BiComm (biblical communication = sermon) at WavesChurch.  The BiComm was about Prayer: Transcendental Communication.  The main idea was that, we transcend the limitations of time and space when we communicate with God in prayer.  God is beyond time and space.  When we communicate with God, we transcend our time-space limitations.

I used a mix of monologues, PowerPoint slides, and video presentations to exegete and communicate the biblical passage.  My team helped me show clips from the movie The Matrix to illustrate the concept of communication between our Space-Time world and the Great Beyond.

That was a digital, multi-sensory, spiritual, communication experience.  It was a postmodern experience of the Word of God.

But wait!  Don't buy your digital stuff yet.  Hear this...

Last month, Gerald invited me to assist him to do the Holy Communion during a community worship of the Vancouver School of Theology.  Gerald is one of my mentors.  The place of worship was at the Chapel of the Epiphany at the University of British Columbia campus.

It was a sunny September morning in Vancouver (c'mon, believe me!).  The service was very traditional -- the Anglican kind.  The view was spectacular.  The sight and scent of the candles contributed to the mystic aura of the service.  The music--yes, traditional hymns in SATB, sang by the choir--brought me to a sacred level of consciousness beyond time and space.  When we shook each others hands (exchanged hugs with some of them, and remember, most of them were British-Canadians!) during The Peace, I felt Jesus touching and hugging me.  Gerald preached from Psalm 1, Like A Tree Planted by the Waters.  Then after his sermon, he led the whole congregation outside the chapel.  We had a short procession.  We surrounded an oak tree.  Then we served the Bread and the Wine--the Body and the Blood of Jesus.

That was a non-digital, multi-sensory, spiritual, communication experience.  That, too, was a postmodern experience of the Word of God.

Now, you may buy your digital toys.  But you don't have to.  Whether digital or not, you've got to use multisense experience in worship, communication, and education.  You can even be both digital and non-digital.  Get it?

Please don't discriminate based on age.  Gen X and Y ministries are not necessarily postmodern.  According to popular authors, people who were born sometime between 1960 and 1980 may be labeled as Gen X and Y.  (My young adult children hate these market segmentation [beep].)

Stephen (that's his middle name) is a 37-year old pastor.  He's my friend.  After reading a book on reaching the new generation, he made an announcement from his pulpit: "Brothers and Sisters, the Lord has impressed in my heart to be sensitive to the needs of the new generation.  Yes, we will make some adjustments in our ministry style to reach out to the new generation!"

About half of his congregation were Boomers, and around a third were Seniors.  They were very supportive of his vision.  They were very supportive of his changes.  Almost everyone believed that they need younger families and younger people in their church.  (They saw the other church in a neighboring block closed down because they refused to make changes.)  Hymns were eliminated.  The 67-year old organist was gracefully retired.  The sanctuary was digitalized.  The music was a mix of contemporary praise and worship songs, with some Christian R & B beats and Alternative sound.

Here's one of his emails to me: "Dann, At last!  We're a church on the cutting edge!  We've transitioned from a traditional church to a postmodern church."

I don't think so.

Many young people today have come from divorced families.  Many of them do not know what it means to have a mom, or a dad, or a grandfather, or a grandmother.  A multigenerational church can provide the spiritual family that is missing in the experience of many people who belong to the new generation.

This generation need spiritual moms and dads who would embrace a wounded and hurting generation.

One of the prophets of this generation, I believe, is a songwriter named Lauryn Hill.  She knows the pains and sorrows of a young single mom: "Every time I got hurt, every time I was disappointed, every time I learned, I just wrote a song, but the song that touches me the most is the one about my son."

When she was pregnant Lauryn Hill's friends advised her to have an abortion.  They saw her pregnancy as a hindrance to her career as a recording artist.  She chose instead to raise up the child and named him Zion.  Then she wrote a song about her hopes in the midst of her struggle.  She entitled the song To Zion.

She testified later that, "what began as something dark became the brightest and most important thing to me."

Are you ready to embrace the Lauryn Hills in your neighborhood?  Do you have an intentional cross-generational ministry?  Do you have an intentional multi-cultural ministry?  I believe our age-segmented ministries (high school fellowship, college & career ministry, young married couples ministry, seniors' ministry, etc.) should be complemented with inter-generational ministries (youth and seniors valentines party, family camp, etc.).

"Postmodern or not, the church should transcend all barriers--ethnic, gender, age, denominational, economic, etc.  I dream of a spiritual community where all cultures and human variations are appreciated and honored: "The greatness and the honor of the nations will be brought into it." (Revelation 22:26).

Don't worry too much whether your ministry is postmodern or not.  Like Tim, lead your ministry to connect a real God to real people.  Like Karen, allow God to use you as a broken vessel.  Like Scott, be cool in the Lord as a wounded healer!  Like Jordon, admit that life sucks, but let your life shine!

Whatever your ministry style is, be sure that...

God is there!

Dann is a leadership consultant/creative writer/artist/sci-fi enthusiast. Dann is married to Joji, his college sweetheart.  They have three young adult children, Jojie Alethea, L'nielle Joy, and Daniel Byron.  They live in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada.