Millenials seek what we all seek in the Church

There was good news for more traditional congregations in a recent edition of Relevant Magazine. Relevant’s audience is the generation known as the Millenials. Researchers and commentators use birth years ranging from the early 1980s to the early 2000s to identify the Millenial generation…that is those who are teenagers now up to people in their mid-30s. That’s an important group to consider for churches who want grow and make a difference in the years to come.

Here’s the good news about millenials for us more traditional congregations. Recent research from the Barna Group and Cornerstone Knowledge Network has found that in reality, 67% of millienials say a quiet church is more ideal than a loud one; 67% say classic is more ideal than trendy; 77% would chose a sanctuary over an auditorium. As Dr. Clint Jenkin explained in the research, “Most millennials don’t look for a church facility that caters to the whims of pop culture. They want a community that calls them to deeper meaning.”

Rachel Held Evans, a theologian, church futurist, and a member of the Millenial generation, said this in her Relevant Magazine interview:

“But I think as soon as [church] crosses over into sort of this consumerism—like church is a show that we go to and either approve of or disapprove of and then leave—as soon as it becomes this show that we put on to try and keep people there instead of go out and make disciples and serve the community, that’s where I see it getting a little problematic.”

The Millenial Generation is looking for a church community that calls them to deeper meaning, to making disciples and to making the world different. The good news for more traditional congregations is that our sanctuary, our music, and our worship style aren’t really barriers to having Millenials as active participants in the life of our church. I think there is more good news here for us, because I believe deep down this is what we are all seeking…to discover deeper meaning in our lives, to love and serve God and our neighbors, and to make the world a different and better place.

I think that’s what we all want.

The Church as a Defiant Garden

The righteous flourish like the palm tree
and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
They are planted in the house of the Lord;
they flourish in the courts of our God.
They still bear fruit in old age;
they are ever full of sap and green,
to declare that the Lord is upright;
he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.
Psalm 92:12-15

At the end of a recent Sunday message, “Determined to Hope,” I told this story. I wanted to share it with all of you because the spirit behind it has really gotten my attention.

Jane Garmey, a writer for The Wall Street Journal, wrote a piece about Kenneth Helphand, a professor of landscape architecture at the University of Oregon. A little while ago, Helphand purchased an old stereopticon at a flea market. It depicted a scene of shelters in French military trenches surrounded by gardens. After a great deal of research, he discovered that gardens were often created in times of war. Gardens flanked the Western front during World War I, Jewish ghettos during World War II, German POW camps, Japanese-American internment camps in the U.S., and war-torn areas of Sarajevo. Today, gardens are sprouting up in the deserts of Iraq.

The gardens symbolize life in the most difficult of circumstances. They are "an obdurate refusal to give in to the horror of the hell so close at hand." In fact, Helphand calls them "defiant gardens."(i)

I had to look up the word “obdurate.” It means “unyielding,” or “stubbornly resistant to influence.”

The Church was formed by Jesus to stubbornly resist the brokenness, evil, and chaos in the world. The Church proclaims life! We proclaim that there is love, goodness, and stability available through the presence and power of Jesus Christ. A big part of bearing fruit is bringing people to a relationship with Jesus. Like a beautiful garden, we draw people to Jesus by the beauty of our witness. Like a beautiful garden, we draw people to Jesus by spreading the fragrance of our love.

The defiant garden flourishes “in the courts of our God” (Ps 92:13). This was a psalm for Sabbath Day. The psalmist stresses how important worship is to our life. In worship we are bathed in the light of scripture. In worship we are watered by preaching, prayer, and communion. In worship, we are nourished by song, praise, and fellowship. In worship we are given the opportunity to return good things to God through giving and serving. In all of these things we are made vigorous and fruitful. The beauty of our witness and the fragrance of our love flourish when we are planted in the house of the Lord.

I see each Christian and every church as defiant gardens that grow hope in a world that is broken and corrupt (Romans 8:18-25). We grow hope in a God who has a glorious future for all of Creation. We grow hope in a God who has a glorious future for those who follow Jesus Christ. It is our future. It is a future open to every person. May we be unyielding in our proclamation of the hope we have in Christ!

(i)Jane Garmey, "Planting Hope: Gardening in Times of War," www.opinionjournal.com (3-21-07).

Why I won't be driving through to get my cross of ashes.

Today is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the Church season of Lent. Traditionally Christians receive the mark of the cross on their forehead in ashes from the burnt palms from the previous Palm Sunday. It's meant to make significant statements about our state as followers of Christ. Christians are recognizing their sinfulness and mortality. Christians are also acknowledging their utter dependence on Christ. They are joining Him in the journey to the cross. Lent is the season where Christians reconnect with Christ's call to take up our cross and follow Him. These statements are meant to have great gravity in the life of a Christian. If taken seriously, they have consequences that are rarely convenient.

That's why I won't be driving through any church or or other trendy, convenient location for my cross of ashes. Drive-thru imposition of ashes is getting increasing attention in the media. (Read here, here, and here for a few examples.) The title of the NBC News article alone ought to give one pause, "Lent made easy: Get your 'ashes to go.'" An act meant to impress upon people the gravity of their circumstances and deep need for Christ has been made "easy" for the convenience of Christ's "customers." Can I get a skinny mocha latte with that? Unfortunately it may come to that.

Making this important day and act of discipleship as easy as ordering at the drive-thru of Starbuck's strips Ash Wednesday of its gravity. If I don't take the time to remember and reflect on my sinfulness, mortality, and dependence on Christ, I will drift toward a convenient faith that "ashes to go" promises. On the surface, this seems to be a hip and relevant adaptation of a spiritual practice. But it sends all the wrong messages about the way of faith. I can't afford to take faith that lightly. No one can.

Wisdom from a biblical perspective.

I read this quote on wisdom in J. I. Packer's Knowing God (InterVarsity Press, 1973). I really like his perspective.

To be truly wise, in the Bible sense, one's intelligence and cleverness must be harnessed to a right end. Wisdom is the power to see, and the inclination to choose, the best and highest goal, together with the surest means of attaining it.

I think we are entering a time in the church and in our culture where wisdom and discernment will be of paramount importance. (They always are of paramount importance, but how often are they employed?)