a/k

modernism's toll on skeptical youth

When modern church leaders stress about the new church building addition...when they stress about the next week's church activities...when they stress about preaching next week's sermon...then the youth sense a disconnect. For good or bad, their youth have grown up with a relativist mindset and are not interested in debating systematic theology for hours in catechism class. The youth want a church who not only can handle post-modernism, they can articulate a new way of church for the culture. They want a church who doesn't stand on a pulpit not daring to dirty their white shiny robes. Contrary to popular opinion, most teens don't want to do drugs and get girls pregnant. It just happens when their church has given them no compelling reason to be different than the world.

Is emerging the answer? Emerging is only the beginning. Emerging leaders have begun to ask questions that need to be asked, but can they forget their prejudices against people in the church and go back to minister to the church's youth? Can emerging give teens answers without giving them a system? that remains to be seen. i remain a skeptical cynic of all things "churchy". Mclaren's hesitance of the "christian" word is good, but will emerging ever evolve into anything other than an assimilation into neo-gnosticism or liberal christianity?

Only time will tell. For now, I remain a "dirty" jesus nut who dares to ask questions that would get American fundamentalist teens kicked out of their Christian homes or schools. Times have changed though. Baptist modernism no longer has the answer. It's a scramble for pivotal children's hearts.

If you would like to continue reading more, the previous article is called test, the next article is called Anabaptist, me?.