Posted on 05/14/2015 1:45:17 PM PDT by EBH
A lot’s been made over the millennial generation and their religious life. Why they go to church. Why they don’t go to church. What they want. What they hate.
I’m going to do something different here. I’m not going to cite Barna. I’m not going to quote Rachel Held Evans. I’m not going to link to any articles or blog posts.
I’m just going to tell you what’s true for me, and what I’ve seen to be true of others like me.
I am one of those rascally millennials, by the way. One of those enigmatic, paradoxical, media-dependent, coffee-drinking young people swept together under this millennial umbrella. Except coffee tears up my stomach, so I dropped that stuff.
I was born when a washed-up actor was in the White House. I was crushed the day slap bracelets were banned from my elementary school. I remember hiding in my room with my five-inch TV to watch Friends and Seinfeld and the Simpsons, and all the other shows I wasn’t allowed to see. I don’t remember what it’s like to not have a home computer. I can barely recall a time before cell phones. I’ve never left home without one.
I’ve always been in church. I’ve never left, though I’ve come close several times. I would have left in high school if I’d had the option, but in my house, attendance at my cool, hip, contemporary-worshiping, youth-group-glorifying, moralism-preaching, theology-eschewing McCongregation was a non-negotiable.
So I went. Through every repetition of “Shout to the Lord,” every True Love Waits commitment ceremony, every rapture-ready dispensationalist Bible study, every sermon series on how to make myself into a good, moral, well-behaved person so that I wouldn’t tick off God and bring condemnation to America.
(Excerpt) Read more at theologyinworship.com ...
We get it. Millenials are whiny narcissts.
You noticed the contradiction as well, eh? There were some valid points amid the sloppy, meandering writing.
Well, I agree with him. Quit trying to be everything for everybody. Stop the rock and roll shows and preach about sin, redemption, and grace.
“Gimmie that Old Time religion.” I can dig it.
What I have tried to tell people for years! What my retired Uncle Pastor told me! Contemporary services and their lack of tradition, lack of liturgy, lack of the real Gospel message turn people off. Including myself!
It’s why I ended up in a Missourri Synod Lutheran Church.
Amen!
Salvation, Grace, and Redemption prompt awe and reverence.
It sounds like the author pines for something like the Eastern Orthodox church, or for something like the pre-Vatican II Catholic Church, churches which do not/did not pander to contemporary styles and which offer/offered a rich tradition and a strict moral code.
Clinton?! ;-)
Liberalism is very predictable - it destroys something, calling it outdated or irrational or inefficient, and then it becomes sentimental about what it has destroyed.
Very well written bunch of pompous, ungrateful, arrogant, nonsense.
Many of the criticisms are valid while many are not. It is glaringly lacking is any Scripture while it gives the phony claim to approving of doctrine. There is no acknowledgement of the Lordship of Jesus. Whatever the structure, He is the boss.
“Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” The style may change but the Truth does not.
Liturgy is a style, not a doctrine. Depending on specifics, it can be ok or not ok. But it saves no one.
Another glaring thing is a complete lack of gratitude and appreciation for others other than peers who agree with him.
The author is a talented writer who does not come across as one whose head is Jesus and whose body is ALL fellow believers. He comes across as an ego-centric know-it-all out to condemn pretty much everyone who had authority over him while he was young because HE knows better. Good luck with that. You will likely raise a generation that will turn and bite back with condemnation of your phony liturgical church that is all outward piety with no inward understanding of God’s Word or love for God’s Law or obedience to it.
“The one who obey’s Me is the one who loves Me.” — Jesus.
His critic of entertainment church is valid enough. That doesn’t make him right about anything else.
I think he is correct not wanting to be treated like a patient in a eating disorder clinic. Preach the gospel word for word. Stop passing out donuts and name tags. Stop having “mission trips” to exotic lands when there are probably more in need within a 20 mile radius of your church. Stop saying it is okay to be part of the world and do the things you do because that is the ways things are today and we cannot offend people by pointing those things out. No prosperity gospel unless tied to Biblical points, no cherry picking verses.
You and me both, brother, but my journey started before the “contemporary” slide toward Gomorrah in the LCMS.
Now, we have multiple practices that are riding a horse of a different colour.
:: Liturgy is a style, not a doctrine. ::
Just so we are clear, “liturgy” is our WORK in the worship of God (liturgaiea). It is what we do in worship and, intimately what we SHOULD do in proper worship.
Liturgy is not a “style”.
He didn’t say preach the gospel word for word.
He is giving the failed emergent church blather. It sounds right enough on the surface because everyone focuses on the entertainment-church criticism. Don’t let that fool you. He wants to take advantage of a real flaw to bribe the church into bigger destruction. I say “bribe” because he is taunting with the promise of his and his generations return.
Appreciate the criticism but beware of whose advice you are listening to. He is an admitted doubter who has never really embraced the church. He needs more real Truth than he seems willing to admit. He comes to church saying he is the teacher, not the student.
That generation is VERY VERY vulnerable to false doctrines and false teachers. Maybe they will grow up and really learn what they are rejecting and the error they are embracing. Or maybe they will just arrogantly stick around and try to destroy whatever good is still left in their churches while they strut around like pharisees praising their own humility, liturgy,, charity, etc......all for others to see. Because they are the generation who sees everything as ALL ABOUT THEM.
Sorry, Jonathan. The world may be gray, but sin and salvation ARE black and white. I will, however, agree with him about being prepared to answer tough questions. But, here’s the caveat, it must be done without judgment and with love and humility, and you had better be able to back it up with Scripture. I’ve been asked some very off the wall questions. I’ve taken some VERY strong stands with the ladies I teach in my Bible Study, but I point to the Word as the final authority, not me, and I emphasize that we’re all sinners, saved by grace.
I am in my late 50's and have two millennial sons. I very much agree with what he has laid out in the thoughts above. The Christianity peddled in many churches today comes across as phony. Too often, life as a Christian is passed off as "everything is great and you ought to be grinning from ear to ear every day". That is a phony message. True that all works together for the good of those who love the Lord, but often times we don't get much of that "good" until we check out on this earth. Truth is, life is hard and it is full of pain and disappointment. Sometimes were are fortunate that great blessings are sent our way, but the faith of most of us is tested every day we live. Sugar-coated Gospel is sold in way too many churches. The millennials and many others know it is a phony sell. The article is very good food for thought.
He didn’t but I did. If that is what they hear then if they choose to not submit then it is because they are chaff and cannot use the excuse of the rock church or whatever. They stay lost because of them, period. Right now they have excuses (partially valid) in not liking the party atmosphere in some churches and the tepid feel-good motivational seminar messages.
Yep....contradicted himself at the very end.
Clearly tells the church he doesn’t want black and white.
Yet as you meander through his essay it seems to be screaming for some of the old time guidance of God.
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