These guys are telling us that faith and hearing come by being cool enough to relate to today's youth.
People who adopt christinaity because it's cool are missing the boat. John would say when they leave eventually that they never knew us.
And I guess John's robe and sandals weren't the style in those days?
Try and find a youth group not obsessed with Hollywood these days. Check out HollywoodJesus (com or org???). It's embarrassing.
And of course, the "word" should be spoken in 16th century King James English and sung in 300 year old hymnals.
Right?
Making a witness that works is not missing the boat. People who adopt Christianity because they love the lord and are truly believers are pleasing to God.
Jesus didn't belong to a church, he was a jew, and taught that there was a new way. (himself)
Different people need to be reached in different ways. It's what's in your heart that matters.
And being a Christian is cool.
I don't see that at all."I have become all things to all people"Paul wrote and showed by his actions that he would adapt himself and his way of preaching the gospel to the audience so that they could see it and grasp it. The book of Acts gives specific example of how Paul spoke differently to pagan Gentiles (as at Mars Hill in Athens) than he did to Jews.1 Corinthians 9.22
I don't see anything different from what Paul did and these folks are doing. Jesus meets us where we are -- shouldn't we meet others where they are?
However, if some do stay, that is to their and our good.
If youth are put off by Christianity because it seems irrelevant to their lives or 'uncool', it harms no one to speak to them in language they understand and to address issues as the kids find themn, not as we would like them to find them. Does not the farmer prepare the soil for planting the seed? No farmer simply scatters seed over rough, unplowed ground, hoping it will grow. Simply preaching to alienated youth in terms that reflect a well-behaved adult's perceptions of the world is the same think as just tossing seeds on the ground. We must work with youth and gain trust, prepare them to hear the word so that it may take root.
Unfortunately, many won't even hear if it is not cool.
Different tastes for different people. I've been to mega-churches and I now go to a very small, intimate church. Both served their needs at the time.
When I was single, I went to the big church in Silicon Valley. It had a great single adult group with tons of activities. It was great to have a group of Christians to do fun activities. We went canoing in the wine country of California, skiing in the winter, and even a dinner/dance at Christmas. I didn't meet my husband, but I did make great friends with a group of ladies from a wonderful womens Bible Study I joined.
Now that I have kids, I like the small church. I can help out. I know lots of the members. If something happens to us, I know who to call for help. I also like knowing my minister. My brother has terminal cancer, and the whole church has been praying for him. This wouldn't happen in the large church.
No offense, but unless you're twelve years old, you're old enough to know that the media never, never ever gets it right about religion, especially Christianity.
The reporter is playing up the cool angle rather than dealing with the substance of belief. Note how he goes out and gets a poor misled soul from the anti-Christian rock crowd to get a balancing quote. This poor reporter twit thinks these guys are all going to be a major force of leftists because they don't look like conservatives, so that's how he wrote his story. It's wishful thinking on his part. Just because somebody is a little less interested in fighting the gay agenda doesn't mean they're going to go become a leftist. How many people who really care about Christianity would read Indymedia or even Ellen Goodman or Maureen Dowd and says to themselves, "Now that's what Jesus would write!"
Whether these alt-churches are good churches depends totally on what is being taught in the services, not on what these people are wearing. The stuff my church does would have been looked down on in the same way if we'd been doing it fifty years ago, and we are a hard-core Bible-believing church.
>>The bible says that faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
These guys are telling us that faith and hearing come by being cool enough to relate to today's youth. <<
On the surface it would appear that way, but it is not that simple. I am 50 and play bass and sing in our morning worship service. I also teach high scool bible study at my church. I can tell you that music is an important aspect of the Christian experience and always has been - As catalogued in both the Old and New Testaments.
That said, you're not enhancing the experience of a 20 year old with Christian music in the style of Lawrence Welk. Out of curiosity, when you listen to the music you like on your own time, do you listen to much organ or choir music?
If the answer is no, why would that kind of music inspire you in church? It is culture and nothing more. And to reach a people - ANY people - you must speak to them within their own cultural context.
Yes, you can go overboard but then, that is true with everything.
I don't think they are saying that at all. I think they are saying that Jesus will meet them where they are.
Too often we insist that the only way to worship is the way we worship. And too often we, the critics, are simply stifling the holy Spirit.
If these guys are called to worship in s gym, then who are we to say they are wrong? They are going out to where the lost are and compelling them to come in. Its a lot more than I can say about myself. I only wish I had their zeal for bringing Christ to a lost world. Would that I had the vision to turn a gym into a cathedral for the cause of Christ.
Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the rhema of God. The issue here is not specifically the scriptures but specifically the revelation of God. Certainly God uses scriptures but in context this is not a prop for the Scriptures but a prop for the interpersonal nature of God's working in our salvation process. Just my 2 cents anyway.
bttt