Posted on 09/22/2010 7:45:49 AM PDT by markomalley
It’s not your father’s church by any stretch.
The congregation is meeting in a warehouse in a neighborhood filled with trendy shops, cafes, and theaters. The pastor—sporting a faux hawk, tight t-shirt, and skinny jeans—is not averse to using salty language or discussing sex in explicit terms. During the sermon, congregants text the pastor questions, which he might answer at the end. The music? Indie-rock.
Welcome to the world of super-cool Christianity.
In his new book, Hipster Christianity: Where Church and Cool Collide, Brett McCracken writes that evangelical churches are frantic to staunch the hemorrhage of young people leaving the church. But, he writes, their ideas for appealing to them may be sacrificing authenticity for coolness.
As McCracken notes in a Wall Street Journal article, Christian leaders are attempting to overhaul the church in an effort to “rebrand Christianity as hip, countercultural, relevant.”
For instance, “wannabe cool” pastors toss in references to Lady Gaga or Stephen Colbert, or screen R-rated films like No Country for Old Men. Traditional church buildings are “out” in favor of holding services in a coffee bar. Worship programs are printed on eco-friendly paper, and many churches go after hi-tech special effects: They invite kids to attend online services.
Alarmingly, pastors are being turned into the new shock jocks. A Florida church designed a web series entitled “MyNakedPastor.com.” (No, he didn’t really get naked—he was being emotionally naked—letting viewers see how flawed he was in day-to-day life.) A Georgia church tried to attract the young with a website that had the word “sex” in the URL. To be hip, after all, is to be shocking.
But are these efforts bringing converts into the church? Are they making disciples?
McCracken says kids, who grew up with high-tech wizardry, are not nearly as impressed with seeing them in church as hipster leaders may think. As for the marketing gimmicks—like “MyNakedPastor.com—young people have grown up with so much of this kind of thing that they’re likely to view them with contempt.”
Second, McCracken writes, the very nature of hipness is diametrically opposed to what the church should be about. “At its core, hip is an individual pursuit,” he notes, about how “I can set myself apart, how I can advance my standing in the word, turn heads toward me to be noticed [and] envied.”
Every generation has sought what is real, what is true, and what has ultimate meaning. While these hipster Christian leaders may be well-meaning, and may see temporary success in attracting the young, McCracken says that “When it comes to church, we don’t want COOL as much as we want REAL.” And, he adds, in a world that is “utterly phony, ephemeral, narcissistic, image-obsessed and sex-drenched, “we want a good alternative.”
Now, please know that I understand the importance of reaching young people with the gospel in ways they can relate to. But new ways of evangelizing and discipling must always be tested in light of their fidelity to the truth and the faith given once for all.
And I’ve found in my own experiences that young people, when it’s explained to them well, are far more impressed with authenticity and the truth.
I thought Christianity was supposed to change us instead of us changing it.
To the extent that “hip” can be achieved without sacrificing authenticity, I have no problem with it. The message is paramount ... the medium can vary.
I have no problem with Christian rock. I have no problem with pastors with edgy haircuts or trendy t-shirts. I have no problem with holding study groups at coffee bars (though it seems that holding CHURCH there might be annoying to people buying coffee). I have no problem with text-messaged Q and A.
Honestly, I don’t even have a problem with a pastor giving honest, theologically sound answers to adult-oriented questions (so long as the audience is appropriate). People, Christians and non-Christians alike, have specific questions ... if the church shies away from answering, they’ll get the (wrong) answer somewhere else.
I encounter a problem when the message is changed to meet the audience. The medium by which the message is transmitted is less important.
SnakeDoc
People want to be cool and hip so that THEIR message will be received, instead of preaching and living the Word of God. Gods Word tells us that his Word will not come back void. Obviously people can't trust God at his word.
We have "seeker" friendly churches to nurse, burp and coddle these "seekers", and they sing praise and worship songs there. How does one praise and worship one they don't yet believe or trust in?
No longer are people preaching Hell, fire and damnation from sin. Its all about a cool, hip, all loving, never angry God.
We don't preach of the awe and Holiness of a righteous God.
Man looks to God as an equal. We no longer tremble at his power, righteousness, and majesty. We no longer cowar in shame at our sin and shame.
You are spot on SnakeDoc.
The message must be the focus, and we should use whatever medium is effective in delivering the message.
Sometimes Jesus spoke in parables, sometimes He used very direct sermons; sometimes He simply drew or wrote something in the sand.
Dude, it sounds like you need to find a new church!
“Sacrificing Authentic for Hip”
Why not have both? There is no reason that a church service (of any denomination) HAS to be boring to younger generations.
Your post is what I mean’t to say if I were smarter.
Though I have many, many friends back there, I have no desire to go back to visit.
In the last 10 years,after I retired,from 39 years in Memphis,TN, then was 3 years near Palm Springs,CA, then 4 years near Houston,TX, now in Middle Tennessee, here is what I have seen in many Churches:
“They are making our teens and young people into celebraties,in lieu of Servants.”
I believe: every Christian is called to be servants (ministers) of Christ and to celebrate His birth, life, deathand to wait for, and expect His return.
If hip is a ploy, people see right through it, they can smell it at three hundred yards.
If you know God, they can smell that too. It isn’t whether you’re hip or not hip. Thats all external stuff. Do you know God? Because if you don’t, whats the point? What do you think you’re selling?
The whole point of the exercise is worship, an expression of love toward God that could take any of a number of forms, but if its real it will be authentic and you’ll be able to tell the difference. Teaching from scripture, which is basic. And teaching how that applies in a practical sense. And prayer, lots of it, and teaching people to expect God to manifest himself in their lives as they follow him.
A second purpose is evangelism, which means you are taking it to people.
What tools you use to that end isn’t too important, whatever works. The tool doesn’t define authenticity; a real relationship with God does. Some folks have it and some don’t and all the noise in the world can’t hide that fact. Thats why one church could do something a bit unusual, and it would be effective, and another even of the same denomination could copy it and just seem silly. Or one could go back to first century forms and be very effective, and another do the same thing and “zip”. Its not the externals. Its the presence of God.
There is another element, though, in my opinion. When you are young in the faith, you will often be drawn to a church that fits where you are in the faith. As you grow, you will often be drawn to another down the road where you get the teaching you need, and then finally as you mature you may find yourself in a place that is quite imperfect but in need of what you have to share. These churches may all be the same denomination or they may not. Its just something I’ve observed, that people will often change pews as they grow, first to a place that has what they need, and later to a place that needs them.
Jesus told us:”Ye are the salt of the earth:....” (Matt. 5:13)and “Ye are the light of the world:.....” (Matt. 5:14)
We must not try to become holy before we to come to Christ; we must come to Christ, then He will make us holy.”
We must not try to become righteous before we come to Christ, We must come to Christ, then He will make us righteous.”
Mark,
my eleven year-old daughter LOVES going to Tridentine Latin Mass with me. All I have to do is mention it, and she’s off to find her church veil. The youngest ones have trouble being quiet, especially the twins, but that’s no great surprise. Like Jobim said, “For Catholics, this is where the Real Presence is, and when treated as such by adults who, in thought, word, and action, convey their sense of awe to young people, who carefully taking note of this.” I couldn’t possibly have said better.
Mike Savage said something once that i realized was true the minute i heard it. That when churches are so in touch that their music and culture are exactly like what we find out in the streets,,,, why would you feel a need to go there?
Exactly. And there is none that are righteous and none that seek after God (Romans 3). The cross is an offense, a stumbling block, to the world, but there is NO WAY to salvation but through the cross. If we try to water it down and make it more palatable, we make it ineffective.
Yeah. I used to be into all that. What they don’t realize is that if something is “cool” or “hip”, as soon as church touches it, it isn’t any more.
I think the way to reach young people is to promote the FACT that authentic, traditional, bread and butter Christianity is the COUNTERCULTURE now. If you want to stand against the bullcrap and the lies, you have to teach them how the leftists have stolen their birthright. I think the Traditional Latin Mass is a perfect place to do it.
Moreover, I think one reason the TLM is so effective is that there is real SOLEMNITY in it. Kids today don’t even know the meaning of the word, and it should be an important part of life. THAT is attractive, not hippy-dippy, happy-clappy, faux-modern music from the 70s-90s with stupid, gay, Jesus-is-my-boyfriend lyrics.
You are right.
I remember being at a “hip” Catholic mass in 1966. It was a folk mass. All the teachers nuns and priests were having a “groovey” time of it. It was embarrassing.
And they’re still doing it! I’ve often wondered, if you’re going to use contemporary music, how do you know when the music you’re using is not contemporary any more and it’s time to move on? That’s why I say 70s-90s. These “alt rock” churches seem to have stopped some time around the point where Kurt Cobain blew his brains out. What’s contemporary now? Is there really such a thing? Hip-hop?
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