A Generation Vanishing from Church

For a thought-provoking read check out They Like Jesus But Not The Church by Dan Kimball. Even if you don't read the book, the title says it all. I don't agree with all of Kimball's theology, but his basic premises are sound. People under the age of 35 are usually not in church. Yet Jesus is everywhere in pop culture. Shopping malls sell bobblehead Jesus who nods his head up and down as his left hand is raised in blessing. One advertiser says this Jesus doll may inspire you to "exercise patience and forgiveness on the highway." These dolls are big sellers in gas stations. Actress Pamela Anderson has a T-Shirt saying, "Jesus Is My Homeboy." Mike Dirnt, member of the band Green Day, says, "I'm down with J.C. He's cool." But ask the young people what they think of the church, says Kimball, and they come up with different stuff. I cringed when I read this, but it's probably good to know what the perceptions are.

• The church is an organized religion with a political agenda
• The church is judgmental and negative
• The church is dominated by males and oppresses females
• The church is homophobic
• The church arrogantly claims all other religions are wrong
• The church is full of fundamentalists who take the whole Bible literally

My initial reaction was, "That's not fair!" and "We're not like that in my church!" Probably all true. But most of these people don't know any Christians or Christian pastors. Their parents may not have gone to church either. Their impression of Christianity comes from the media and their friends, and maybe a bad experience they had at church in the past.

Welcome to post-Christian North America where the fastest-growing religion is either Islam or Wicca, depending on who you read. (No, not Mormon nor Jehovah's Witnesses, who have almost as many people leave as come in.) The Barna Group, who have surveyed religion in this country for years, say that the proportion of North American Christians was 86% in 1990 and declined to 77% in 2001. It has probably gone down since then because, according to Barna, "There does not seem to be revival taking place in America. Whether that is measured by church attendance, born again status, or theological purity, the statistics simply do not reflect a surge of any noticeable proportions." Kimball says the antidote to this is twofold.

One, remember that this generation loves Jesus. They're very open to talking about Jesus if we cultivate caring relationships with them first. After developing connections, we can start to debunk some of the myths and invite them to check out the church. Question: How many Christians ever hang out with non-Christians? Kimball started frequenting Starbucks to meet non-Christian people. He found plenty of them. Like missionaries in foreign countries, we need to find out who and where the people are. We do not adopt their practices, but we seek to understand first and dialogue second.

Two, like good missionaries, we need to provide "both an apology and an apologetic for the church" (Kimball). An apology for ways the church may have hurt these people, and an apologetic (defense) for who we are and why we are that goes beyond simply quoting Bible verses. Some may need to learn how to do this. It means being able to answer difficult questions. Be of good cheer. Early Christians had to do plenty of this centuries ago, and Christianity seems to flourish best as a countercultural minority movement anyway.

Let the adventure begin!