Measuring

Measuring

"When we examine the text that supports our calling we can only find one thing that we are commissioned to do - develop people in a very specific life that reproduces Jesus' life in them and others.  If we are measuring anything else and finding satisfaction - even baptisms and hands raised for the sinner's prayer, we miss the mission."

My first reaction to this quote is uneasiness. The word develop jumped out at me and I started to feel like, "It is not my job to develop/manufacture anything in people's lives, it is the work of God in Christ by the Holy Spirit". My second reaction was that I better be careful how I impose my theologizing on Jesus. It seems to me that his words were something like… "Go and make disciples". So it seems that what I do or don't do has something to do with the strength and health of the kingdom of God.

How do we measure success? Should we measure success? Is it wrong to count baptisms? Is it wrong to ask people to raise their hand to pray the sinner's prayer? Is it wrong to count people? If we accept the scripture as God's very words to us (not in a verbal inspiration kind of way… for us Nazarene types) then counting people, baptisms, and decisions is pretty important. It sounds to me like those Pentecostal Christians were pretty excited about 3000 new members.

Measurement is important. It is important for a shepherd/pastor to look at his/her flock; to see if they are healthy; to see if they are reproducing; and to see if they are getting along. Hmmm… It doesn't take too long for the sheep analogy to break down.

While counting sheep is important, there are real dangers to be avoided. Bodies in pews/chairs does not necessarily mean that disciples are being made. Saying the sinner's prayer is not an incantation of magical words that guarantees new birth. The measurement of a pastor's success is a lot like the moving of the spirit; which is like the wind that blows where it will and we are not sure where it comes from or where it's going. It's kind of a mysterious thing and in a way we should love the endeavor, feel good about what God is doing, but having an uneasy security that we have not yet "attained all this" but find "satisfaction" in pursuing and building the kingdom of God.

But measuring is important especially to us as pastors. Measuring helps us to avoid blind spots. If fewer people are spending time learning the word of God together, it is good to know this. If no one ever "prays the sinner's prayer" this would be good to acknowledge. If a church is a group of saints who gather on Sunday morning but are not being "equipped for works of service", it is our role as prophets, teachers, pastors to do whatever we can to ensure that this equipping is happening.

What should we measure? Both quantitative and qualitative measurement is important. The first thing to measure is attendance at the worship service. There will be a good many who will throw up their hands in horror at my saying that this is the most important statistic within a local church. It is kind of like a doctor taking the temperature and blood pressure of a patient. If a patient's temperature is 98.6 and blood pressure is 110/60 it indicates a certain amount of health. The patient still could have cancer, but these are the first things a doctor looks at.

Generally speaking, if more people are coming to worship service, it is likely that more people love God enough to be close to his people. It is more likely that people are sharing in fellowship and have a sense of mission together. So attendance is the first indication of relative health and of any unhealthiness that may need attention.

Most of clergy are pastors of small churches and it is not hard to keep attendance. I kept individual worship attendance in all my churches, even when attendance was 200+. That may seem a bit creepy to some, but we would take time in staff meeting to look at the flock and consider the needs of the people we were seeking to lead. Some of the most effective pastoral work was done by 12 lay pastors who had 10 to 15 families each whom they prayed for and kept in touch with. The main question we would focus on as we gathered every six weeks or so was "How are people doing?".

Worship attendance is important, but it is obvious that posteriors deposited on pews can be very misleading as a sign of success in the endeavor of making disciples. Each year I would prepare a report, for my own information first of all, to share with the staff, church board and made available to the church as a whole. We would count the number of people who were studying the Bible with other Christians. The assumption was that people would tend to become better disciples if they did in fact spend time with other Christians learning what the Bible says about how we are to live as Christians. 

In the same way, we would count the number of people who had a place of fellowship in the church. It seems obvious as well if we are to reproduce the life of Jesus it will be evidenced in sharing redemptive, transformational fellowship with other disciples. We would count the number of people who had a place of ministry in the church and or community. The final quantitative measurement was giving. As a pastor I did not know what each individual gave but I knew how many giving units there were, and the level of these giving units each year. I would compare these quantitative "numbers" year to year as a measurement of how we were doing. Of course we would also count baptisms, new members, and new converts.

But all these numbers can be great and was still fall short of making disciples i.e. reproducing the life of Jesus in our members and in others outside the church. As a pastor, with staff, board, and lay pastors I would be scouting about for qualitative indications that there might be some disciples around. It is the anecdotal, observable indications of mercy, grace, love and commitment that are the confirmation and evidence that the kingdom of God is among us. All the quantitative measurement can appear positive, but if there is bickering, gossip, and disunity there is something less than discipleship happening.

So where do we as pastors find our satisfaction? We must find our satisfaction and security in the foundational reality of a personal, intimate, warm, grace full relationship with the God of the universe. It is not the evidence of outward success that fills the God shaped void in the heart, is our relationship with God. In the same way that which appears less than successful need not ever rob us of the joy and peace of this closeness to Him. One of Mike Ginese’s greatest quotes, "nothing you can do will ever make God love you more or love you less".

Finally a Facebook quote from Mike Schutz, not sure if it is his or someone else's:

Those days when I'm tempted to think well of myself because others do, and hate myself because others seem to, I am reminded to once again read the gospels. Folks loved Jesus, they hated Jesus, no matter. He still: loved them, told them the truth, and went to a cross for them. And after they killed him, he came back and messed with them some more. Gotta like the Man's style.

Random thoughts:  Ken Ardrey

Thoughts of a 20/30 Something Friend

To begin answering: It's connection. My age group is a wandering one. We are used to transient life-styles; whether it's moving for jobs or school; moving for relationships; or just transient in thinking. It is true that most of my group believes "whatever" is okay. We don't like to feel judged or that our lives can't be our own. And the way the modern church is presented to the world is: "you must radically change who you are, or you can't be accepted."


A lot of churches are not welcoming and can be cliquey. Grace is not practiced nor presented. Our generation has seen a lot of destruction and hate. That resonates with us. And although we may not show rebellion like our parents, we show acceptance and tolerance. That's what we desire.

We grew up as latchkey kids and in age of transforming technology. But yet, we are a generation who can easily look back on our childhoods and come together as a group with great commonness. Children of the 80's and 90's are a vastly different group of people than our parents. And we have LOTS of questions.

But as I first stated: we like connection. We like feeling we belong to something or someone. Hence looking back at common themes of our childhoods and we feel connected to another person. When I finally felt I could be a part of a church, it was because of connectedness. I felt that I could belong in the church body and possibly offer something to it. And also, being a part of a church where I am not judged or scolded because I may have done something "sinful"; such as sex before marriage or even getting drunk.

I love Christ. I love that his life was miraculous. I love that Christ was REAL and made the effort to connect with all people. The church does not represent the Christ I've read about in the Bible and the One I believe in and desperately want to follow.

I am not sure if that answers what you're seeking. And I may have other things to say as i re-read what you wrote. I also may not even represent the vast majority of my generation. I think my journey with Christ is an extremely unique one; I trained for ministry and at one point was highly involved in ministry. But I was also extremely hurt by the people of the church and I walked away for a long time. Yet, I came back when I allowed my heart to be open to the Holy Spirit and the guidance of it.

And now my prayer is: God, allow me to be open and not judging of the Church.

Old Person's Response

There is so much to think about in your response. You begin with connection. I am assuming that your thought is that people really need and desire connection with other people. I will try to avoid getting into the issue of whether virtual connections can substitute for face-to-face, real life, risk taking relationships. This is a very real issue and my bias is pretty evident in that statement.

From the Christian perspective (stepping back from the perspective of the institutional church) it is clear in Scripture that Christians need, dare I say are commanded?, Instructed?, At least more than advised… Christians need to be connected to other Christians.


Just from observation, I think your generation places more value on family and community than my generation. Even those who have had some uncertain and painful times in their family experience have a deep sense of family loyalty and affection. My kids are so much closer to each other than I am with my siblings.

The question you raise is, is it possible to be connected to other Christians without radically changing who we are?

Without a doubt, churches need to be more accepting, more shockproof, and willing to love, accept, and engage the myriad of lifestyles that are encountered. Jesus was totally accepting of the "whatever" people whom he encountered. They loved being around him. He was strongly criticized for the company he kept. I'm not sure if you have been to the Lowell Nazarene church. My dad built the church. I went to high school in Lowell. During my ENC days, we were in the streets, in the bars, in the emergency rooms with kids we knew, OD'd on drugs. Many of these kids came to faith and not only formed a community together but were also loved and accepted by old time Nazarene "church" type people. At high risk of idealizing the "good old days", this is the way the church should be.

At the same time Jesus did not accept the lifestyle of those who are down and out in sin (the adulterous woman, the dishonest tax collector, Mary Magdalene etc.). He was more than confrontive with the up and outer lifestyle as well (Nicodemus, the rich young ruler etc.).

I do think we need to be more tolerant of lifestyles that may be different than ours. Love and acceptance, however, does not mean affirmation of lifestyles that are not Christian. The whole gospel message is that by the grace of God, through Christ, by the Holy Spirit in us we are "radically changed (in) who we are".

You may ask well who is to say what is Christian and what is not Christian? This is a trap that results in never knowing anything for sure. So whatever I do, whatever I feel like, if I mess up, it's okay because I'm always trying to figure out what is Christian and what is not Christian and the only one who can know that for me is "me".

For example if you go out and get drunk my response is going to be "what the crap are you doing?” (First response) "I mean what the heck are you doing?" (Second response) "I mean what in the world are you doing?" (Pastoral response). And if anyone tells me that I need to be accepting of drunkenness because I need to show God's grace; my response is "yeah right".

On the other hand the Christ response is to love, respect, and accept any drunk, "living in sin", homosexual, atheist, or "whatever" person that God sends my way. Being in Christian community means that I love you too much to let you off the hook for alcohol abuse. Being in Christian community also means that you give others permission to be involved in areas of your life that may need guidance and correction.

My generation thought the previous generation was totally clueless. And in many ways they were. But we had much to learn from those who had faced life-and-death, the total depravity of the Holocaust, and wanton unrestrained bloodshed. We needed to listen to them. But they had a whole lot to learn from us as well.

In our day, more than ever, the church needs to be a place to listen and learn from one another. This begins with leadership. If I were to advise you on church shopping, which is a very annoying process, I would advise looking for a pastor and leadership were not afraid to consider/respond to ideas different than their own.

Because we live in a "whatever" world, in a way, we need to be a little less sure of ourselves. We need to be not as doctrinaire. There will be fewer “decisions at the altar” and more patience in process toward God. We will need to be less defensive and more engaging. Not engaging in a gracious milquetoast kind of way but more engaging in that we as Christians engage our "whatever" world to consider the reality of God and a relationship with him through Christ. The way of Christ is not a "whatever way". It is a narrow way, a focused way, and a way of freedom.

I know how easy it is to become disillusioned with the church. It is Satan's greatest tool. It has been one of my biggest battles. Somehow I think though, that Christians must live in community; a community where generations listen and learn from one another, grow together, and help people outside of faith come to faith in God.

I will be praying that you find such a community; or maybe even form such a community. Maybe your call to ministry is to gather a few searching, seeking Christian and or non-Christian people to figure out, if you haven't quite already, if the "whatever" lifestyle is legitimate, adequate, and true. I am convinced it is none of these.

Kind of rambling thoughts but we love you and are praying for you.

More on Does It Matter? 

Also: Is personal evangelism tacky?

I have been asking myself some questions. I have been asking the same questions of some millennial type people in their 20s and now edging into their 30s. I have been puzzling over the growing number of those who say they believe nothing in particular. One senior at California Lutheran University says "I like the ambiguity of going without a label. I prefer to stress the importance of acting with compassion rather than choosing a predetermined system of beliefs."

I have been asking some questions. Does it matter what we believe? Or is benevolent ambiguity good enough? If so why does it matter? What is problematic about benevolent ambiguity?

Benevolent ambiguity sounds so benign, humble, noble and even possible. On the surface, lurking underneath however, is an arrogance, naïveté, and serious error. How dare we say that someone's faith is incorrect and wrong? That is a subject, closely related, that needs attention… Another time.

The "whatever", "nothing in particular", "benevolent ambiguity" faith is inadequate and incorrect because it has no foundation. The existence of God has everything to do with how we live and how we decide that which is right from wrong. If there is a God, higher power, some ultimate order to the universe, then any individual from their speck in the universe perspective is totally unqualified to decide that which is right and wrong, functional, or compassionate. If there is a God, and even most "nothing in particular" people believe there is a God or a higher power. In other words they believe in "something" that is transcendent, above them, and beyond their understanding. My thoughts are not as much focused on the atheist but rather on the large majority who do "believe" in some kind of God.

It is the height of arrogance to live in a universe believing that one person in isolation from the One in whom the Scripture says, " He is before all things, and in him all things hold together" (Colossians 1), the same God who orders the incredible balance of the universe also rightfully provides order for the functionality of human behavior. Figuring things out as we go apart from a higher authority is totally inadequate.

Who says so? Observation clearly shouts out that humanity, left to self direction brings greed, domination, violence and anarchy. The human obsession with self interest is very real. As individuals left on our own it is impossible to avoid being conformed to  the patterns of the world that is around us. The admonition of Scripture is to "be not conformed to the patterns of the world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." (Romans 12)  We choose what patterns we conform to and if we decide to make up the pattern as we go the reality of misdirection is inevitable.

Alone, on the road, without a map, GPS, or guide we will find ourselves lost. We need a GPS view, the look from above to find our way in life. As Bob Dylan says we gotta serve somebody. Every individual chooses whom they serve, if not God then some other higher power, or we become our own God rejecting the view from above.

What does this mean for we who call ourselves Christian? Call me an old fogey but I still believe in evangelism by living like Jesus, speaking of Jesus, and purposefully encouraging those outside of a relationship with the creator God that there is a better way. If that seems unchristian to you and we are coming from a different direction. But for those who can still buy this "old-fashioned" idea, our role is to prod those "unfaith" people around us to think about Godness. Help them consider the existence of a God who is over all. And if there is such a God how do we come to know him and live in harmony with his ways. If we can somehow believe that "benevolent ambiguity" is not good enough then the "love of God will constrain us" . We will want those we care about to know God.

I am now moving into a seminar on personal evangelism, which many in our day consider an outmoded perspective. But I still think that somehow we people of faith must in obedience to the scriptural call and as an expression of the love of God within our hearts, being used as the tools of God in seeing people come from unfaith to relationship with God through faith in Christ.

The fact remains that people are empty until they find their rest in God. This is something that is unable to be proven, but the people around us "know" this even if they don't know where to look for it. So maybe it is not as hopeless as it seems, to bring the "nothing in particular" people to faith. They are looking for God but don't quite know it yet. 

Does it matter ?

A USA Today article, October Nine, 2012 speaks of Rebecca Cardone, who grew up as a Methodist in Texas and is president of the student body at California Lutheran University. "But don't call her Protestant or even Christian", the article says she is one of the new "Nones" – atheists, agnostics, and folks who like her,  believe in "nothing in particular."

"I like the ambiguity of going without a label" she says. "I prefer to stress the importance of acting with compassion rather than choosing a predetermined system of beliefs." Those who believe "nothing in particular" are now number two in the USA, 19.6% and climbing.

Research by the Pew Forum says the increase of "Nones" is among men and women, those who do and don't have a college education, upper and lower income and urban and rural areas. 32% of the Millennials identify themselves as believing "nothing in particular."

The question we Christians face, and I believe the "None" demographic needs to address is, does it matter? Thomas Oord, Nazarene theologian, asks some questions. "Does the relative lack of religious affiliation by Millennials mean their views on same-sex marriage and the environment have not been properly nurtured by religious communities? To ask this question a slightly different way, the Millennials think more like Baby Boomers if they showed up for worship services more often?"

Or he says, "Should we think religious communities have not adapted well to the ethical convictions of Millenials? Could the views of Millennials represent a new form of authentic religiosity the congregations should be embracing?"

Doesn't matter what we believe? Or is ambiguity good enough? If so why does it matter? What is problematic about benevolent ambiguity? These are questions we must be addressing and I believe if we are to be evangelistic into the next generation, these are questions we must naggingly interject into our societal consciousness.

I am at the point of puzzling over this. Think about it!  What do you think? Why does it matter?

Apologetics

From Dave a very good "old" friend from high school ...

liked your post on youth not in church.... your 'why' they are christians was/is right on...need some good classes on apologetics

I agree Dave. Seems like people are not required to think through what they believe.

Now that I'm Older

A response from a barely 30-ish mom with 3 baby/toddlers  :)

Thought-provoking subject. I am no longer a "20 something" but I am not too far removed yet. This culture is definitely changing fast. I remember when I first graduated from college how difficult it was to transition into being an "adult" in the church. Even though I was married and had a job, I still felt like I fit in more with the teens than with adults. I remember having many a discussion about how the church was losing its young people. 

Almost 10 years later, the bleed seems to be getting worse. My church has several young families, but very few 20 somethings. Part of me almost thinks youth groups are the problem. Teens are conditioned that they are their own separate entity, and then all of a sudden when they graduate, and they are thrown into the general population. A lot of youth groups seem to have more of an emphasis on entertainment than true spirituality. When the entertainment stops, so does the desire to go to church. It is sad to see how few of my friends from growing up still go to church. Some still consider themselves Christians, but don't see the need to go to church. Others are very hostile towards the church and everything it represents.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts with me. It is a very thought-provoking issue and reminds me to pray for the younger generation. Hope your family is doing well!

Reaching the 20 Somethings

Last year there was a youth group reunion at the church. There were something over 40 young people who gathered together with their former youth pastor, Dan Milette,  to reminisce, have some food, play some of the old games, and share what has been happening in their lives. It was a great evening, they closed with a circle time of sharing and prayer. Here was a group of young adults who believed in God, accepted Christ as the revelation of God, believed in prayer, and had nothing but good to say about being with their fellow Christians.

Most of these young people had nothing to do with the church, traditional or otherwise. "What a tragedy" I thought, "good, talented, sincere young adults believe in Christ but do not follow him." How do you explain that? Is it the fault of the traditional church? Is it because we are not using the right "methods" to reach them? Do we old folks need to speak a different language? Would that really make a difference? Do we need a "hip" church, just for this new unique generation? Do we need to lower the expectations? I have so many questions and nowhere near enough answers.

Russ Long wrote an insightful and troubling article entitled "The New Normal”. I am going from memory but I believe the statistic was the average Christian attends church 1.8 times per month. Is that really the new normal? Is that all we can expect from this generation? I keep coming back to the principle that Christians need to be together. Christians need fellowship, teaching, encouragement, and accountability. Without trying to prove anything I am going to assume that it is a good thing for Christians to be together, on purpose. 

So how can we encourage, instruct, confront, even affront these 20-something pseudo-semi-believers? Again it is so sad for someone to believe one thing and live another. This kind of life can never be truly fulfilling.

Would 20-somethings be committed to a 20-something church? Is a kind of extended youth group the answer? It is hard for me to think that Never Never land is the answer. Young adults are not teenagers anymore. They have jobs, marriages, and now babies and being together as Christians entails logistics such as childcare, job schedules and such. Somehow I think as well that there is a richness and synergism in the mixing of generations. Somehow a church for the baby boomers alongside the church for the old-time hymn singers, next to a church for fortyish middle agers doesn't ring true.

An often quoted, perhaps tiresome reference is that "the church is one generation from extinction." If this is true, and I think it mostly is, the involvement or noninvolvement of 20 and 30-year-olds who believe but do not practice their faith is a pretty serious thing. It strikes me that if these young people are to practice their faith once again, it will not be because we old guys try to be "hip" enough or media savvy enough to convince/coerce/guilt them into our churches. A bunch of old hippies playing guitars is not going to make it. There will need to be young adult missionaries, called by God, with perseverance and prayer go into all “their” world and teach and preach the Christian faith, calling for response.

This is more than a small challenge. It is said that the postmodern mindset is abhorrent of commitment. The 1.8 Sundays a month statistic seems to indicate that this is true. How do you teach commitment to a generation who is committed to non-commitment? As baby boomers, in the age of Aquarius, we were pretty lawless… Anything goes. Do your own thing. As long as it doesn't hurt anybody.  And other similar “tritenesses.” We were however committed to a cause, any cause, righteous, unrighteous, wise, foolish… We were looking for a cause. We were rebellious but we were going to change the world.

The young adult generation seems to have the lawless thing down pretty well. But they're not real rebellious. They don't seem to gravitate toward idealism. The attitude tends to be "whatever". Whatever you believe is okay. When it comes to faith and spiritual matters I think I observed a dearth of critical thinking. You don't need any reasons to believe what you believe. Just believing in crystals, ghosts, the end of the world, polygamy, or "whatever" is fine. I believe that part of the answer is for us as Christians and especially for young adult Christians is to confront our world to think critically about what they believe. The Christian faith is more than a blind leap into Pollyanna land. Christians need to know what they believe and maybe more importantly why they believe. We need to understand why we believe God, why we believe in the Bible, why we believe in the outlandish claims of Jesus Christ. The "whatever" philosophy of life is the default of this generation but it is far from adequate.

I have often thought about those great kids, now moving into adulthood, in this last year. I'm deeply saddened that these kids that I know and love are not living their faith. And faith not lived is not faith. I feel like looking for these kids, meeting with them, reading the Bible and praying with them, and helping them live what they believe. I am not really in the position to do this. They would complicate the life of any church. They would challenge traditional assumptions and we oldsters would challenge theirs. The church would not be neat, it would never be what it once was, but would be greatly enriched as the body of Christ.

Response from Darnell, a good friend from summer youth camp

Hello Mr. Ardrey,

Here are my thoughts in numbered order. These thoughts are just from my experience and things that I am going through and that I have observed in people in their 20 somethings. It is interesting that you emailed me as this is something that I have been thinking about intensely as of late. I would love to know your thoughts on my thoughts.


1) It seems that the world moves extremely fast and most people in their 20s are just trying to find time for everything. Not even just for activities but even for thought. In the mix of thinking about work, relationships, finances, the future, and time to relax, often times I think it can be hard for people in their 20s to find time to not only believe in God but to increase their faith. I was in this stage about 2 years ago until an unforeseen situation forced me to increase my faith and act out my faith. In this time what I have realized is that I previously believed that faith and the rest of my life were separate, however now I have come to the realization that the 2 are connected. In fact 1 helps the other.

I think the reason that 20 somethings do not act out their faith is because they view faith and life as separate rather than together, and just like other aspects of life they prioritize it by what they believe needs to be accounted for first mentally. I think that this was created from an environment of hearing the bible but not learning how it relates to every day activity. And after a while, it just becomes chatter rather than a tool. In a time when everything is about output, the only things people put real effort to is into the things that directly effect them or they perceive to directly effect them. And I think that many people in their 20 something’s may know the word but do not understand how it helps them in this lifetime.

For example a bachelors degree helps someone get a job, a good job helps someone pay bills, a good relationship helps someone become happy, and all of these things have a very obvious and clear meaning to their lives thus they are viewed as necessities. But I have realized how these things are enhanced greatly when they are done without neglecting faith and I am starting to understand why more and more each day. So to be able to effectively explain why the word helps in addition to what the word says has changed my life over the last year or so although I am still working on it.

2) I have recently become extremely interested in apologetics and the defense of Christianity. I came to realize that I did not know why I believe, and there were questions I could not answer. I downloaded a bible application on my phone called thruthebible that goes through each book of the bible and explains it as it goes along (this catered to my needs as I was always exhausted when I came home from work and put reading the bible off). I listen to this bible app every day for several hours. I started to read books on apologetics and the history of the bible and the evidence of God in creation.

I found a church that teaches the word and digs in the word but the pastor also makes it a point to always help us apply his teachings but the pastor also makes it a point to always help us apply his teachings to every day situations in a passionate way using clear examples. At first I started doing these things because I knew I was supposed to, but once I started to learn a bit more and understand it my life has changed dramatically and now I find myself thirsty to learn more for myself and grow in my faith. 

While the word is extremely important, I believe my generation is called the why generation. And after a while, if the why is not given, and the how, and the logic, it kind of goes in 1 ear out the other for most people. Our generation was not brought up being taught why it is true or why it is logical or why it makes sense or how it really happened, or where is the evidence in a clear way beyond just faith when it comes to religion in terms of things that we can physically see. In my recent studies my faith is no longer just a blind faith but it is an obvious faith that would be very difficult for anyone to break. And it would not be because I do not pay attention to my doubts or avoid thinking about my doubts, but because it makes sense to me. And now that it makes more sense to me there is a greater sense of urgency. 

A lot of it goes back to how church was for me when I was younger. I was almost brainwashed to believe rather than taught why and how to believe, and the teaching of why and how to believe is what created greater curiosity I think. I do not think it is a hip church that is needed for this generation as that could potentially compromise why people are there, however I do think that we are a generation where resources and information is readily available and we absorb so much of it and everything is explained in and out and the reason of importance to an individual is always given with everything. So I think that can be missing as well.

3) The last thing I can say would be that I think the world we live in makes people feel that it is ok not to come to church or ok not to act out their faith as once again it is a what have you done for me lately kind of syndrome. People have a way of convincing themselves that something that is not ok is ok. So for example things people might say to themselves to make them think things are ok are: “It’s ok, I will go to church next week, its not a big deal”, or “ I am a good person and I believe in God, I don’t think he would keep me out of heaven for that”. It is this backwards logic that gets people off track.

I realize now that faith is more than just about heaven and hell, that is just the outcome but there is a beautiful journey that people miss all the time. Also in regards to the first excuse I will give an example. When I was in college I would go to accounting class sick and skip psychology. The reason was because I knew I could pass psychology with an A without going and I knew I could not afford to miss accounting because I may miss important notes for the test. People do not feel it is necessary to go to church often times because they don’t feel they will miss anything important because usually the application aspect or the teaching aspect or the understanding aspect is missing. People have a way of lying to themselves to believe sin is no longer sin, or that they do not have to live a holy life, or that if they mess up once they are finished so they do not bother even trying. I think these are all lies the devil instills in us. 

Our generation hates laws, it hates being held accountable, it hates waiting for rewards, it needs to see everything now and understand why, and if we don’t like what we hear than we will use backwards logic to justify our actions instead of digging so we grow. The things I have tried to do with myself as of late is teach myself to love the “laws” of the bible and understand why they help (similar to realizing that my mom was always right when I was younger even though I didn’t understand why at the time), I have tried to have honest conversation with myself through really digging and considering every aspect of my actions to try and find what is right (this is a tedious process as most people can’t do it for themselves and for someone to help them it would take very special consideration and attention to detail rather than a “mass meal” kind of message). And I have also tried to be hard on myself but I have realized that my actions are not what gets me into heaven, but my actions do demonstrate a love for God that I personally believe helps advance and progress in life.

I fall all the time, and I do not justify it, I realize it is ok to fall, but I do not lose site of the fact that I still should fight the good fight. It’s a concept I am still working on for myself. But I think this is something that the church should probably try to cater to if it wants to reach people in their mid 20s. 

Darnell:

There is so much in your writing that is insightful and challenging for every Christian and especially the 20 something generation. I will try to respond to some of the things that initially stand out to me. The first observation is that "the world moves extremely fast". Already you have seen dramatic seismic cultural change in your lifetime. Can you believe that when you were born people sent letters by mail? If you receive a letter, it is read, you think about it then respond. Now communication is instantaneous, voluminous and overwhelming. You can talk to four people at once on your phone. You can watch six NFL games at the same time. Information and demand for response militates against quietness and thoughtfulness.

One of the main things I think the church needs to remember is that the body of Christ is counter-cultural and will not always interface smoothly with the "world". To be a Christ follower will mean making decisions on purpose to be different than the world. To take time to think. To do less twittering and more pondering. So maybe the first step in postmodern evangelism is for people of faith to say STOP! THINK! DO YOU KNOW WHAT DO YOU BELIEVE?  It looks confrontational when written down but not if that personal interaction is in the context of a trusting personal relationship. So yes the world moves extremely fast.

The perception that faith is a separate compartment from the rest of life is a key issue as well. At the end of many of my sermons I would encourage my people to ask an important question, "SO WHAT?". So while STOP! THINK! Is our challenge to the world perhaps our ongoing challenge to those in the community of faith is "SO WHAT?". It is a different question but is still a challenge to think about faith and make it practical.

You mentioned apologetics and the defense Christianity and that you suddenly realized "I did not know why I believe". It is not by accident that the word instructs us to love God with all our heart, soul, MIND, and strength. To understand why you believe is an anchor of stability and lifeline of hope when life is challenging, weird, painful, uncertain etc. So that even in the rough times there are those things you "know" with your mind that are still true. For example I have Parkinson's disease, which is incurable, progressive, and has totally changed my life. But I still "know" that 1. God is real 2. God is love 3. God is at work. 

So to challenge this generation to think about what they believe means that we need to do the tedious, exciting, life changing work of knowing what and why we believe.

You mentioned the "I can be a Christian without going to church" syndrome. There is lots to respond to with this issue but somehow the church needs to be more than a spiritual filling station where you fill up with some unleaded spirituality. The sense of "I have to go to church" or "I should go to church" is something less than Christian. It is when Christians gather together and share a common mission that the church moves beyond the "ought" and "should" to the fulfillment of God's personal call to mission together with other Christians.

You state that "our generation hates laws, it hates being held accountable, it hates waiting for rewards"… It is quite powerful as you speak about learning to love the laws of the Bible. This is the heart of Christian holiness, that as the prophet says in these days God will write his laws on our heart. To love the ways of God shatters the bondage of legalism and brings freedom to live God's way. So to a generation that hates laws, the message is that when you love to live God's way, it doesn't feel like a law at all. This is a pretty big challenge and there are no easy answers.

So as you refuse to let yourself off the hook by seeking easy answers to ultimate eternal questions you are preparing yourself to interface with your world a loving, persistent, gentle, Spirit led way, asking "what do you believe?" and "why do you believe that?", And see what God does from there.

"So What?"

"So What?"

In the Sunday paper, this past week, USA Today published an article entitled "God, religion, atheism 'So what?' That's what many say." The article speaks of two men.When Ben Helton, 28, signed up for an online dating service, under "religion" he called himself "spiritually apathetic." When Bill Dohm, 54, "turns his eyes toward heaven" the article says, he is just checking "the weather so he can fly his 1946 two-seater airplane. Neither men are atheists. They simply shrug off God, religion, heaven or the ever trendy search for meaning and purpose.

Their attitude could be summed up as "So what?"

Various surveys were quoted indicating that 44% spend no time seeking eternal wisdom and 20% said it is useless to search for meaning in life. 28% said that it is not a major priority in my life to find my deeper purpose. We live in a society today, the article says, where it is acceptable to say that they have no spiritual curiosity. Ben Helton, the 28-year-old student, said the more he read evolutionary psychology and neuropsychology, the more it seemed to him that "we might as well be cars. That, to me, makes more sense than believing what you can't see." Are we really just cars with a sophisticated computer?

We live in a fuzzy, "make up the rules as we go" culture that celebrates the idea that all truths are equally valid. Personal experience and personal authority matter most, thus Scripture and tradition are quaint irrelevant artifacts.

I think I see, through my 61-year-old, retired pastor colored bias glasses, a response from the church that is mostly sincere and sadly, in the North American church, mostly ineffective. It seems that most of the effort is directed towards becoming stronger Christians, stronger churches, deeper spiritually, and at the same time more relevant. Not unlike rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

 I don't have much of an answer for this except to think that this elusive answer exists someplace out of "the box". Something radical needs to happen if we as followers of Christ will somehow interface with the "so what" society where we live in a manner that is redemptive to people and reconciling to God. 

Somehow we as Jesus people need to challenge the status quo of society through lifestyle, relationship, personal testimony (speaking words that clearly define us as Christians within our personal sphere of influence), and seeking (yes it is legitimate to seek and to save that which is lost (and yes, people are lost and wandering without Christ) to have conversation with the many "so what?" people we know. lots of parentheses in that sentence… Kind of hoping it is follow – able.

The apostle Paul said for me to live is Christ. He believed that apart from Christ he was not reconciled with creator God and that he was living dysfunctionally in the world formed by this God. The answers do not come easily, but I am praying in these days that we will love God enough, and share his heart enough to be used by him to bring people he loves with an everlasting love into a personal relationship with him. It really does matter.