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May 13, 2008
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Home > 2008 > AprilChristianity Today, April, 2008  |   |  
Review
Dear Disillusioned Generation
The 'failed experiment' called the church still looks better than the alternatives.



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If you've talked to 20-somethings lately, you've probably noticed we're disillusioned about almost everything—government, war, the economy, and most things having to do with The Man. We're especially disillusioned with church. Somewhere between the Crusades, the Inquisition, and fundamentalists bombing abortion clinics, we lost our appetite for institutionalized Christianity. A slew of recent books addresses this growing disenchantment.

An oft-disillusioned (and hopelessly idealistic) 20-something myself, I picked up Life After Church: God's Call to Disillusioned Christians (InterVarsity), and Dear Church: Letters from a Disillusioned Generation (Zondervan). I figured that I'd find writers who share my frustrations. But I was also hoping they would push me toward a deeper and richer relationship with the church—and in this, I was left unsatisfied.

In Life After Church, Brian Sanders writes specifically for "leavers"—people who are committed to Jesus Christ but often view church as a "failed experiment." They feel that following Jesus and staying in a local congregation have become mutually exclusive. Likewise, Sarah Cunningham in Dear Church writes for those who "question whether attending a local church has anything to do with a person's faith."

Both authors focus on local congregations as the primary source of disappointment. Sanders says leavers find Sunday morning services irrelevant—they're repetitive, they don't address issues that really matter to them, and they fail to provide meaningful outlets for service. Leavers often feel that they've outgrown what they perceive as simplistic, seeker-oriented messages; nor do they find churches conducive to deep community. Cunningham says 20-somethings are uncomfortable with overly cool, overly polished churches "whose onstage dress code seems to keep designer clothing stores in business." She also wrestles with the socioeconomic and racial homogeneity of local congregations.

Both authors identify a variety of complaints with the church. But naming a problem isn't the same thing as addressing it.

Sanders and Cunningham suggest drawing on a "clean canvas" what it means to do church. Sanders looks to Acts 9, which describes the apostle Paul's calling following his conversion, in order to propose an "ecclesial minimum" of worship, community, and mission. He writes, "As easily as we have formed churches around cathedrals and buildings with steeples and stained glass, we can form churches around pubs and laundromats, parks and coffee shops. … Simply inviting believers and nonbelievers into our homes for the purpose of worshiping and sharing Jesus transforms our homes into churches."

Obviously it is essential that we as Christians intentionally build relationships with nonbelievers in pubs and laundromats, because that is where they are. But that isn't church. Church is much more complex than "worshiping and sharing Jesus."

Cunningham cites various New Testament passages that deal with early Christian communities. She mentions Matthew 16 a few times—where Jesus appoints Peter to be the rock on which the church will be built—as the biblical grounds for her understanding of church. Ultimately, though, she shies away from any notion of the church as an institution (the closest she comes is saying that the church should be "a permanent fixture in society"). Jesus, she says, "did away with institutionalized religion and instead championed a real-life faith where he hung out with his followers in a way that was perhaps reminiscent of Eden."





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Displaying 1 - 3 of 51 comments.See all comments
Josie Bowman   Posted: April 22, 2008 7:46 AM
I believe that a quote from that astute French Christian, Jacques Ellul, from his book,"The Subversion of Christianity," replies well to this article. "The first Christians had no particular reverence for the places where believers met and where they heard God's Word and celebrated the sacraments. But once such places became splendid imperial buildings and the theology of the sacraments changed...these places were invested with the beliefs that appertained to pagan temples. God was epecially present in such places. "We have said that in the New Testament there were no priests. There were deacons (to offer aid), prophets (to preach), teachers (to give instruction), and bishops (to see to good order). There were no priests because Jesus was the one unique mediator. But once the sacred reappeared in Christianity, people were needed who could carry out and represent it, and who also would serve as mediators...The priest has functions which he alone can discharge."

Mary   Posted: April 21, 2008 8:28 PM
I am from the old school. I am tired of the church that does not join all generations. Where Testimonies personal ones of what God is doing today in the lives of my brothers and sisters of any age are not shared. Where all sharing appears to be aimed at the nebulous crowd of disillusioned ones. I miss the close fellowship I used to know. I miss expository preaching that uses the Bible and not the pastor's own limited life experience as the basis for preaching. I miss hymns of substance sung together with new songs of praise that have not yet passed the test of time. But Scripture says NOT to forsake the assembling together of believers. In the old school we were taught that Scripture, not my feelings, or anyone else's feelings but SCRIPTURE... was the final authority. So I stay and hope and find little nuggets yet that encourage me that God's church is not dead.

elly   Posted: April 21, 2008 10:39 AM
for me (23 yrs), what i've noticed the most is the difference in community between english-speaking and immigrant congregations. every church i've regularly attended has shared a building with an immigrant congregation, inevitably from a country that hasn't gone through the intense cultural individualism revolution that canada/u.s. has. all of the ones i've seen eat together every sunday, and the korean congregation at my current church automatically uses the building for community activities, like the youth orchestra they've welcomed me in to. what the canadian/u.s. church has lost is the institution of the church as the focal point of a community - we only go to church for "church things", rush off after the service to our own homes, and when the sermon lasts more than 25 minutes or so, the pastor apologizes about "running late". how can anyone not be disillusioned by this stark loss of community? the institution is not the problem; what we've made it is. that can be unmade.

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