An interesting piece appeared today on the Crosswalk.com site. It is a statistical look at views of the younger generation of evangelicals. Here is a summary of what they see:
"This appears to be a growing sentiment among many younger Christians in America today. They love Jesus but they want little to do with His Church. It’s not that they don’t like the their local church or even other Christians—it’s that they don’t like how Christianity in America is frequently represented by many professing Evangelicals, which in their minds is often unloving, judgmental, arrogant, and hypocritical.
This assertion finds support in the data revealed in Barna’s most recent research. For example, “four out of five young churchgoers say that Christianity is antihomosexual; half describe it as judgmental, too involved in politics, hypocritical, and confusing; one-third believe their faith is old-fashioned and out of touch with reality; and one-quarter of young Christians believe it is boring and insensitive to others.” (Kinnamon & Lyons, unChristian, Baker Books, 2007, pp.33-34)"
As I have visited campuses and churches around the country (I am out about half of the weekends throughout the year), I see a similar feeling. It raises interesting questions about how Jesus is presented and represented by the church. The piece by Michael Craven is worth reading and reflecting on. Here is the link:
http://www.crosswalk.com/blogs/mCraven/11568526/
Your comments on this issue are welcome.
Amen and amen to Darrell's post. This is why I get somewhat uneasy about those who seem to be making a cottage industry out of criticizing the emerging/emergent church (and I don't use those terms differently). Yes, in a few high-profile cases there are some serious doctrinal issues about which to be concerned, but in many cases so much of what younger adults rightly criticize about the traditional church is being addressed, and these people are being saved and they are staying/going to church rather than not, all of which is far more important, in my opinion, than debating, say, how much explicit biblical evidence there is for imputed righteousness (a la John Piper vs. N. T. Wright)!
Craig/Darrell
Can I make that a triple Amen from me! The cottage industry may soon be in real danger of becoming a full blown business enterprise!
"but in many cases so much of what younger adults rightly criticize about the traditional church is being addressed, and these people are being saved and they are staying/going to church rather than not, all of which is far more important, in my opinion, than debating, say, how much explicit biblical evidence there is for imputed righteousness (a la John Piper vs. N. T. Wright)!"
Much as I greatly admire both Piper and Wright please, please can we have Craig's quote emblazoned across every church entrance door! It needs to be said, it needs to be heard and it needs to be accepted and understood!
Too much theological hot air can be just as dangerous as alleged disputing of long-held doctrinal stances. This is what can drive people ou tof established churches in the first place! Maybe some of the critics of these "movements"(I'm not comfortable with this label but I'll reluctantly use it!) are actually the unintentional and unconscious authors/founders of the movements they spend so much time decrying!
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