Another Blog Commenting on Millennials and Worship
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| Millennials Find Jesus - J Ward - Flickr |
My church-going history has been somewhat diverse, it went from Pentecostal to Baptist to Anabaptist to Non-denominational (Baptist lite) and currently back to something resembling Pentecostal. The latest transition has been transformational yet challenging as my wife and I decided to leave the non-denominational church we have attended for the past two years. We are now struggling to find a new place of corporate worship.
But why the need for change?
No matter how involved you are in a particular church there may come a point where you realize it's time to move on. Maybe it's due to doctrine, maybe it's due to distance from the home, or maybe it's something else that's minor. Most of the time though it will come from a lack of being spiritually fed. Though we had a rousing lead pastor, that was our only draw to the church and to me that was troubling.
The thing of it is though is that it is easy to blame someone else for the problem you're experiencing instead of turning inward and examining whether or not the real problem lies with you. It is a concept that I believe many fellow Millennials either forget or ignore. So, we had to test and pray to see if that was the case or not. After a month or so my wife and I still felt as though it was time to move on.
Though I have praised the non-denominational model of church in the past, there were key aspects of this model that helped with our decision to leave, and after some quick internet research I saw that I'm not alone.
The first was that a certain audience was being targeted for membership. Families with parents in their 30s and 40s. Of course it's not a bad thing to try and get families to come to the church, after all many parents are looking to offer their families values that mainly only the church can supply. However, is it okay to try and develop a pre-packaged community? The church should be a place where everyone is targeted no matter you status in life. Families, single people, the elderly, widows, the mentally disabled, physically disabled, at every church, should all feel welcomed and know they have a place at the table.
The second issue that aided our decision was the avoidance of the more controversial aspects of the Bible such as manifestations of the Holy Spirit. That's right, the things Hollywood makes fun of Southerners and backwoods Christians for, but that's okay I spoke in tongues in that church anyway. Or how about the Elect, pre-destination of souls to be saved or passed over. I don't believe in that doctrine, but even if my past church did I would have respected them for at least saying so. While these problems don't seem so bad on the surface, when you start to grow in your faith and read Scripture more often, the need to know where the church stands becomes important. When church leadership willingly chooses to ignore hefty things as those, and not take a stance in either direction, it makes one wonder if they are going more for accommodation than trying to challenge the congregants.
One minor thing that I see a lot of Millennials harp on about is the type of song service is employed. My generation is rejecting the light shows, fog machines, and rocky songs that the previous two generations enjoyed. In part I agree with this rejection. I see the contemporary style as a rebellion against the legalism of the 1940s and 50s, saying, "See! We can play rock music and still worship God!" Well, now that the Boomers and Gen X'ers have made their point, can we just get back to some authentic worship in the song service? Don't get me wrong, I love the electric guitar, I LOVE the drums, but sometimes I just want to sing the hymn Great is Thy Faithfulness or Amazing Grace as it was originally written.
However, when I worship in a song service I sometimes just want to, how do I put this, rock out. While the contemporary model can be repetitive in song choice the musical composition and lyrics provide the creativity that I believe is lacking in other models. Simply put, with the contemporary model, I can dance like King David danced before the Lord (2 Sam 16:14).
Anyway, the first two issues sort of coalesced into something that presented a shiny, plastic product that didn't seem to reflect reality. This is the same complaint of many Millennials write about and criticize the evangelical Church for.
On the other hand, as my wife put it, it's almost a stupid problem to have. It's stupid because here we are in America, a land of excess with arguably with an excess of churches, and we are complaining that we don't have THIS kind of worship service, or THAT kind of worship service. In a sense this generation is ungrateful for what we do have even if it isn't perfect. Meanwhile, Christians in other parts of the world are getting slaughtered, having to meet each other in secret, and have to be careful who they talk to about their faith so they won't get thrown in jail. They don't care about the particular details of the worship service, only that they get the opportunity to worship God.
So is my generation making something out of nothing? Maybe, maybe not. I don't know though how these other bloggers can get away with such criticism of worship services and other churches without feeling like they are metaphorically slapping their former congregants in the face. Just because one blogger didn't jive with their worship service anymore doesn't mean other people won't either. Do these critics know about the blood, sweat, and tears worship pastors put in week in and week out to prepare for Sunday's service?
Yet, we have a lot of millennials leaving, but I think that this crisis is something that every generation faces, not just the current one. More inclusivity could change this, different worship styles could change this, but it's really going to need all generations to come together to try and solve the problem. Lastly, but most importantly I would say that we can no longer avoid the the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit when facing this issue. Instead of saying we believe in an all powerful God, let's live our belief out and let Him be the primary problem solver for this situation.
But why the need for change?
No matter how involved you are in a particular church there may come a point where you realize it's time to move on. Maybe it's due to doctrine, maybe it's due to distance from the home, or maybe it's something else that's minor. Most of the time though it will come from a lack of being spiritually fed. Though we had a rousing lead pastor, that was our only draw to the church and to me that was troubling.
The thing of it is though is that it is easy to blame someone else for the problem you're experiencing instead of turning inward and examining whether or not the real problem lies with you. It is a concept that I believe many fellow Millennials either forget or ignore. So, we had to test and pray to see if that was the case or not. After a month or so my wife and I still felt as though it was time to move on.
Though I have praised the non-denominational model of church in the past, there were key aspects of this model that helped with our decision to leave, and after some quick internet research I saw that I'm not alone.
The first was that a certain audience was being targeted for membership. Families with parents in their 30s and 40s. Of course it's not a bad thing to try and get families to come to the church, after all many parents are looking to offer their families values that mainly only the church can supply. However, is it okay to try and develop a pre-packaged community? The church should be a place where everyone is targeted no matter you status in life. Families, single people, the elderly, widows, the mentally disabled, physically disabled, at every church, should all feel welcomed and know they have a place at the table.
The second issue that aided our decision was the avoidance of the more controversial aspects of the Bible such as manifestations of the Holy Spirit. That's right, the things Hollywood makes fun of Southerners and backwoods Christians for, but that's okay I spoke in tongues in that church anyway. Or how about the Elect, pre-destination of souls to be saved or passed over. I don't believe in that doctrine, but even if my past church did I would have respected them for at least saying so. While these problems don't seem so bad on the surface, when you start to grow in your faith and read Scripture more often, the need to know where the church stands becomes important. When church leadership willingly chooses to ignore hefty things as those, and not take a stance in either direction, it makes one wonder if they are going more for accommodation than trying to challenge the congregants.
 |
| Praise and Worship - Heartbeat Weekend - Flickr |
However, when I worship in a song service I sometimes just want to, how do I put this, rock out. While the contemporary model can be repetitive in song choice the musical composition and lyrics provide the creativity that I believe is lacking in other models. Simply put, with the contemporary model, I can dance like King David danced before the Lord (2 Sam 16:14).
Anyway, the first two issues sort of coalesced into something that presented a shiny, plastic product that didn't seem to reflect reality. This is the same complaint of many Millennials write about and criticize the evangelical Church for.
On the other hand, as my wife put it, it's almost a stupid problem to have. It's stupid because here we are in America, a land of excess with arguably with an excess of churches, and we are complaining that we don't have THIS kind of worship service, or THAT kind of worship service. In a sense this generation is ungrateful for what we do have even if it isn't perfect. Meanwhile, Christians in other parts of the world are getting slaughtered, having to meet each other in secret, and have to be careful who they talk to about their faith so they won't get thrown in jail. They don't care about the particular details of the worship service, only that they get the opportunity to worship God.
So is my generation making something out of nothing? Maybe, maybe not. I don't know though how these other bloggers can get away with such criticism of worship services and other churches without feeling like they are metaphorically slapping their former congregants in the face. Just because one blogger didn't jive with their worship service anymore doesn't mean other people won't either. Do these critics know about the blood, sweat, and tears worship pastors put in week in and week out to prepare for Sunday's service?
Yet, we have a lot of millennials leaving, but I think that this crisis is something that every generation faces, not just the current one. More inclusivity could change this, different worship styles could change this, but it's really going to need all generations to come together to try and solve the problem. Lastly, but most importantly I would say that we can no longer avoid the the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit when facing this issue. Instead of saying we believe in an all powerful God, let's live our belief out and let Him be the primary problem solver for this situation.
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