UMR Communications is offering the latest headlines in the RSS format.
Commentary
GEN-X RISING: Churches that matter offer true community Andrew C. Thompson, Apr 17, 2007
Andrew C. Thompson
By Andrew C. Thompson Special Contributor
Not so long ago, our lives were constituted by the communities in which we lived. The rhythm of life was fairly regular. Meaning consisted in relationships and patterns that could be counted on to stay the same from year to year. Stability was not exceptional. It was the norm.
No longer. The quickening pace of life is all around us. The 24-hour news cycle has become a 24-hour life cycle. We are confronted by constant change, so that stability itself has become exceptional. It is decidedly not the norm.
Still, people want to find meaning in their lives. So when they are "on the go" too much to form deep relationships, or when their lives change too often to form an enduring pattern, they will look for meaning elsewhere.
And the area they inevitably look to is the same area where they spend the most time: the activities that take up the bulk of their day. Wonder what I mean? Ask yourself if the highlight of your day has ever consisted of eagerly and repeatedly checking e-mail just to see what might have arrived in the inbox. It is a problem many of us face. We all need a sense of meaning and purpose. When the relationships and rhythms of life do not provide it, we'll look for it anywhere -- even in superficial, transitory activities.
Church's problem, too
But this is more than an individual problem. It is also a problem for the church.
Because people change churches the way they change their underwear -- frequently, and with little thought -- the nature of life in the church itself has changed. In the past, a church was a community in which people were born, grew up, married, raised children and eventually died. The church itself was the community that gave meaning to both individuals and families.
Nowadays, the church has to be squeezed in among a laundry list of activities in a family's week. It competes for time with forms of busyness that were either unknown in previous times or else were seen as much less important.
So the church itself responds by joining the activity game. Rather than seeing itself primarily as a community were the worship and ministry of God are pursued by believers, it has transformed itself as a clearinghouse of religious activities.
The church's activity obsession shows up in its addiction to programs. We seek to bring people into the church not by appealing to its faithfulness as a community but by the attractiveness of programs: for youth, for singles, for recovering addicts, for stay-at-home moms, for families, for divorcees, for active readers.
Now the church should, of course, seek to bring all these folks into its fellowship. The issue is not whether, but why it brings them in. If people only come for a cutting-edge small group study or an exciting new ministry idea, they will just drift away when the study is over or the idea becomes passé.
So why not instead invite them into a way of life? Why not seek to form a community where people find their meaning, not in activities but in enduring relationships?
Competing with world
We instinctively recognize the impoverished sense of fellowship in our churches, so we try to solve the problem by creating newer and more exciting programs. We feel the need to compete with what the world offers for mass consumption and we observe which worldly activities seem to "work" so we can imitate them with a religious spin. But this is a losing attitude. The church will never seem as exciting or cutting edge as the slick products the world offers.
It does, however, have one thing the world can never give: a form of life shaped by the love of God and neighbor.
When it is faithful, the church is a community of redemption, where sisters and brothers learn to repent of their sin and commit their lives in devotion and service to Jesus Christ.
And that's not a program. It's a way of life.
The Rev. Thompson is working on a doctoral program at Duke Divinity School. He blogs atwww.genxrising.com.
Andrew C. Thompson
