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Commentary
GEN-X RISING: Moving out of the bubble Andrew C. Thompson, Jun 26, 2008
COURTESY PHOTOS
An entrance gate to the Methodist campamento in Tambo de Mora, Peru.
By Andrew C. Thompson UMR Columnist
Gen X’ers and Millennials see what passes for “success” in contemporary life, and it frustrates them. Our culture is deeply tied to a consumerist view of what makes for the good life. Want to be happy? Buy more. Build bigger. Own the newest stuff.
Because the church exists in the larger culture, it has a hard time resisting this trend. When churches raise millions to expand their physical facilities or when they develop a dizzying array of programmatic options throughout the week, they are almost always acting out of a faithful desire to continue or extend the work of ministry. But there may be something insidious happening underneath. Sometimes the glitz and opulence of many wealthy churches can appear as religious versions of the local mall or cineplex.
Most churches are not megachurches. And most are not particularly wealthy. But the high visibility of the megachurch model (and the accompanying sense that these huge churches have hit on the key to “success”) causes them to be seen as the standard for American Christianity.
This is unfortunate. Because the more our churches see their future in becoming the next dazzling megachurch, the more they will understand their mission as tied to money and consumption rather than sacrifice and service. The culture of consumption surrounds the church like a bubble, and it can keep the church from connecting with the gospel in a way that can be transformative for its own people. The question for our churches: How do we break out of the bubble?
I got some clues about how to answer that question in May, when I led two mission teams over three weeks in Chincha, Peru, to be in ministry with the Iglesia Metodista del Perú (the Methodist Church of Peru).
One team was made up of seminary students and young pastors who wanted to learn how to lead short-term mission trips. The other one was made up of college students who were giving up a big chunk of their summer break to do earthquake relief work.
There were 25 young adults between the two teams, almost all of them younger than me. And they were 100 percent plugged in to the church-in-mission. They were outside of their bubbles, and they couldn’t have been happier.
When Jesus wanted to show his disciples how to go about spreading the gospel, he actually sent them away from him. The Gospel of Mark tells the story of Jesus sending out the 12 disciples in pairs into surrounding towns and villages to spread the Good News. He didn’t just send them out though; he also told them to leave behind comforts that would make the journey easier: they were to carry no food, no extra tunic and no money (Mark 6:7-13). The disciples were moved outside of their own bubbles. They were forced to rely on the gospel itself and on the hospitality of those they went to evangelize. In the process, both they and the communities they went to serve were changed.
Short-term missions can have the same impact on Jesus’ followers today. In Peru last month, I saw that happen in three ways.
The first was within the mission groups themselves, as the team members grew closer as a community each day of the trip. Detached from the comforts of home, they had to learn to rely on one another.
The second form of discipleship formation occurred between individuals and God, as each person was moved in a different way to understand how God was working through the ministries of the Iglesia Metodista in its evangelism and outreach. They celebrated Holy Communion and heard the Word preached. They saw how those who didn’t have much reached out to those who had nothing, particularly through a ministry that offers crucial nutrition to poor children who lack basic necessities.
And the third level of formation occurred between the mission teams and our host churches in Chincha, as each learned from the other about what it means to live out Christian discipleship. We mutually shared hospitality and love that crossed barriers of language and culture.
All three levels of mission formation could be intense for the missionaries, but they also served as the crucible in which real Christian community was formed. The interaction of all these various forces created a space for the Holy Spirit to dwell. And we comfortable Christians were enabled to move outside our cultural bubbles to see something of the life that God is calling us to live.
Mission is never really one-way, and Gen X’ers and Millennials learn that very quickly when moved out of their bubbles and into new situations. Engaging in mission work with the church in other parts of the globe makes you realize that you are as much a recipient as a giver—of friendship, wisdom, spiritual gifts and love.
The mission that the Holy Spirit makes to young adults in such situations is a mission of possibility, as they learn to see the church in a whole new light. That’s hopeful, and it is one way that we can show younger people a form of church life that will set them on fire.
COURTESY PHOTOS
I got some clues about how to answer that question in May, when I led two mission teams over three weeks in Chincha, Peru, to be in ministry with the Iglesia Metodista del Perú (the Methodist Church of Peru). 
