Deep shift January 10, 2008
Posted by Zack in Missouri , trackbackThis is an add-on to my previous post. I want to make sure you read Thom Stark’s latest entry on his blog. It’s an amazing look into how a new generation is struggling with its elders over complex theological issues. If I tried to explain the actual content of this struggle, I would get a lot of it wrong. But it amounts to a deep shift (to use Brian McLaren’s phrase) in the very foundation of Christianity.
In his post, Thom tells the story of attending a funeral of a 16 year old boy who was killed in a car accident. The pastor tried to console people with the “he’s in heaven now, so let’s not grieve” line. And also used the death as an “are you right with God?” evangelistic opportunity. Later, he wound up talking to the pastor and told him what he thought:
I told him his gospel was unbiblical, that it was a neo-gnostic escapist fantasy, and that the life and teachings of Jesus proclaim a gospel in which “life after death,” while significant, is certainly not “what it’s all about.” “It is what it’s all about!” To which I could only respond, “Well, I guess you’ll have to read it all again. Focus on the teachings of Jesus. Oh, and do you remember the shortest verse in the Bible? [John 11:35 - “Jesus wept.”] Read that one again, and then go on and tell these families at these funerals that they don’t have to grieve.”
Proponents of this “new” theology believe that it is actually a return to a very old theology, the original Way of Jesus and the first Christian communities. It’s not “all about the afterlife” but about building a new kind of life on earth. And it’s about feeling, experiencing, joy and suffering here and now in solidarity and celebration with all of humanity.
…at least that seems to me what it’s all about. Check out Brian McLaren’s “Deep Shift” website and tour here. And one last thing to note: the “generations” involved in this shift aren’t necessarily age-defined. Leaders appear from all age groups, and some of the most important recent texts behind the shift were written decades ago.
Those of you in the church: please give me some other examples of this kind of struggle between the “generations.” You can redact all the names and places to protect the innocent! 
Comments»
The best conclusion that I have come up to as I have tried to figure out the vast differences between the previous generation and the current is that the previous has utterly abdicated its responsibility to teach and to lead. At its worst, in the Church, the previous generation is shallow and superficial and seemingly committed to Christianity inasmuch as they aren’t made it be uncomfortable.
As a twentysomething who has been in the Church for my entire life, I graduated from college and naturally looked to the people I considered “elders” (my parents’ age and above) for direction regarding being an adult Christian and finding a place to learn to lead within the Church. What I got was the children’s ministry job. (I don’t have any formal training in ministry.) At every turn, I felt like I was running up against a many-headed monster that was very efficient at using “Christian” words to do nothing, or at the worst, serve itself.
I don’t know for sure where things went awry. I think the baby boomers are responsible for their fair share - seems to me like a lot of the 60s were a result of selfishness. Of course, that makes their parents almost equally responsible for raising a generation like that.
I could give more specific examples, but in short, I believe the differences and struggles between the generations are vast and sometimes make working in the Church a very difficult proposition.
I have been thinking about a repsonse for too long. AND if I keep thinking this way I will have written a novel about ‘the church’ and where they have made fools of themselves. I have found that church tends to be like high school. There are the poplular kids that act like they have it all together. The ‘bad’ kids that attract the poplular kids but only in secret. And you have the ‘good’ kids that do all the ‘right’ things and make all the ‘right’ choices and when you visit them at home they are more messed up then you could even imagine being. And lastly the ‘nerds/outcasts’ that get it and are shunned for it.
Our church is mixed. The ones that ‘get it’ are few but growing. They are real and are able to say. “I am struggling with _______.. ” And they let it out. And not “I am struggling with praying more, Or fasting more days..its. I am struggling with Pornography or Not screaming at my kids” Of course you have those that ‘don’t get it’ and pray over those and give them the mini sermon that THEY call prayer.
But the outcasts seem to all flock together. How do we cope?
One step at a time. One conversation at a time. I find myself asking God WHO to talk to. I never like who He leads me to BUT those He does lead me to.. Are open to changing the way they think about this thing, this life called Christianity. And as you talk to them you realize they were NEVER taught any different. They were just to proud or scared to ask questions.
Please don’t make the mistake of thinking this is a chasm or shift between the generations. And please don’t lump all of us Baby Boomers in the church into Amber’s narrow definitions.
We also believe that this is a post-christendom world, and we are indeed living in the Kingdom here and now on earth. Every step toward justice, peace-making, etc. is what Christians are called to do. Not judge, not divide, not preach that a few will be saved. But that If Jesus died & rose for everyone, then he died and rose for EVERYONE. No exceptions. No litmus test on who is or who is not a Christian; no judging GLBTQ folks, different faiths, etc.
The chasm exists, yes. But there are plenty of us ‘old folks’ walking right there beside the younger folks.
Those so inclined, please check out this website for some challenging new ways of looking at the Gospel and radical new ways of thinking what it means to be a Christian today. Warning — it is very academic, but there is a wealth of information if you want to see what a fifty-something-year-old pastor has to say about being ‘the Church’ today.
http://girardianlectionary.net/