An Obituary for the American Church

Are Celebrity, Consumerism and Competition killing the Church in North America?  In an article for Verge, Mike Breen suggests these are the real enemies of the church.  Here is an excerpt from that article

CELEBRITY

The idea of celebrity is deeply woven into American culture and values. All you have to do is look at the ridiculous nature of Reality TV and you see how Americans are constantly craving celebrity (either to be a celebrity or to find the next celebrity and stalk their every move).

Now there is nothing dark or sinister about “celebrity” in and of itself. You can’t find an argument that says Jesus wasn’t a huge celebrity in his day.

However, there is a difference between being famous and being significant. If Jesus was famous, it’s because he was doing something significant. The problem with many pastors is they make decisions, develop personas and define success from the lens of what will make them a celebrity/famous (even if they don’t know it or see that they are doing this).

 So in American church culture, it’s pretty easy to become a celebrity: Grow a HUGE church. Now all in all, it’s not terribly difficult to grow to be a giant church if you have the right tools at your disposal – but that doesn’t mean the ends justify the means of getting there.

For instance, though Jesus was a celebrity in his day, he was willing to say things that ran people off in droves. In fact, the book of Mark chronicles the way (from about the mid-point of the book on) how people left Jesus to where, at the end, virtually no one was left. NO ONE wants to be associated with him for fear of the consequences.

That’s a Charlie Sheen-esque flameout (obviously without the character issues!). That’s not something you see too often in American churches. I suspect it’s because riven deeply into the American psyche is the desire to be a celebrity.

CONSUMERISM

We live in a culture that revolves around consuming. Every TV commercial, every store, every credit card company, every bank, every TV show or movie, every piece of clothing, car or product, every website, every restaurant every everything is tailored to fit your desires, needs or personal preference.

We are easily infuriated when things don’t happen exactly as we want them. We exist in a place that implicitly says this: “We are here to serve you and meet your every whim and desire. Let us take care of you.” What’s more, it’s never enough.

Eventually the house or the car get older and we want new ones. The clothes aren’t as fashionable and we want something more in style. That restaurant is getting boring, we must find another. Our favorite TV show is wearing thin, so the search begins for the next favorite. And on and on and on.

This is how we are wired to think in the United States. And it is all backed up by this rationale: You’re worth it. You deserve to have what you want, how you want it, when you want it. And for the most part, the church plays the exact same game.

COMPETITION

You will never find a more hyper-competitive culture than you do in the United States. As a foreigner living in this land, I can attest to that with the utmost respect. Americans love to win, they love the struggle of the journey and love holding up the gold medal of victory.

Now don’t hear me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with being competitive, it’s just how competition has become warped and twisted within our culture. And it’s that, at least in the church, we are competitive about the wrong things.

Much of the American church finds itself competing with the church down the road. “Are we bigger than them? Do we have more influence than them? Do we have the best/biggest youth group in town? Do people like to get married in our church building? Do people like our church better than theirs?”

Fifty years ago, as these three subtle threads were being woven into the American church, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., serving as a prophetic voice, said this:

If today’s church does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church, it will lose its authenticity, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the twentieth century.

We are now into the second decade of the 21st century and we find ourselves still, for the most part, refusing to sacrifice what we want for what God is asking of us and his Church. Will we have the courage to sacrifice as Christ sacrificed? Will we do the things that cost us so that his Kingdom may advance?

The Family Comes Home

Following the closing worship service for the 229^th Annual Conference in Tampa, Florida, there was a second gathering of Brethren at Camp Ithiel in the Atlantic Southeast District.  The ZME Choir and a number of other EYN guests stayed at the camp for a week of rest and recovery following a demanding concert tour that took them to Church of the Brethren Congregations all across the United States.

My wife and I lived and served in Nigeria in the 80’s and then again from 2004 to 2006.  We now live in Florida and were delighted to spend some extra time with our Nigerian brothers and sisters.  The years we spent in Nigeria were brief compared to other missionaries who spent most of their lives there.  Nevertheless, we have a deep affection for the people and culture of Nigeria.  When our plane touched down in Abuja, Nigeria nearly 20 years after our earlier time of service there, it felt remarkably like returning home.  The fragrant scent of charcoal fires and kerosene lamps mixed with the reddish dust of Nigerian earth brought tears to our eyes.  It is said that certain smells can conjure vivid memories and emotions.  On our return to Nigeria we sensed the familiar fragrance of home.

The gathering of Nigerian and U.S. Brethren at Camp Ithiel provided a similar sense of coming home.  Following the closing worship service in Tampa, the Nigerians headed to the camp, about two hours away, and prepared for their final concert later that evening.  When they arrived at the camp they discovered that their drums and other instruments were in another vehicle that was on its way to Lancaster, PA.  No worries.  The concert went off without a hitch with the help of a couple of trash cans as drums, a set of bongos and a beaded shaker from the office of camp director, Mike Neff.  The dining hall at Camp Ithiel was seldom livelier.

The following morning was set aside for conversation.  The day began with impromptu conversations, followed by an open conversation moderated by John Mueller, Atlantic Southeast District Executive.  For nearly three hours the little white chapel at Camp Ithiel buzzed with conversation.  The Nigerians shared stories of tragedy and triumph, thanksgiving and praise.  They were generous in their appreciation for the financial aid and prayer support offered by U.S. Brethren.  

When the conversation concluded, the group prepared to celebrate Love Feast.  Brethren from Florida, Illinois, Pennsylvania and Nigeria gathered in the dining hall for the agape meal and then returned to the chapel for foot washing and the bread and the cup.  The Nigerians significantly outnumbered the Americans, kind of like that first worship service in Garkida in 1923.  A bronze plague has been placed under the Tamarind Tree where that first gathering took place.  The plague is inscribed with the scripture lesson Stover Kulp read that day:

So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone.  In him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God.  (Ephesians 2:19-22) 

That was the essence of the Love Feast service at Camp Ithiel.  We did not gather as strangers and aliens, but as members of the family of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as our cornerstone.  Mixed among the Nigerians were former missionaries, BVSer’s, Global Mission and Service staff and those who have never set foot in Nigeria.  I was amazed to discover that one of the Nigerians was someone who had been a boy when we lived in the Nigeria in the 80’s.  I still have the picture I took of him 30 years earlier when he and several other boys were sitting on our front porch.  

When we gathered that afternoon for Love Feast, we thought we had come together as strangers.  We were reminded once again that in Christ Jesus we are no longer strangers but members of the same family.  Our family may be scattered in many placed around the globe, but when we come together as the family of God, it feels very much like we have come home.

Millennials: What We Need to Know, but are Afraid to Ask

Will our children’s children continue the work of Jesus?  The most recent report by the Pew Research Center provides little reason for optimism.  It isn’t surprising that the Pew survey shows a continuing downward spiral in church attendance in North America.  What is more alarming is the sharp increase in the number of young adults who identify themselves as atheists, agnostics or “nones” which is the abbreviation for “nothing in particular.”  The “nones”, are the fastest growing segment of the religious landscape in America.  And the Millennial generation is the most likely segment of our population to list their religious preference as “nothing in particular.”

Millennials are those who were born between 1980 and 2000.  They are three times more likely to identify themselves as “nones” than to identify themselves as mainline Protestants.  While the Church in North American has done a pretty good job of reaching the Silent generation; those born between 1928 and 1945, most churches are clueless about how to reach Millennials.

Reaching Out to Emerging Generations

Frank Powell offers some interesting insights about Millennials and their aversion to organized religion in a blog post entitled, 10 Reasons Churches Are Not Reaching Millennials.  Frank has written for Relevant Magazine, Catalyst , ChurchLeaders, and posts on a blog entitled Restoring Culture through Christ. Here is Powell’s list of reasons why the church may not be reaching Millennials:

1. There is a strong resistance to change
2. A compelling vision is lacking or non-existent
3. Mediocrity is the expectation
4. There is a paternalistic approach to leading millennial
5. There is a pervasive insider-focused mentality
6. Transparency and authenticity are not high value.
7. Mentoring is not important
8. Culture is viewed as the enemy
9. Community is not valued
10. The church is a source of division, and not unity

Getting to Know the Millennials

Before you dismiss the importance of understanding Millennials, consider this: when I Google searched “Millennials,” the first site that appeared at the top of the search page was a Goldman Sachs website!  MILLENNIALS appears at the top of the home page in all caps followed by this explanation: 

One of the largest generations in history is about to move into its prime spending years. Millennials are poised to reshape the economy; their unique experiences will change the ways we buy and sell, forcing companies to examine how they do business for decades to come.

There is little evidence that mainline churches are doing much to understand and reach out to this generation.  But Goldman Sachs and many other corporations and financial institutions have invested millions trying to know how to reach 92 million young adults who are about to move into their prime spending years.

So who are the Millennials?  Here are a few traits that have been gleaned from the writings of several contemporary American thinkers and sociologists:

• Millennials tend to be pragmatic idealists
• They tend to have a deep desire to make the world a better place
• They tend to be optimistic, engaged, team players
• They would rather network with friends than work through institutions
• They embrace the idea of community, both locally and globallyThe Church needs Millennials!  

We need to reach out to this generation, not simply to sit in our pews and fill our offering plates.  Without their idealism, optimism, and desire to make the world a better place, the Church will be unable to continue the work of Jesus.

Two Are Better than One!

Two are better than one,  because they have a good return for their labor:  If either of them falls down,  one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up. Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm.  But how can one keep warm alone?     Though one may be overpowered,  two can defend themselves.A cord of three strands is not quickly broken. -- Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

The adventure started in a local jail in Rio Verde, a medium sized farming community in the interior of Brazil.  Carol and I had traveled to Rio Verde with Alexandre to visit a signifcant recovery ministry launched by Pastor Junior and his small congregation in Rio Verde.

While we stood there talking in the courtyard of the jail, one of the inmates approached us and asked if we could contact a friend and let him know that he was in jail.  He described his friend as a German Baptist Brethren farmer who lived and farmed in a Mennonite farming community about 30 miles west of the city.

German Baptist Brethren?  Mennonite farming community?  In the interior of Brazil???  I definitely had to check that out!

So we left the little jail and headed west on our quest to find the German Baptist brother.  Forty Five minutes later we entered the area where a number of Mennonites families had move to farm the land about twenty years earlier.  They moved to Brazil from the Midwest, mostly Ohio, Indiana and Iowa.  When we left the paved road and turned onto a well manicured dirt road we entered a vast farming empire where corn was king.

We drove for what seemed like half an hour before  seeing the first building on a few acres carved out of the undulating sea of corn.  It was a Mennonite meeting house, and a local farmer had just arrived to cut the grass in the picnic grove next to the church building.  It felt a little like discovering life on a deserted island.

After introducing ourselves and sharing our quest, the local farmer give us directions to the German Baptist brother's farm and invited us to return to the meeting house later that evening for special services conducted by a visiting preacher from Pennsylvania.

After driving several more miles further down the evenly graded dirt road we turned off onto a sandy lane for several more miles before turning onto an unmaintained, narrow passage through the sea of corn. 

At some point along that dusty, deserted roadway Carol noticed the needle on the gas gage was on E and suggested that we might want to think about getting some gas. "No problem," our driven assured us, "The gas gage is broken." Less than five minutes later the engine spit and sputtered a couple of times and we quietly drifted to a full stop.

After a couple of hours in the cramped backseat of a small vehicle on bumpy, unpaved roads we were glad to get out and stretch our legs.  There was a cool, refreshing breeze, some breathtaking views and we were on a quest... in Brazil!  Amazing!  Never the less, there were a couple of concerns in need of some attention. First of all, we were in a cellular dead zone and couldn't call someone to bring a jerry can of gas.  Pastor Junior offered to walk down the road until he either picked up a cell signal or found someone who could help us.  But this led to the second problem.  There were animal tracks in the sand and Pastor Junior thought they looked like Jaguar tracks.  We thought he was joking, but the next day he confessed that as he made his way down the road he prayed, "Lord, please don't let me be eaten by a Jaguar and abandon my guests."

Good News!  Pastor Junior eventually picked up a cell signal, was able to call a friend who brought us some gas AND he was not eaten by a Jaguar!

Carol and I had an amazing time in Brazil.  We saw the sights of Sau Paulo, Rio De Janeiro, Campanis and Rio Verde.  We met some beautiful people in Campinas and Rio Verde and saw the preparations for the FIFA men's world cup in Sau Paulo and walked along Copa Cabana Beach and took the train up to the statue of Christ the Redeemer that keeps watch over Rio de Janeiro.  But the most memorable part of our journey was our quest to find a German Baptist brother.  We never found him.  But we found once again that two are better than one and a cord of three strands in not easily broken. 

Christian Peacemaker Teams will accompany Stephen Colbert to Columbia, SC

(Here's an interesting post from the Christian Peacemaker Team's website.  You can view the site here.)

The terrorist attack on black Christians at prayer in Charleston’s Mother Emanuel Church has left many white Christians asking what they can do to support their black brothers and sisters. 

“Stop white people from killing us,” has been the overwhelming response.

Another response has been that they want the Confederate flag on the Columbia capitol grounds to come down.

 Accordingly, Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) is calling on Stephen Colbert as a native white Christian son of South Carolina—who marched in solidarity with his martyred brothers and sisters in Charleston on Sunday—to travel to Columbia and take down the flag in any way he sees fit. 

CPTers have accompanied people working for social change in zones of lethal conflict spanning the globe: peasants resisting displacement from their land in Colombia; refugees forced from their homes by ISIS who are building relationships with people outside their ethnic groups; Palestinians living under Israeli military occupation and Indigenous communities fighting multinational exploitation of resources on their traditional lands.  They are more than willing to accompany Colbert to South Carolina to help him respond in a very small way to what black Christians are asking of white Christians.

Jesus is the Rock... All Other Ground is Sinking Sand

Someone has said, "There is a grain of truth in every joke." Sigmund Freud held that while jokes may serve the outward purpose of making people laugh, they often disguise aggression, hostility and unconscious desires.  As someone else has said, "A joke is the truth wrapped in a smile."

If that is the case, what "truth" is being revealed by the producers of "Kingsman: The Secret Service" by placing the most violent scene in the movie within the worship service of a church in Kentucky. Oscar-winning actor, Colin Firth, plays secret agent Harry Hart who, in the films most ambitious action scene, takes out the entire congregation of a "hate group" church in Kentucky.

Jen Yamato, who writes for The Daily Beast, didn't have any trouble identifying the "truth" revealed in that scene.  She says that Kingsmen, "takes aim at ultraconservative America by setting a brutal, madcap massacre scene within a church filled with hate-spewing fundamentalist Christians."

If the film is saying "There are hate-spewing people in American," it clearly names an unfortunate "truth" within American culture.  However, a literal translation of the word Χριστιανός, or Christian is "Christ follower," and I don't believe it is possible for a Christ follower to be a hate-spewer.  To take the name of Christ without following the ways of Christ is to take the name of Christ in vain.  Christianity is not a philosophy or even a religion.  Christ followers are committed to a lifestyle that seeks to live and act, talk and walk like Jesus.

There are hate-spewing people in America, and some of them call themselves Christians.  But unless their ways and words, prayers and priorities reflect those of Jesus the Christ, they really can't be called Χριστιανός, Christ followers, Christians.

Here is a brief snippet from a typical day in the life of Jesus.  These are the kinds of things Christ followers long to do:

Jesus traveled through all the towns and villages of that area, teaching in the synagogues and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom. And he healed every kind of disease and illness.  When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were confused and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. He said to his disciples, “The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields” (Matthew 9:35-38).

•  Jesus traveled - he took his message of hope and grace to the people... where ever hurting people could be found, that's where you would find Jesus.

• Jesus taught in the synagogues - he didn't teach from the Religious Life 101 lesson plan, he taught about serving by washing feet, he taught about forgiveness by forgiving haters and adulterers and other sinners, he taught about love by laying down his life.  And he said when we love each other that way "It will prove to the world that you are my disciples" (John 13:35).

• Jesus announced Good News - even though he was constantly surrounded by every other kind of sinner you could name, Jesus always had good news for them.

• Jesus healed every kind of disease and illness - healing the blind and the lame was like asking a world renowned thoracic surgeon to do a tonsillectomy.  Jesus could heal the blind and the lame in his sleep.  He also took on more difficult human maladies: the loss of hope, self loathing, hatred, fear, doubt, hardened hearts and many other symptoms of the human conditions.  

• Jesus had compassion on people - as the psalmist promised, "The Lord is compassionate and merciful, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love" (Psalm 103:8).

• Jesus kept his eyes on the harvest - “The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields." Jesus understood his mission.  He knew he hadn't come to promote a lofty humanitarian cause. Jesus came to save humanity itself.

Because there are hate-spewing, power-seeking, hard-hearted, self-centered, pain-inflicting, greed-driven, people in the world -- who call themselves Christians -- those who are committed to following Christ need to do Just That!