According to Albert Mohler, the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) is losing more than two-thirds of its youth between the time they become teenagers to when they become adults. In a recent speech, SBC President Mohler said: "The Southern Baptist Convention is either going to become younger or dead. Here we have a big issue; we're losing at least two-thirds of our young people somewhere along the line between adolescence and adulthood." Although the numbers look bad for the future of the SBC, this trend is taking place across the board in Christendom. The fact of the matter is that the Church as a whole is losing its youth. The reasons for this are many and diverse, but I am convinced that one of the primary reasons is the Church's lack of cultural engagement.
Although Christians can usually agree that the Church is meant to be "salt and light" (Matthew 5:13-14), it seldom can agree on what this phrase actually means. In this section from the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells his congregation that they are the "salt of the earth" and the "light of the world." He takes the metaphor further by saying that if the salt becomes tasteless, it is no longer good for anything. Similarly, Jesus tells them that—like a city—a light must be elevated to be visible to all. Hiding the light in a basket completely defeats the point of the light's existence. It is clear that Jesus is telling His followers that they have a mission to season and illuminate the earth and the world.Little disagreement exists over this in theory, but trying to get a room full of Christians to agree on what this means in practice is a different story entirely. In other words, it is not the orthodoxy (correct doctrine) that raises the conflict, but the orthopraxy (correct action).
Yesterday, I received an email from a faithful reader who was unhappy with some of the recent articles about movies. He wrote: "I am not interested in movies but what I can pass on to others concerning our Lord and Savior." I understand this, not everybody is interested in the same things. I do not take issue with his interest level in movies, but I do take issue with his implication that movies do not concern our Lord and Savior. They most certainly do, in fact, everything concerns our Lord and Savior. The Christian faith is not one of compartmentalization, but homogenization. It is this very belief, the one that leads us to believe that movies, TV shows, music, art, or anything else, do not concern our Lord and Savior. I am grateful that this man took the time to express his dissatisfaction with the articles, it shows that he is concerned about seriously learning about and serving his Lord and Savior. But I would challenge him to re-think his position about the art and entertainment industry (and every other industry for that matter) as somehow being separate from the Kingdom of God.
Albert Mohler seems to understand this. He recognizes that a Christianity stripped of its cultural mandate, is a non-effective Christianity. He believes that what is causing the youth to depart in record numbers is that they have been taught a "moralistic, therapeutic deism—believing that God basically wants them to do well and to do right and to be happy." This is a biting, but accurate, description of the modern American church. Modern preaching and teaching, for the most part, is nothing more than practical deism, portraying God as a divine version of the genie in the bottle. Unfortunately, Mohler's solution does little more than raise more questions than it answers: "Southern Baptists still look like white-bred Protestantism, middle-class America, still concentrated in the South, and still focused on North America. We're going to have to be missional, directed outward, uncranky, visionary, oriented to the future, happy and joyful in claiming and assuming the responsibility that Christ has invested in us and being faithful to that." [1]
On the surface, Mohler's solution to the youth exodus sounds great, but in reality doesn't say much of anything. How exactly do we go about being "missional," "visionary," and "directed outward" without a clear picture of what being salt and light actually looks like? Mohler was well aware that everyone in his audience already knew these things. I suspect the audience was hoping for marching orders, not a restatement of the problem in a positive way. The fact of the matter is that Christian youth are being educated and discipled more by the public schools and the entertainment industry than they are by the church. However, as Mohler properly noted, all that the church offers in response are pious-sounding platitudes of practical deism. Fifteen year-old girls are far more influenced in their beliefs and attitudes by Hannah Montana than they are by their Sunday school teacher. But is the solution to be found in simply unplugging Hannah Montana and forcing our girls to read the Bible instead? Or does the Gospel, and the command to be salt and light, have more to offer? If Christianity is a package deal—one of homogenization, rather than compartmentalization—we know the answer already. The question is: What does this really mean? More on this tomorrow...
[1] http://www.onenewsnow.com/Church/Default.aspx?id=657526
Recommended further reading:
Kevin Vanhoozer, et al: Everyday Theology
Peter Fraser & Vernon Edwin Neal: ReViewing the Movies
Andy Crouch: Culture Making
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Having not read "more on this tomorrow", yet..I'm a bit hesitant to respond with what I think the true solution to reverse the SBC trend is....but hey....why not... :)
The fundamental building block in the culture is the family, not the church. The family institution is where the battle primarily rages between truth and error, worldliness and godliness, abandonment and commitment. If churches would get behind Fathers(and Mothers), equipping them and holding them accountable, then families would produce godly, committed, Christian kids(not always, but surely the majority of the time).
If we're looking for some new technique or emphasis in the church, while the family unit continues to deteriorate, then we should cash it in now and give up, because we'll be spinning our wheels, once again.
Posted by: paulD | 26 August 2009 at 02:41 PM