CRUISE LESSONS, Pt. 7
18. The Church has got to think younger and act younger and more relevant to an MTV generation if it is to survive and be a major player in future culture. It's considered OLD, ANTIQUATED and OUT OF TOUCH. Please don't misunderstand me. I am in no way suggesting that we mess with our message. I think that's the other mistake the Church has made over the years... to try to make their message fit in with the culture. EX: One major denomination just passed a resolution at their annual meeting to condemn the spanking of children. That's going the opposite direction of what I'm saying. Our message is our message. It's not open to scrutiny or revision. It's not politically correct, nor should it be.
However, our methods are quite another matter. And, the problem is, we sometimes fall in love with our methods as much, or sometimes even more, than our message. The world's picture of the church is a musty-smelling old guy in a musty-smelling old robe standing in a musty-smelling old building reading some musty-sounding old words (lots of thees and thous and hithers) about something that happened ages ago and has absolutely no relevance to them whatsoever. In other words, waste of a perfectly good Sunday morning.
Answer: Without touching God's message, we must be willing to present that message in relevant, exciting and palpable package. That means I must recognize that it's not about me. I'm very comfortable with what we do and how we do it. But, to reach an MTV generation we must be willing to meet people where they are, answer the questions they are asking, not our own, be louder, be less auditory and more visual, deal with shorter attentions spans, be younger, be authentic, be intentional and be selfless. The product remains changeless. The packaging must be ever new.
However, our methods are quite another matter. And, the problem is, we sometimes fall in love with our methods as much, or sometimes even more, than our message. The world's picture of the church is a musty-smelling old guy in a musty-smelling old robe standing in a musty-smelling old building reading some musty-sounding old words (lots of thees and thous and hithers) about something that happened ages ago and has absolutely no relevance to them whatsoever. In other words, waste of a perfectly good Sunday morning.
Answer: Without touching God's message, we must be willing to present that message in relevant, exciting and palpable package. That means I must recognize that it's not about me. I'm very comfortable with what we do and how we do it. But, to reach an MTV generation we must be willing to meet people where they are, answer the questions they are asking, not our own, be louder, be less auditory and more visual, deal with shorter attentions spans, be younger, be authentic, be intentional and be selfless. The product remains changeless. The packaging must be ever new.
I think this is the root of the problem for people in my generation, the 20-30 somethings too - not just the younger crowd. Noone wants the old school musty church like you mentioned, but unfortunately at the same time they are the ones not tithing and therefore the old money maintains the church and so it keeps the same face. The other issue is how people want the "feel good" church where they can do no wrong, just praise people like they are all Christ like in everything they do. There are way too many churches and pastors going this direction today, hence the no spanking, etc. If there were just more Crosspoints around to appeal to the younger generation yet not sugar coat everything the world would be a better place.
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