What Do You Worship? (Guest Post)

Alex McCauslin is a young seminarian and ministry intern at Central Woodward Christian Church.  One of Alex's assignments is to work with our young adults to create a YA community.  In a posting at her own blog, Alex writes about her encounter with a young woman who was cutting her hair.  This conversation about God, church, and worship raises some intriguing questions.  We know that an increasing number of young adults are listed as "Nones."  That is, they simply don't identify with any religious community or tradition.  That doesn't mean they don't believe in God or that they're not interested in spiritual things, they just don't have a "place" to put these beliefs.  I'd like to use Alex's reflections as a starting point for an important conversation about faith, worship, and a world that feels disconnected to what happens in religious communities.

**************************

This experience has been rattling around in my head for the last week. I am puzzled by it, still.

I recently had my hair cut. The woman cutting my hair was in her early twenties (around my age.) She asked what I was doing with my life, and, of course, I eventually admitted I was studying at Seminary and working for a church.

“So, what religion are you?” She asked.

“I’m Disciples of Christ, it’s Protestant, like Methodists.”

She stared blankly at me and said, “I had a neighbor who was a Mormon and I went to church with her once.”

“We’re not quite like the Mormons,” I said.

“I don’t know. I mean, I’m a Christian.”

“Oh, yeah? What church did you go to?”

She shrugged. “I’ve never been to church, just youth group with my friends when I was in high school.”

“Cool, what kind of youth group?”

Again, a blank stare. “I don’t know, we just, like, hung out with our friends and talked about stuff. I didn’t really like it that much, so I stopped going.”

I nodded, and, deciding that the conversation was headed nowhere, stopped asking questions about church and started asking questions about her aspirations as a stylist.

Later, after a short lull in our conversation, she returned to the topic of religion. “So you work at a church? What do you do there?”

I told her that I was currently putting together an alternative worship service on Sunday evenings.

She frowned and stopped cutting my hair. “If you don’t mind me asking, what do you worship there?”

I didn’t even know what to say. I’d never been asked such a question before, and certainly never by someone who’d claimed to be a Christian.

I told her that we praised God and prayed to Jesus. That we contemplated our purpose, especially as it related to communities that suffered poverty and other oppression.

“That’s cool,” she said and pressed on asking questions about how we actually tried to help people. Eventually she admitted that she had given up trying to make a difference, as she had realized it wasn’t really possible.

As she was walking me to the front desk to pay for my haircut, she brought up the topic of religion a third time, out of the blue and with urgency. “I think I’m a really spiritual person! I just don’t know much about the church. It’s not really for me, I don’t think.”

I’ve heard this comment before. I don’t know what to do with it. Is the church not doing its job? Or is it becoming obsolete to upper-middle class Americans?

I don’t know what to do with the fact that Christians, perhaps myself included, aren’t prepared to answer the question, “What do you worship?” I’ve been thoroughly prepared to answer questions of why or how. But ‘what’ completely threw me off my game.

What do we worship?

ETA: Just went to lunch with a friend who started a new job as Youth Director at a suburban church. She has been observing their current Youth Group program and has concluded that it centers around gossip and chilling. She is appalled and eager to create change.

Reposted from Alex Discerns a Way.

Wooing the "Nones"

As we noted in a previous post there is an increasing number of people, especially young adults, who the authors of American Grace term "Nones."  They are "Nones" because they choose not to identify with any particular religious tradition.  We've noted that many have been turned off by what they perceive are the "political overtones" of religion -- especially conservative politics.   So, is it possible that these disaffected younger adults might be enticed to come into the church?  Well, the authors say it's possible -- because they aren't by nature "ardent secularists."  They write that "a large portion of those who demur from indicating a formal religious affiliation believe religion is important, pray regularly, and even attend a congregation on occasion" (American Grace, p. 176).  They are, what sociologists Michael Hout and Claude Fischer call "unchurched believers."  They are, thus to quote the Putnam and Campbell, "an inviting target for "religious entrepreneurs."  

The term religious entrepreneurs might sound a bit off putting, but their point is well-taken.  It will take people who are willing to take risks and try new things to reach this group of disaffected people.  And what would this look like?  Well, if its partisan politics or a merging of religion and politics, especially relating to sex and family issues that can be seen in the evangelical/GOP alliance, that pushes them away, then it would be helpful to  deemphasize these kinds of issues in favor of others.  That might be a harbinger of good things for mainline churches that aren't as linked to such emphases.

Of course there is the possibility that something more geared toward them, such as the emerging church or emergent church movements might be more successful.  The reality, as the authors see it, innovation is at the heart of the effort.  I would add that from watching the young adults I'm in conversation with, there is a strong desire to be doing something, not just watching something be done.  They're not interested in committees, but they do want to make a difference. 

Can this be done?  Yes, I believe it can.  That is the possibility raised in a more detached way in American Grace and in a more direct way by Carol Howard Merritt in her book Reframing Hope (Alban, 2010).

America's Religious Identity -- Boom, Shocks, and After-shocks (Part 4 -- Second Aftershock)

If you can remember back that far, the 1950s and early 1960s were the hey day of institutional religion.  I was, as I've noted, born at the end of the 1950s, grew up in the 60s and 70s and came of age in the early 70s.  I was born into a mainline church, but left it for a more "charismatic" and conservative religious orientation in the mid to late 70s.  Over time I grew disenchanted with my charismatic context, in large part due to the anti-intellectualism that I found there.  I will add, that I also found a lot of hypocrisy in that group as well.  We were very competent in covering our ways in spiritual language.  But, I didn't go "liberal" overnight.  I went to a premier evangelical seminary, though in evangelical circles Fuller is considered liberal, and while I continue to value my education at Fuller, I continued to chaff under the evangelical sub-culture that seemed unable to wrestle in meaningful ways with the intellectual challenges of the age.  That's my story, but there is another story of a more dramatic aftershock to the conservative aftershock of the 1970s and 1980s.

Robert Putnam and David Campbell, writing in their book American Grace, suggest that when we look at demographics, we need to keep in mind that the overall numbers change slowly as one generation gives way to another.  Consider that yesterday we observed Pearl Harbor Day.  World War II began for Americans on December 7, 1941.  That was 69 years ago.  Even the youngest survivors of that day are in their late 80s.   The Greatest Generation, the generation that birthed the Baby Boom and that fueled the religious surge in the 1950s and 1960s is dying off and soon their presence will no longer be felt.  This generation, along with the one that came of age right after WW II, the folks that fought in Korea and have not made as much of a dent in the public mind as either the Greatest Generation or the Baby Boomers, they're aging as well.  Both of these generations are relatively conservative.  As they pass away, the younger generations will begin to make themselves felt. 

Well, if the later Baby Boomers (sometimes called the Jones Generation) and the GenXers were more conservative, leading to the first aftershock, there is a new generation coming of age, and they are both more liberal and increasingly disaffected from institutional forms of religion.  I know one of these people quite well --he's my son!  

One of the key changes in this new generation is the growing presence of what have come to be known as the "None's."  They're a bit like the growing numbers of Americans who choose as their political party affiliation -- Decline to State.  Putnam and Campbell note that in the pre-boomer years maybe 5-7% of the population would have claimed no religious affiliation ("nones").  That doubled among boomers (10-15%), and that has doubled again to 20-30% among those who have come of age in the past two decades.   The authors note that there is no evidence to show that as these younger generations age they're becoming more attached to institutional religion.  Here is the kicker:

Since 2000 generational succession has meant that cohorts of whom barely 5 percent say they have no religious affiliation are being replaced by cohorts of whom roughly 25 percent say they have no religion, massively increasing the nationwide incidence of nones.  (American Grace, p. 123).

It's not that they don't believe in God or seek some kind of spiritual sustenance, as the authors note there are few atheists or agnostics in this bunch.  The New Atheists are making a big splash, but they're really not making many converts!  Many of this new cohorts of "Nones" emerge from homes that were not religious to begin with -- that is children of Boomers who never got introduced to the church or synagogue, but they are also increasingly present among children of the devout, even among the evangelicals.  

And, note this:

The new nones are heavily drawn from the center and left of the political spectrum.  Hout and Fischer have shown that the rise of the new nones closely corresponds (with a lag of about half a decade) to the visibility of the Religious Right in the public media, suggesting that the rise of the nones might be some sort of backlash against religious conservativism.  Our Faith Matters surveys confirm that few of the new nones come from the right half of the political spectrum. (American Grace, p. 127).

Although there are more progressive alternatives to conservative forms of religion, it would appear that the younger cohort isn't paying much attention to these alternatives.  Institutional forms of religion seem to them to be inherently politicized, and they'll get their politics elsewhere.

So, what does this bode for the church?   Although evangelicalism continues to have some presence, the trends don't look good for them either.  Evangelicals could be in much the same place that Mainliners were four decades ago.  And the movements that are tapping into all of this change are what have been called Emergent or Emerging churches.  

I think that the past two election cycles are good examples of this.  In 2008, President Obama and the Democrats had an amazing year, sweeping the Republicans out of the White House and creating huge majorities in Congress.  They did this with a lot of help from young voters.  In 2010, the situation reversed itself.  But all of the polling suggests that the electorate of 2010 was much older than the general population.  Will this reverse itself in 2012?  It's too early to say, but I think it's interesting to note that the Fox viewership mirrors the 2010 electorate, it's getting older.  Younger adults, who didn't show up at the polls in 2010, are turning to Stewart and Colbert!   Oh, and I thought interesting that the median age of viewers for Sarah Palin's Alaska was 57 years old, 15 years older than the typical TLC audience.  

The second aftershock is only now making itself felt -- the question that political parties and religious institutions need to consider, is how this shift will affect their longevity!   

Reframing Hope -- Review

REFRAMING HOPE: Vital Ministry in a New Generation.  By Carol Howard Merritt.  Foreword by Diana Butler Bass.  Herndon, VA: Alban, 2010.  x + 147 pp.

    It’s probably unnecessary for me to repeat the canard that Mainline Protestantism is an aging religious tradition.  It’s true, the Mainline has been aging, and in many of our churches the elderly far outnumber the younger ones, but the Mainline isn’t simply a spiritual retirement home for hidebound traditionalists.  There are many signs of renewed life, which give hope for the future.  This is especially true if we pay attention to the younger adults who have either chosen to stay home in the Mainline, or found in the Mainline the spiritual home they had been seeking.  The reasons for staying or joining vary.  They range from the greater openness to the leadership of women to the presence of gays.   It could also be the intellectual openness that is found in these traditions.   And while it’s true that the preponderance of clergy is graying, there are a growing number of eloquent younger leaders whose voices have begun to ring out in the church.  Among this group is  the Rev. Carol Howard Merritt, a Presbyterian pastor, author, and broadcaster, who by her own self-description is a “loyal radical.”   That self-description is an important note, because it signals a desire to be part of a tradition, but willing to challenge it when it becomes sedentary and moribund.  There is a recognition that the church needs more than simply chaplains, but prophetic and visionary voices that point us into the future. 

    In this, her second book (the first being Tribal Church), Carol Howard Merritt offers us a portal through which we can look at the church as it stands today and then begin to see a trajectory upon which a renewed and revisioned church can begin taking its journey into the future.  In days of yore, we looked to the elders of the community for sage advice, but now is a time to hear valuable words of wisdom from those who are agile and adept in their participation in the turbulence that marks the present era.  Leaders, like Merritt, have their finger on the pulse on the current situation and have an understanding of the way in which these changes are affecting the church as it maneuvers in the early decades of the  21st century.  If we’re willing to listen, we’ll discover that these changes make for a ministry that is both more difficult and more exciting. 

    The world we inhabit is marked by technological, generational, environmental, and political changes and challenges, changes that affect not only the old Mainline Churches like Carol’s (PCUSA) or mine (Disciples of Christ), but also the evangelical megachurches that seemed so adept at adapting to the cultural changes just a few years ago.  Alas, the tide may have turned once again, and it’s possible, though by no means assured, that the Mainline churches, many of which inhabit the old urban centers, may have a new opportunity, especially since as Merritt suggests: “worship as entertainment seems to be losing its luster” (p. 1).   So perhaps it’s time to do a bit of “reframing,” so that vital ministry might take place in a new generation.   

    A frame allows us to focus and describe something, and as Merritt writes, “the way we frame our situation has an impact on our current attitudes, our cognitive abilities, and our future behavior” (p. 3).  So, how do we go about this “reframing” project so that we might experience hope and vitality (not just among the younger set, but among all who inhabit our churches)?  Merritt offers several items to consider.  The first warms my heart, because I am by training a historian, and that it is impossible to ignore history.  Whatever its nature, the church has a history and that history can’t be ignored, because we can’t understand the context without understanding where the church has come from.  Second, as we consider our histories, we must acknowledge the dark sides of our past.  Third, we must seek to understand why mistrust exists in our congregations.  Fourth, if we don’t understand the past, we can’t understand the present.  She writes: “we can begin to imagine vital church ministry in a new generation only by remembering that we have emerged from somewhere specific” (p. 6).   Finally, it is important to recognize the strengths of our traditions.  God maybe doing something new, but God hasn’t thrown out everything old (despite what we preachers quoting Paul might suggest). 

    By engaging in the act of reframing our world and its history we have a better opportunity to discern the meaning of the present, and Merritt notes that due to the date of her birth she has never lived in a church-centered world.  She doesn’t remember when Mainline Protestantism dominated the national conversation, and change has always been part of her vocabulary, but at a time when the religious institutions continue to lose market share, an opportunity is presenting itself where hope can once again be rekindled and a new vitality can emerge within the church.  This is occurring in a context where young adults are returning to the city, demonstrating concern fro social-justice issues, and looking for more meaningful and participatory forms of worship, where lay people are empowered to engage in leadership and ministry.  That is, people are looking for things that may lie buried in our denominational churches. 

    In the course of seven chapters Merritt explores such concepts as the redistribution of authority, the re-formation of community, the reexamination of our mediums of communication (read internet, blogs, social networking sites), the retelling of  the message (a new day for evangelism), the reinvention of activism (more than simply marches), engaging in the renewal of creation (a commitment to environmentalism), and a retraditioning of spirituality (rediscovering old practices and resources from the history of the church).  There is a strong sense of reengaging tradition, but there is also in this discussion a strong reminder that the church today and tomorrow will be linked closely to the web, especially social networking sites, which are evolving quickly.  This offers new opportunities for collaboration and accessing resources for knowledge.  At the same time, there is a caution, for the virtual world is not a replacement for the flesh and blood engagement. 

    One of the words that sticks out in this reframing of hope for the church is that of centralization.  Because of the technology that is present, we’re not nearly as dependent on centralized institutions.  Indeed, many have become skeptical and distrustful of these institutions, seeing them as moribund.  While there is a resistance to centralization, there remains a powerful movement toward consolidation.  Thus, it seems as if there are two competing visions – one that suggests bigger is better and the other that small is good.  But, while the bigger is better continues to have its say, the alternative is gaining ground.  Ultimately, we must recognize that in the church vitality is not defined by brand but by what’s happening in the local community of faith.

    We’ve heard it before.  You need to revision for tomorrow.  And that is true, but simply changing the words and the nomenclature won’t move us forward.  Times have changed and a new way living together as people of faith is required.  Our context is no longer culturally or ethnically homogeneous.  Younger people don’t necessarily know the stories or the language of faith.  Merritt writes:
   

    Today, our neighborhoods are filled with people from a wide array of religious backgrounds and expressions. We struggle to communicate our faith in the midst of such pluralism and, in our worst expressions, we avoid or discriminate against those who are not Christians (p. 131).

She goes on to note that in our old frameworks we could depend on social conditioning and denominational loyalty to “drive people to church.”  That’s no longer true.  We have to be intentional, and our reach must be compassionate.  The way we communicate must adapt as well. Consider Merritt reminds us that even as the younger members of our communities are fluent in social media, many of our churches struggle to put together a basic website.  There is hope, nonetheless, for the Mainline church, even as it struggles to stay afloat amidst this sea of change, to be a transformative presence.  If we’re to respond to the context, we need to understand that even in the midst of rampant individualism there is a crying need for community.  There is a desire among the younger members of our society to communicate prayerfully, and there is a desire for social justice.   Social justice has been at the core of Mainline Protestant life, and there is in this a point of connection. 

    Writers such as Diana Butler Bass, the author of the foreword to this book, and Eric Elnes (a UCC pastor in Arizona), have been reminding us that there is life in the Mainline churches.  Carol Howard Merritt adds her voice to this series of testimonials, offering to us a word of hope from the younger side of our community of faith, a reminder that God is still present and at work in our midst.  For this reason alone, this book is a worthy read.  It is, also well written and insightful, making this another must read for the year 2010 and beyond.

Split Ticket -- WTF book announcement

Will Young Adults, especially Christian young adults, engage the political system?  Will the political shenanigans that muddy the waters lead to skepticism and cynicism?  There is a growing sentiment that the system is broken and many are ready to jump ship.  But is that the right choice?

Split Ticket: Independent Faith in a Time of Partisan Politics is the second volume in Chalice Press's Where's The Faith series for young adults, which is edited by Brandon Gilvin and Christian Piatt, is due out over soon.  You will want to get a copy, especially if you read and enjoyed the first volume Oh God! Oh God! Oh God! (Chalice 2010).  I've not yet read the newest collection of essays, which is edited by Brandon, Christian, and Amy Gopp, but I know all three, regard them highly (all three are Disciples by the way), and know it will be worth your attention.

So, until the book is available, you can read my review of the first volume and check out this trailer from Chalice Press: