Psychologist Phil McGraw, “Dr. Phil,” made a name for himself in television interviews with advice seekers. His famous question was, “So how’s that working for you?” The usual answer is not very well. Hence the need for advice.
“How’s it working for you” is the major touchpoint for relating to others in our modern American culture. An increasingly large proportion of Americans don’t walk around thinking about their relationship with a God who is seldom talked about seriously in daily life. Our culture shouts that what really counts is what can be counted in dollars and possessions. The purpose in life is to have More. Yet studies repeatedly show that getting “More” does not bring lasting satisfaction. So how’s that working for people who have more possessions and accomplishments than were ever had by any nation in world history? Not very well. Most still feel something is missing.
Traditional Christian preaching was good at addressing people who felt a sense of guilt toward God. We lived under a sacred canopy where life could be integrated around responsibilities to God and to others. But that sacred canopy is gone for many and shaky for many more. Without that canopy, guilt is not a widespread condition. Most hearing the message would conclude that “sin and salvation” are for somebody else, but not me.
So what is the touchpoint for presenting the Gospel to people who don’t have a sense of guilt?
“Malaise” is a fancy word academics use to describe a general feeling of discomfort, illness, or uneasiness whose exact cause is difficult to identify. Lack of fulfillment is a good description. Feeling lost and alone is another angle. The lead issue for many is “There’s got to be more to life than what I am experiencing.” The word “spirituality” can describe the search for something beyond the material world. For Bible-based Christians, some approaches to that elusive spirituality are bizarre. But recognize the underlying condition of hunger for a better life. That current hunger is the touchpoint for Christian witness today.
If the hunger today is for “spirituality,” then answer it with true Spirituality, the quality of life believers can have under the power of Christ’s Spirit.
The world today is different from the one Paul faced. They worshipped gods, and their gods could get angry and mess up their lives. Theirs was a religion based on guilt and fear of not sufficiently appeasing the gods. Even the educated elite on the Areopagus wanted to be sure they covered all bases by acknowledging an unknown god. If those pagans did not show enough reverence, especially to the local gods, they believed bad things could happen to them, their families, and their city.
In contrast, Paul offered the God who demonstrated his love by granting his favor through the appeasement his Son earned. This New Testament God offered love, grace, and fellowship in his Spirit.
So, what is our message today when there aren’t any gods that moderns fear and when guilt is not a motivator?
When I began my concentrated study of the Third Person of the Trinity about ten years ago, one of the first books I read was When God Talks Back, by T. M. Luhrmann from her anthropologist perspective of the social sciences. Anthropologists’ favorite research approach is to embed themselves in a culture and participate as an observer. She did this in a Vineyard Christian fellowship for several years at the elite University of Chicago and then in another Vineyard group at the even more elite Stanford University.
This is the question that intrigued her. “How are rational, sensible people of faith able to experience the presence of a powerful yet invisible being and sustain that belief in an environment of overwhelming skepticism?” Here is what she observed: “For those who have trained themselves to concentrate on their inner experiences, God is experienced in the brain as an actual social relationship: his voice was identified, and that identification was trusted and regarded as real and interactive.”
Let this new kind of relationship with God and other believers be the touchpoint today. Help lonely moderns, hungering for more in life, learn to experience the empowering presence of the Spirit. Then teach them about the love of the Father and the grace of his Son Jesus Christ.
Do you think many young adults today walk about with a sense of guilt over a Superior Being? How’s that working for them?
This is a great question. Thanks for raising it up. In some ways the Millennials remind me of the Boomers of the 60s, independent, questioning authority, wanting to change the world.
The Lutheran practice of preaching law and gospel might be helpful, but in a different way. Growing up in the church it felt like preaching law was a way to create guilt so that people would better appreciate the sweetness of the gospel word. Today, in our culture, that approach is likely to backfire. I think you’re on to a better approach. Speaking law today needs to be more descriptive than judgmental. I mean, young people are experiencing ‘law’ out in the the world every day – estrangement, disillusionment, loneliness, purposelessness etc. Effective law will simple describe these realities in ways that feel true and honest. Good News should to speak directly to those needs. Perhaps the church needs to majorly focus first on fostering relationships, belonging, connections, and deep spiritual bonding. And second, focus on engaging people in purposeful service, mission projects, justice efforts, inclusion of everyone, and care for creation. Thirdly, lots of young people are ignorant of the basic faith stories of the Bible that provide great overarching paradigms for framing our journey through a world in which we can feel like strangers and aliens. This calls for a basic educational approach to preaching and teaching that introduces these powerful narratives of God’s restorative mission working itself out through imperfect people like us.
Agree fully. The major educational job is with the preachers and teachers, so they learn to adjust their message to the effects of our sinful nature based on observation, not only with guilt-inducing Scripture passages. One respondent described how young adults hate to be clobbered with Scripture passage.
Unfortunately I think in today’s society there are too many that never experience God even at a young age. Between a powerful secular world and an education system that totally undermines the existence of a supreme being, people today have a total disconnect from any spiritual life. Because of this lack of “Divine guidance” the level of dysfunction in personal as well as family lives has reached a point where it is becoming more difficult for them to believe that a loving god would allow such pain & suffering to take place.
They either are busy enjoying the spoils of this world so much that their is no reason to give pause to ponder such things or they live in despair always blaming someone else for their woes and looking for quick fixes for their lives.
Maybe as they mature some may seek out a Spiritual answer to their questions or challenges they are facing, but for so many these days they do not even have the foundation of faith that was typically laid down by our parents when we were very young. This is why out task of telling the next generation is more critical then ever!
You describe the situation well. They are looking for answers, but are cautious of seeking them in churches. That’s our problem to overcome.
I have a lot of late 20’s friends. Most are not college educated. They are all feeling a need for something more. Church is not something they even think of though. When I asked if there was anything that would attract them to a church, the overwhelming response was nothing. They see church as a place that uses “clobber” verses to keep people in line, pats their people on the back for believing (not acting or doing, they were quick to say) and wants you to make friends. They have a high concern for the world issues; climate change, injustice, economic inequality, to name a few. Many volunteer time in missions. But they do not believe church is a place to find their spirituality.
Thanks, Shari. Committed Christians have a lot to overcome. Outreach now means developing personal relationships. I recently read a book expressing how Millennials resent the Boomers for having messed up the world so badly. I do believe there is a trend for young adults to be attracted to large community churches where they can remain anonymous, while they check out the message. Good preachers can make a difference. But that takes advanced skills.
We’re learning how to present the View from the Pew. I aim to offer at least the first part of someone’s View.