Most traditional mainline Christians are still in the Sacred-Canopy Culture that prevailed through previous American history. After World War II the Modern Scientific Culture challenged the traditional. Mainline ministers oriented themselves to addressing that new culture. Traditional churches were on the defensive. But in recent decades young adult Americans have moved on to the Post-Modern Culture. How can churches best witness to this new culture? This challenge presents some surprises.
The Old Sacred Canopy Culture
This is the culture I grew up in. Lutherans and Catholics, as well as Episcopalians and Reformed, shared fundamental assumptions. Call this the Sacred Canopy: that life was created by God; we defined ourselves by our relationship to this God who sets our morality of responsibilities to him and to each other. Life revolved around sin and salvation. We were all baptized into that faith and catechized into its beliefs. Our lives revolved around loyalty to the church and what was expected of us. It was a fulfilling life for many. Take God out of the equation and this whole Sacred Canopy collapses.
The Modern Culture
This is the world I learned as a graduate student at Washington University in St. Louis. There is no place for the supernatural. You could have your own beliefs, but those are not relevant to what counts. In this modern culture, the Bible has no special authority; it is a collection of stories told long ago. Those who take it seriously are fundamentalists who really don’t belong in the progressive world. You don’t go around talking about miracles.
In this modern culture mainline ministers learned the new academic rules for interpreting the Bible. There is no significant supernatural world. Miracles need to be explained away. The Bible has no special inspiration; much of it was written based on oral traditions added in later centuries. The old traditions are suspect. Churches became social organizations that need to justify themselves by the social purposes they pursue.
Progressive churches oriented themselves to the modern secular world. But they lost something basic about the spiritual world. Those are the ones in steep decline now.
The Current Post-Modern Culture.
Most young people by training and occupation are now immersed in the scientific culture. They are looking for something more. What can be empirically proven is not providing a fulfilling life for them. Their post-modern culture leaves them open to worlds beyond observable nature–that is, the supernatural. What they are groping for could be called spiritual meaning. But they don’t carry the assumptions of the old Sacred Canopy culture. They don’t see the Bible as having any special authority. They don’t start with Bible-based beliefs and are resistant to denominations that define themselves by their beliefs. They are looking for congregations and fellowships that define themselves by their actions and the quality of their community life.
What are the touchpoints for reaching out to post-moderns? This is the driving question I want to pursue. The challenge is to address their felt lack of meaning and their loneliness. Because they are open to the supernatural, they can be interested in how the Holy Spirit changes lives. They are looking for evidence of the Spirit, not a theology of the Spirit. They are not looking initially for ethical rules and guilt based on them. A loving God of grace who reaches out to them makes sense. They are open to informal church communities that reflect life and relationships open to the Spirit. Including them in such a community has to start with showing intense interest in each personally and by demonstrating what such a Spirit-driven community can offer.
Such a ministry is time-consuming. Ministry to people in the post-modern culture will be best done by young adults who show aptitude and learn by doing. The best older Christians can do is help raise up and support this new generation of Christian leaders.
Are you most comfortable in the traditional Sacred Canopy Culture, or the Modern Culture or now the Post Modern Culture?
Although you could consider me ” old” I tend to be energized by Spirit filled and Spirit led relationships. So I personally feel drawn to the Post Modern Culture, In submission to my husband I attend and associate with a church that seems to have services for both Modern and Post Modern cultures; thereby meeting both of our needs.
You and I are part of the traditional church culture; we are used to living under the sacred canopy. In earlier years I tried to fit into the Modern culture (university Ph.D. in behavior sciences) but found it unfulfilling. I can only describe the Post Modern culture and I do that for mission purposes. Paul’s message of grace and Spirit should fit them well. That’s what we need to emphasize to reach this new generation.
what i find interesting is the fact that we divide our belief in god this way. in reality, i find that there is room for all these beliefs in one package because most people are a little bit of all of this in their belief systems. i think the real job is helping people realize you can be a little bit of each of these divisions. one of the church’s main downfall is the belief that you somehow cannot be eclectic. instead, we are expected to believe fully in whatever culture we are in at the time. this is one of the reasons church attendance has dwindled so much. why? because people felt antagonized or where told to get with the program or be ostracized. i honestly feel the church needs to find a way to understand there are sacred things, that science is not our enemy, and that the supernatural exists and how to handle it. this idea would definitely make sermons challenging.
Hi, Jeanne. Your observations are challenging. Certainly Post-Moderns are eclectic, going by intuition for what works for them. Unfortunately what works for many changes every few years. Their need for fellowship remains the same, however. We traditional churches need to focus on grace focused Spirit shaped ministry. We have much to learn.
Greetings,
You’ve offered good summaries of the varied points of view, or cultural understandings, now in play. NB, however, that in the lived out world folks don’t live in one camp or the other. Instead, in our consumer culture, folks choose whatevet notions they are comfortable with, and are not much concerned with any fine inconsistencies.
Well said. A new book calls the post-moderns the Re-mixed, choosing my intuition rather than by institutions.
I would have to say the post modern culture probably because as an evangelist I see a lot more opportunities to reach the everyday people. I often say that the world has gone so crazy that many are now seeing the need for God in our lives and in our culture. The source that brings fullness and purpose to our lives as well as functioning as the “glue” that holds our society together.
I feel that God is calling us into action at this time because more people now than ever are searching for answers and we need to be out there with Jesus is the one and only way to salvation.
We perform monthly Planned Acts of Christian Kindness (PACK) as an easy way to share the love & grace of Jesus with everyone with the Connect Card delivering the message as well as an invite. In doing so the Holy Spirit is given the opportunity to transform lives, in many cases starting with your own! PACK is at work in 114 countries with numbers constantly growing. If you are interested just go to http://www.acts18.org to get your free program download. Please no donations, this is all about encouraging all believers to engage everyday people with the Holy Spirit. God bless!
Hi David.
I’m definitely out of the era of Sacred Canopy Culture (SCC). Most of the pastors I counsel are also out of that era, as well. One of the struggles I’ve noticed, in this COVID reactionary period, is that the SCC measures of success (attendance, programs, and budgets) have taken a direct hit. Pastors are trying to figure out how to compensate for the losses, which makes perfect sense from an SCC point of view. Some are figuring out that the dependence on the SCC way of thinking is the problem, and maybe all of this is God’s way of jolting us out of that dependence. I’m not ready to ditch the traditional attraction model, because younger people still want to be attached – and foundational, Biblical teaching is still relevant for life and salvation.
Yes, we in traditional churches cannot see beyond SCC and most of such pastors probably won’t. But we can and should work on grace-focused, Spirit-shaped ministry. It’s the Spirit part that should open us up to change. Those that do follow where the Spirit is leading will figure out how to minister better in PMC (post-modern culture)