A seldom-referenced New Testament passage helps explain why so many young adults are not in Christian churches today. The Apostle Paul reminded the Corinthians not to associate with sexually immoral people (1 Corinthians 5:9).
Then he clarified that he did not at all mean the people of this world who are immoral and sinners. “In that case, you would have to leave this world. What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Exercise judgment on those inside. God will judge those outside.”
In the last several decades a critical balance shifted in the United States. While the majority of Americans still consider themselves Christian, less than half are churched. Yet many preachers continue to operate as if the United States is a Christian nation where Judeo-Christian ethics still apply to all. It is time to teach ourselves to think like Paul and the early Christians living in the pagan Roman Empire.
The current movement toward applying equal rights to homosexuals and marital status to same-sex couples happened quickly in terms of social movements. Young adults take these rights as self-evident. Yet what they hear from so many church leaders is, to them, extremely prejudicial, old fashioned and anything but loving. The result is predictable.
The movement toward applying equal rights to homosexuals and marital status to same-sex couples happened quickly in terms of social movements. Young adults take these rights as self-evident. Yet what they hear from so many church leaders is, to them, extremely prejudicial, old-fashioned and anything but loving.
Based on a recent survey, Brian Kinnaman in his book UnChristian observes that 16-29 year-olds who consider themselves outside Christianity are about 40% of their age group. Among them, 91% see Christianity as anti-homosexual, 87% as judgmental, 85% as hypocritical, 78% as old-fashioned, 75% as too involved in politics, 72% as out of touch with reality. If this is how they see Christianity, what could Christian churches offer them? Recognize also that this generation grew up being warned to stay away from priests who might be child molesters.
Church loyalties are swiftly disappearing. The basic Christian challenge in America now is to demonstrate the practical value of biblical beliefs and teaching for daily living. But the audience out there is no longer just neutral. Many are actively hostile.
One challenge is to help preachers and others who follow the heritage of John Calvin realize that they can no longer presume to project the norms of reformed Christian behavior on the whole nation. Whether or not the United States was Christian at the beginning is irrelevant. We aren’t anymore. For churched Christians, applying those norms in the present culture takes wisdom and sensitivity based on love, not anger.
Paul and the Christ followers in the early centuries knew how to handle themselves as a small minority in a very hostile culture. They had to base their appeal to others on the quality of relationships developed in their fellowships. Theirs was a loving God who interacted with his people through his special Spirit. Our Christian challenge today is to live and witness like early-century Christians in a nation that is no longer predominantly Christian. To do so will be a radical challenge for many preachers and congregations.
Perception is reality in our complicated society. Brian Kinnaman presents well the challenge of today. We can learn to respond to the unchurched by acting the way Jesus did. This means reacting to criticism with the right perspective—not dismissing it as unwarranted, not being defined by it, and by considering the below-the-surface motivations. In other words, we have to be defined by our service and sacrifice, by lives exuding humility and grace. If a young outsider can’t see Jesus in our lives, it is up to us to solve our ‘hidden Jesus problem.’
Kinnaman is a research associate of George Barna, known especially for his surveys reported in The Frog in the Kettle. He used the analogy of a frog which doesn’t sense rising temperature until it is cooked to death. The dying of frog-like churches is now happening.
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© 2019 David S. Luecke. All rights reserved. Permission granted to excerpt or reprint with attribution.
Excellent article! It is really tough to maintain a standard within the congregation and at the same time reach out to skeptical nonbelievers. You can get push back from either direction. My priority is still to see people come to Christ.
Keep that priority and you will do well whatever our institutional Synod foolishly does.
Thanks Dave. I hadn’t really thought about the ‘small’ Christian church in context of a very hostile culture in St Paul’s time. Very enlightening for me.
Thanks. I trust your ministry is going well at St. John.
Thank you, especially for “lives exuding humility and grace.”
I am striving for this love-based reaction to the environment AND I find great peace and joy when God achieves it in me.
Exuding humility and grace is my goal for today and the gift I receive in Baptism into Jesus Christ.
His peace be with you all.
“Lives exuding humility and grace” is the hallmark of believers whose lives have been changed by the Spirit, according to Jonathan Edwards.
well said
Thanks. I am glad this got to you.
“Hidden Jesus problem.” Interesting observation regarding how we deal with people-especially unchurched-in our reactions to criticism. Am I living a grace filled, fruit-of-the-spirit life that while not conceding to the missspoken words, responding in such a way that is winning others to the Christ like life I espouse. I sure would like to think I am not just sarcastic, angry, or disinterested in others, but may need to pray for the Spirit’s intervention in my life.
As I wrote, I think the shrill angry condemnation of homosexuality by prominent Calvinist Evangelical leaders has been disastrous for those who want to reach out to youth in the recently changed American culture.
David:
I am deeply grateful for your thoughtful comments on the absence of young adults in the church (and for the haste of many adolescents to leave the church). I hope that my circuit and district will engage on these issues although I doubt that synod will do more than celebrate the small minority of our youth who agree with the party line.
Do you have specific thoughts on encouraging more discussion?
Dan Schmalz
Yes, I have plans. Basically, I am developing sub-groupings of the master list. Paul Hoffman, Ohio District secretary, will do a monthly review of the weekly emails that will appear on the monthly District E-sources. He will invite district pastors to be part of this district network. They will be coded as such. We could do so for any district at their request. Then pastors in the same district will have their comments sent to their colleagues.
Spot on with your observations, Dave! Maybe your most thought provoking blog to date! Thanks!
Thanks, Gary, for your continued support.
Very timely and well stated. The challenges remain but they were there in the 1st century too. Blessings on your ministry.
Thanks John, I have valued your opinion over the years.
Young adults are also not in church because the preaching is as shallow as the proverbial Platte river- a mile wide and an inch deep. I’m trained in Lutheran theology and can barely stomach many sermons. It’s 10 minutes or less of fluff and warm fuzzies. Confirmation class is also an empty ritual for many. In the ELCA it’s even worse. An ELCA pastor friend left the ELCA and joined the Orthodox church because he was sick of serving as the “poor man’s psychologist.”
It is so refreshing to read this stance. I have long felt this way about why the church seems to be pushing people away instead of drawing them in. A while back, there was a billboard near our town on the highway. It is owned by a church that is situated right there. They had posted, in giant letters, “Homosexuality is a sin. Jesus can help.” I actually called and challenged that pastor. I told him that his outcome would be the exact opposite of his intention. We are called to love those around us, but our standards of living can’t be projected onto those who don’t share our beliefs. It’s so counterproductive with today’s youth because they don’t want to feel “judged.”
Very well stated, Pastor. I absolutely love the parallel to Paul and the early church.
Remember, they are Calvinist, and Calvin ran the theocracy in Geneva in the 1540s. That Calvinist urge to tell others how to live is deeply inbred in the thought structure or Baptists and other Evangelicals. Challenge the pastor to read and interpret 1 Corinthians 5:12. He may have never noticed that passage.
Thanks. They are considered to be the primitive church for many scholars. Making that parallel to the early church will be challenging to assumptions carried forward in previous centuries. Making the new assumption will be very hard for many church leaders.
Well thought out and written. Who did Jesus eat with and spend time with? Tax collectors, prostitutes, ect. I remind myself of that from time to time.
Why did those folks invite Him to spend time with them? Because He loved them first which is what we (I) need to be focused on. Jesus did not judge them or bang them over the head with the Torah; He loved them and listened to them. The rest of it will happen with the help of the Holy Spirit.
Thanks, Mike. Right on. I enjoyed our lunch last week.
On the one hand, there is an argument that goes like this: “I cannot help or change the way I feel. Therefore God made me this way. I have to accept it and so do you. If you don’t accept me the way I am, you are unkind and mean.”
On the other hand, we say, “When I cannot conform myself to God’s law, I discover that I am broken. But that is not God’s fault; and it may not even be my fault. The world is broken, not just me. Broken people produce broken people. I can forgive others, and myself, as God forgives me. Jesus Christ died to take away my sin, and he lives to connect me to God now and forever.”
So far, so good. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is foundational to our way of thinking. Repentance and forgiveness is our way of life. We lead by modeling repentance, not casting stones of judgment.
In keeping with this, we need a simple way to express our take on human relationships: We are for non-sexualized relationships of joy and peace. Our identity is not formed by our sexual desires; but by our relationship to the Father through the Spirit of Christ Jesus.
I just talked this morning with a staff member here who is dealing with the issue at home. I suggested the three Cs. Believers who accept biblical authority can’t Condone homosexual relations. But we should not Condemn members of the family by casting them out, but as with all members of the family, we should Care about them. This means staying in contact and inviting to family events even as we clarify our understanding that homosexual relations are not God-pleasing.
People (and especially young people) are leaving the established church because of the failure of the established church to define itself. Confirmation has been (for many) indoctrination in a poorly defined belief system. We have allowed the secularist culture define God. The people of God need to be just that–His people. By following “culture” instead of the Spirit we are losing the battle for souls. We need to define ourselves by making the culture see what God is all about. I am thankful that my church is working on this
Amen. Thank you.
A common problem for Lutheran churches and churches in general is attracting young adult members. I wish to share the following story.
Soon after graduation from college, my son and his new wife moved to Clarksville, Tn. My son was a newly commissioned 2nd Lt. stationed at Ft. Campbell. Other than college, this was the first time both had lived away from family and friends.
They decided to find a church. Both had been raised in the Lutheran church and were looking for one similar to the churches they grew up in-Christ centered churches with a fellowship of believers.
They tried a few churches and eventually settled on one 20 minutes from their home. They regularly attended as much as Army commitments allowed. They met with the Pastor. Even participated in some church functions. But they eventually left after a year. What happened? Nothing happened. Nobody made an attempt to reach out to them. No one gave them a call, invited them to dinner or stepped out of their comfort zone to inquire if they were ok.
James 1:22 says, “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” As David states, Paul and the early followers based “their appeal to others on the quality of relationships developed in their fellowships.” And further, “If a young outsider can’t see Jesus in our lives, it is up to us to solve our ‘hidden Jesus problem.’ The problem may not be with the youth but with our churches to see if what they preach is what really is practiced.
Great story. Let’s hope others who have encountered this will to their story.