Buzzwords

A while ago, in a small group Bible study, I shared a few comments on what I had learned about Christian community at college. On my drive home from the study, I began to think about how often that topic had come up in my four years at Indiana Wesleyan University, a mid-sized (but growing) evangelical Christian college. The redundancy of those conversations about community made me think that my generation must be wrestling with this idea. As I continued thinking about this, I realized that I had heard at least three other topics discussed among my peers on a very regular basis. These buzzwords had the ability to stir up conversation in a heartbeat among diverse groups.

It is probably never a good idea to take four topics, discussed among a small group of Christians from roughly the same doctrinal heritage, all in the same age group, and in the same geographic location, and then make sweeping generalizations about upcoming trends in the evangelical movement. So here is the disclaimer: I’m about to do just that. I’ll be the first to admit the limits of this conversation. However, let me justify this approach with some additional thoughts. First, the nature of the evangelical community today is that we are well connected, at least within the evangelical sphere of North America (and we can pray that the day when evangelicals from around the world have a larger voice in the American Church comes soon). Students my age are reading books from authors all over the country. They are hearing sermons from podcasts and reading Christian thought on blogs and other websites. Christian youth are getting together at conferences around the nation. So potentially, even the small sample size of students I encountered at IWU could represent the thoughts and trends of the American Evangelical Movement. Second, the nature of IWU contributes to this. The school is growing rapidly and is becoming more widely respected among Christian colleges. IWU was consistently ranked number one in spiritual atmosphere by Campus Life magazine while I was there. All that to say, some great minds and great people, whom we can expect to be leaders within the evangelical movement, were present while these buzzwords were being tossed around. Notwithstanding, I still admit the limitations to this article, and I’ll even caution that this article is still very much “in the rough” and I’m about to make some dastardly generalizations…feel free to correct them in a comment post.

Before we get to the topics themselves, let’s explore the significance of these “buzzwords.” I think it is safe to assume that in Christian history (as in all history) we don’t really see much that is “new under the sun.” We see a cyclical pattern in which an idea or pattern of behavior that is neglected in one generation eventually makes it back to the surface in another. Thoughtful Christian leaders should be active in identifying these patterns and trying to mold and moderate them so as to avoid the consequences of the neglect-emphasize-abuse cycle. (e.g. individual piety and neglect of social piety; emphasis on social justice and reform; the Social Gospel-only abuse.) The obvious place to start in identifying these patterns is to listen to what the upcoming generation is talking about. Often the ideas that the new generation is tossing around are present because of a long absence in previous generations. The idea/behavior is making its way back around. As these ideas are tossed around (first among the reformers of the older generation, then commonly among the new leaders), they create (or maybe simply point out) the need present, and soon enough people begin to put them into action. My assertion is that these four catchphrases—community, revival, authenticity, and passion—are looming on the horizon as major upcoming trends in the evangelical community. Those from an older generation can probably tell you where we first began to see signs of “resurfacing,” but I can only give you insight on these current themes of my generation.

Community

“Community” was about as common a word as “salvation” on the IWU campus. The broader evangelical movement is definitely showing this trend. The implementation of small groups; the desire to get back to early Christian-style fellowship; and numerous books on the topic have pounded this into the forefront of the evangelical mind. Churches are being formed with community being an almost singular tenet. Megachurches are giving way to new “organic, community-focused” churches. Traditional churches are struggling to implement new strategies that will enhance the community experience of members.

Why? I think America is beginning to experience the fallout of our hard-core individualism. In years past, the heartiest individualists always managed to make it on their own with only loose social connections or those formal relationships needed to succeed in the capitalistic economy; the rest fell back onto the ever-stable institution of traditional family to be their community support. The nuclear family offered enough emotional support to get by (extended family became a remote backup), while still allowing a great deal of individualism. Traditional family is becoming the exception today. Family members don’t do the same things, think the same things, or believe the same things; communication is limited (despite the ever increasing number of communication means); dysfunction is becoming altogether too prevalent. Without this bedrock of community support, people are looking for something new; a new source for vital support and they are finding this in the institution of friendship. This has been mentioned elsewhere (to many places to merit an actual citation), but look at popular TV today—Seinfeld, Friends, Grey’s Anatomy, etc. People find the support they need in groups of friends. There is the possibility that we are also craving some of the deeper benefits of community that were absent even when traditional family support was present. Non-Western cultures largely haven’t gone wild with individualism, and the West may be hungering for some of the security we see in their community structure. We were, after all, created by God to be in community; we have an inherent need for other people, and we’ve probably ignored this for too long.

The breakdown of family has hit the Church too. Single people use it as an outlet to connect with others because they live away from family, married women or men come without their spouses, teens from broken homes find refuge in youth groups. Thoughtful Christian leaders will do what they can to preserve and enhance traditional family structure (this hasn’t gone out the window, nor should it…maybe, just maybe, however, it will loose its sacred cow status that has come at the exclusion of other forms of community), but they will also see some vast opportunity in making these connections outside the family. If fostered correctly, community has the ability to enhance spiritual growth, depth, and impact in members’ lives and society as a whole.

However, while we talk so frantically about this (mainly, I think because we are trying to fill the vacuum left by the disappearance of family structure and the growing hunger for something more), we have a long way to go in learning what true Christian Community looks like and functions like. True accountability and taking care of each other’s physical needs (at a cost to our own financial security) are just initial steps in the learning curve. Submitting to older, wiser Christians in order to maintain peace won’t be popular either (“Me, my thoughts, my knowledge, my Bible, and my choices” has been the ingrained theme for a long time). It also remains to be seen whether these new trends will develop into something deeper than just ‘getting enough emotional support from my friends so that I can continue being my own person.’ If we get past that, we’ll see if our fast-paced, highly mobile culture even has the capacity for the type of relationship-growing required by true community. Our best step at this point would be to allow our brothers and sisters in non-western cultures to start critiquing us, and we Protestants might want to start taking some cues from our Catholic siblings as well. (IF that all goes well, somebody, in about…oh…ten generations might want to start bouncing some of Martin Luther’s ideas around the Church again as a prophylactic treatment to group-think.)

Authenticity

Usually accompanying any discussion of community, the word authenticity came up. It was the idea that in this new-found community, one could be truly themselves without putting on airs. I think this directly relates to the renewed interest in community. My generation is sick of having to be the rugged individualist who keeps his/her struggles, emotions, and thoughts to him/herself. We’ve seen how keeping some of these things to yourself can be explosive (as recently as Ted Haggard). We are tired of the pastor who gets up in the pulpit on Sunday morning and acts as if he were immune to the trials and struggles the rest of us face. We are tired of the cheesy, fake smiles and the “I’m great, how are you” banter. But at the root of it, I think we are hungry for love; unconditional, accepting love; agape love. We are growing tired of unnecessary judgment (unless of course we’re judging older generations as antiquated, stodgy, and generally out-of-the-loop).

This desire to be authentic with fellow believers has enormous potential. Authenticity allows accountability; it allows others to share your burden and help you along. Fostering an attitude of agape love within the Church is at the heart of what Christ wants for His Bride. However, we must steer clear of the temptation to say, ‘here I am, this is what I do, love me but don’t try to change me.’ We must come to the realization that encounters with agape love are always life altering.

Revival

It might be a result of my school’s Wesleyan, holiness heritage that I heard so much talk of “revival.” I mean, we DID have fall and spring summits (a not-so-cleverly repackaged revival service) at the beginning of each semester, and there was always a contingent of students hoping that maybe this time an old-style revival would break out. (I confess to having been part of that contingent on a number of occasions.) But I think my generation comes by our desire for revival in a different way as well. We see across my generation a renewed interest in spirituality; be that the occult, new age, Eastern religions, or just plain mix-n-match spirituality. In our post-modern way, we’ve rejected traditional methods of exploring spirituality, but we’ve also rejected the secular, academic assertions that science reigns supreme. (And depending how you look at it, either you see a gigantic mess or an enormous potential for the Kingdom.)

Revival is the way of my Christian peers saying that we want to be in touch with spiritual reality. We want to go beyond the science of knowing God, and we want to be in touch with Him in a very real, POWERFUL way. In the revivals we’ve learned about, we’ve heard that God shows up in an undeniable way, and we’d like to get in on that. And Christian leaders in this post-modern world of ours should probably start jumping on this. (Many already have.) As the status of scientific, logical truth is increasingly devalued, some other way of knowing things is being sought. Spiritual power struggles are going to come to America in a real way. (If you are raising an eyebrow at this, don’t worry, the rational, Modernist in me is doing the same…and I truly believe this. If it helps, think about missionaries in animistic cultures confronting witch doctors and demonic strongholds…somehow it doesn’t seem so farfetched when we don’t talk of it in the American context) Prayer and dependence on the Holy Spirit are going to be essential, not just in talk, but in practice. We owe a debt of gratitude to the Pentecostal movement for pioneering in this area (and I’m not suggesting we all run off to become Pentecostals…but their growth worldwide should cause us to take note.) Thoughtful leaders need to be on top of this idea of revival, maybe not in the traditional sense (though there may be a time and place for that), but very much in the sense of encouraging believers to adopt spiritual disciplines that will put us in deeper contact with spiritual reality, i.e. the Holy Spirit alive and active in us.

Revival-thought has a ton of pitfalls. It can rely heavily on emotionalism, which can be deceptive and prone to disappointment when the emotions just don’t come. I think the idea of revival also appeals to our instant-gratification, microwave society. We want contact with God, and now; instead of the processes of spiritual discipline and discipleship that are anything but instant. To add to the difficulties, the type of spiritual power that comes through these processes is not something we manipulate and control, we are simple conduits through which the power can flow. (On the other hand, those in the occult are given the sense that they control the power. God always no such pretensions; Satan delights in them) Also, while I tend to be less fearful of post-modern thought than some, I do see great dangers in tossing out our basis in logical thought. Christian teachers must seek to preserve the place of absolute truth, while showing us how to know it emotional, spiritually, and logically. (In post-modern environs, these three will have to be bound together in order to preserve truth.)

Passion

Usually attached to this notion of revival is the word passion. There are bands and conferences bearing the name. We want to be passionate in our worship of God and we want to live passionately—being “on fire” for God. There is, in this idea of passion, a sense of wanting to belong to something bigger than oneself. And so we sing as if our loud voices, upward raised hands, and swaying bodies were making us a part of this “something bigger”. (Is this a possible explanation for why we have shifted so heavily to the “I think, I feel, I do,” style of worship?) And we honestly try (success rate???) to live passionate Christian lives.

Here’s the problem with passion—it’s just so hard to maintain. At least our type of passion is. We define passion as this frenzied energy poured into something we are DOING. The quiet, adamant resolve that will actually help us live passionate Christian lives doesn’t appear on our radar screens when we think, “passion”. If we are to benefit from this passion trend, we need to learn to reign in the energy, develop a resolve to wait on the Lord, and then learn to apply the energy to those works the Lord assigns us. Trying to live high-energy all the time will simply cause us to chase our tails and collapse in an exhausted dizziness.

Honorable Mention

Social justice is back on the surface in a big way for evangelicals, and this buzzword probably deserves more than honorable mention. The evangelical church will be fighting AIDS, poverty, environmental destruction, and racism in the next generation (these themes are all alive and well today in the Church. I just get the sense that they will be even bigger issues for us.) And as long as we take note of both Matthew 25 and 28, I’ll be happy to see us go there.

Passivism is getting more attention these. The good old Anabaptist theme is back through the writings of those like John Howard Yoder. I’m not sure that the large majority of evangelicals will buy into it (at least not as long as evangelical continues to equal Republican), but we should keep an eye on it.

Independent. I think we could see a larger contingent of evangelicals picking and choosing their candidates, regardless of party line. We put forth a lot of clout to help Republicans get the offices they wanted, and we didn’t get the dividends we wanted. And while we still like the conservative values and small government, growing numbers are saying, hey, what about education, what about the poor? Pro-life, pro-traditional marriage democrats could see a lot of evangelical support.

Conspicuously absent

Absent from the conversations. “Absolute truth” seems to be the conversation of many in the older generation…I don’t remember hearing it among my peers. This means that either we are content letting others fight the battle and we’ll pick it up when we have to…or…maybe we’re just not so convinced it’s the battle we really want to fight. “Career missions” used to be the emphasis; it has switched to short-term missions or missions dabbling (repeated short-term trips, or a couple years before coming back to the States to get a ‘real’ job). People want to experience missions (probably because we’ve become such a globalized world and a short-term trip is a nice excuse to travel…and then a host of other more noble reasons), but they aren’t lining up to sign their lives away as career missionaries. (Those of you who know me, know that I reserve the term missions/missionary to the Christian work in a cross-cultural setting where the Gospel witness is limited or non-existent. There is good reason for this, but it’s the topic of another blog.)

Want to add anything? Please leave a comment. I would love to hear diverse input.