the Perils of "Wannabe Cool" Christianity

[rudywoofs (Pam)]

The Perils of 'Wannabe Cool' Christianity

By BRETT MCCRACKEN

'How can we stop the oil gusher?" may have been the question of the summer for most Americans. Yet for many evangelical pastors and leaders, the leaking well is nothing compared to the threat posed by an ongoing gusher of a different sort: Young people pouring out of their churches, never to return.

As a 27-year-old evangelical myself, I understand the concern. My peers, many of whom grew up in the church, are losing interest in the Christian establishment.

Recent statistics have shown an increasing exodus of young people from churches, especially after they leave home and live on their own. In a 2007 study, Lifeway Research determined that 70% of young Protestant adults between 18-22 stop attending church regularly.

Statistics like these have created something of a mania in recent years, as baby-boomer evangelical leaders frantically assess what they have done wrong (why didn't megachurches work to attract youth in the long term?) and scramble to figure out a plan to keep young members engaged in the life of the church.

Increasingly, the "plan" has taken the form of a total image overhaul, where efforts are made to rebrand Christianity as hip, countercultural, relevant. As a result, in the early 2000s, we got something called "the emerging church"—a sort of postmodern stab at an evangelical reform movement. Perhaps because it was too "let's rethink everything" radical, it fizzled quickly. But the impulse behind it—to rehabilitate Christianity's image and make it "cool"—remains.

There are various ways that churches attempt to be cool. For some, it means trying to seem more culturally savvy. The pastor quotes Stephen Colbert or references Lady Gaga during his sermon, or a church sponsors a screening of the R-rated "No Country For Old Men." For others, the emphasis is on looking cool, perhaps by giving the pastor a metrosexual makeover, with skinny jeans and an $80 haircut, or by insisting on trendy eco-friendly paper and helvetica-only fonts on all printed materials. Then there is the option of holding a worship service in a bar or nightclub (as is the case for L.A.'s Mosaic church, whose downtown location meets at a nightspot called Club Mayan).

"Wannabe cool" Christianity also manifests itself as an obsession with being on the technological cutting edge. Churches like Central Christian in Las Vegas and Liquid Church in New Brunswick, N.J., for example, have online church services where people can have a worship experience at an "iCampus." Many other churches now encourage texting, Twitter and iPhone interaction with the pastor during their services.

But one of the most popular—and arguably most unseemly—methods of making Christianity hip is to make it shocking. What better way to appeal to younger generations than to push the envelope and go where no fundamentalist has gone before?

Sex is a popular shock tactic. Evangelical-authored books like "Sex God" (by Rob Bell) and "Real Sex" (by Lauren Winner) are par for the course these days. At the same time, many churches are finding creative ways to use sex-themed marketing gimmicks to lure people into church.

Oak Leaf Church in Cartersville, Georgia, created a website called yourgreatsexlife.com to pique the interest of young seekers. Flamingo Road Church in Florida created an online, anonymous confessional (IveScrewedUp.com), and had a web series called MyNakedPastor.com, which featured a 24/7 webcam showing five weeks in the life of the pastor, Troy Gramling. Then there is Mark Driscoll at Seattle's Mars Hill Church—who posts Q&A videos online, from services where he answers questions from people in church, on topics such as "Biblical Oral Sex" and "Pleasuring Your Spouse."

But are these gimmicks really going to bring young people back to church? Is this what people really come to church for? Maybe sex sermons and indie- rock worship music do help in getting people in the door, and maybe even in winning new converts. But what sort of Christianity are they being converted to?

In his book, "The Courage to Be Protestant," David Wells writes:"The born-again, marketing church has calculated that unless it makes deep, serious cultural adaptations, it will go out of business, especially with the younger generations. What it has not considered carefully enough is that it may well be putting itself out of business with God.

"And the further irony," he adds, "is that the younger generations who are less impressed by whiz-bang technology, who often see through what is slick and glitzy, and who have been on the receiving end of enough marketing to nauseate them, are as likely to walk away from these oh-so-relevant churches as to walk into them."

If the evangelical Christian leadership thinks that "cool Christianity" is a sustainable path forward, they are severely mistaken. As a twentysomething, I can say with confidence that when it comes to church, we don't want cool as much as we want real.

If we are interested in Christianity in any sort of serious way, it is not because it's easy or trendy or popular. It's because Jesus himself is appealing, and what he says rings true. It's because the world we inhabit is utterly phony, ephemeral, narcissistic, image-obsessed and sex-drenched—and we want an alternative. It's not because we want more of the same.

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[Gail]

Good article! I especially like:

Quote:

If the evangelical Christian leadership thinks that "cool Christianity" is a sustainable path forward, they are severely mistaken. As a twentysomething, I can say with confidence that when it comes to church, we don't want cool as much as we want real.

If we are interested in Christianity in any sort of serious way, it is not because it's easy or trendy or popular. It's because Jesus himself is appealing, and what he says rings true. It's because the world we inhabit is utterly phony, ephemeral, narcissistic, image-obsessed and sex-drenched—and we want an alternative. It's not because we want more of the same.

Bingo!

People seem to have gotten away from the Bible, compared to generations past. You don't hear it preached like it used to be. Without its ability to touch hearts and souls, is it any wonder that the faddish and superficial ideas that come and go have bored people away from church?

[Gail]

Case in point: I just received an e-mail with the 1-page (info sheet) for Mark Gungor's new series. The title? The "Butt-Kicking Woman Conference"

I do enjoy Mark Gungor, but it is an example of this "trying-to-be-cool" sort of thing.

[WayneV]

Gail,

Is the meat of the conference Bible based while only the topic title is a "trying-to-be-cool" and get their attention to draw them in sort of thing? Topic titles have a need to be cool in our "sound-byte" society. However, if the teaching behind the title is solid and based in Scripture - if it is "real" - wouldn't that be a good thing?

[GreatLakesGramma]

Husband's brother and sister in law are involved in an outreach to young adults, especially former Adventists. They are sponsored by the local church, but don't meet there. They meet on Sabbath afternoons, I don't remember how often, either once or twice a month. They sing and pray together, but they don't have sermons, they just study the Bible. They do not go over the Sabbath School lessons, they study THE BIBLE. They do not use pre-printed, look up the verses and fill in the blanks bible studies, they just STUDY the Bible. And the group is growing.

[Gail]

Wayne, the DVD has not been released but I do intend to preview it. I did enjoy his marriage seminar, although not as much as one book and one other DVD that I have viewed through.

I sell a few items that are not flashy at all. Some customers like that better. To be attractive, a product should have a decent look and tasteful title, especially if it needs to depend on walk-in traffic to sell.

If a product, though, has extraordinary content, it might take some recommendation on my part to plug it, but all it needs is some word of mouth to take off. I've seen that happen in our Conference before.

In the end, though, I think that people go for quality and that will determine the life and usefulness of the item.

[Paula]

I live down the road from the flamingo road church mentioned in this article... they had a billboard near my house that showed sheets, with 4 feet peeking out and www.barenakedchurch.com and 30 day sex challenge, and more.... they were really gross and no one wants to have to explain these ads to their kids...

also, they do internet baptisms, where the pastor is on one end and the person being baptized is home, supplying his own water and baptismal... they also do communion like this... you buy the bread and grape juice and follow along on your computer.... insane....

[cardw]

I think this is why people are leaving the Church. The author is right in that the church isn't being real.

Take at look at this video

[phkrause]

I do agree cardw, this is a sad commentary of Christian Churches. And at one time I would've put the Adventist church in that category, but in the past 10-15 years they have done more towards preaching the love of Jesus. But there are still many that would rather hear fire and brimstone sermons, I guess to each there own.

[D. Allan]

Interesting video, cardw.

[cardw]

CARDW

it just takes a few bad apples to spoil the apples

around it.....

but the whole basket it not bad

dgrimm60

I'm not concerned with who is bad and who is good. I like most everyone.

In the context of this topic (no pun intended) I think the issue for most young people is authenticity. I think that until Christianity reframes its book, it is going to have a credibility problem.

What works for me and most people is a functional community. A community that isn't honest about its book is going to have a hard time being functional.

I think many people are waking up to the fact that the Bible is an iron age document. And while it does have the beginnings of an empathetic ethical system, there are more advanced understandings of ethics than the Bible. And there are community systems that use love to heal and support growth that don't need to deal with a violent OT god. Those are the communities that are growing. And most of those are under the radar.