The unease of the next generation

There seems to be a restlessness—an unease—among younger evangelicals. Something is wrong with the way we do church. How can we fix it?

Can I say very clearly how wonderful I think this is? We should always be self-reflective—self-evaluating—measuring our ministries against God’s word and making changes to reach people. In many ways, we need this disquiet to break out of our moulds, to fight the new fights of the next generation and to take risks for God’s sake.

But I suppose it does have its dangers too. Here are some of them:

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1. Arrogance: We think that we, rather than God, are the solutions to all the problems of the world.
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2. Reaching the wrong audience: We embark on a subtle shift towards trying to win the respect of cutting-edge peers (in the internet world), instead of reaching the outsider (in the real world).
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3. Style over substance: Increasingly, we seem to value what is cool or tech-savvy over what is biblically true.
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4. Commending rather than contending: We sometimes want to show Christianity in its best light (by leaving out the hard truths), instead of contending for God’s word to be heard (even when the ears don’t want to hear it). We want to avoid issues that will divide or won’t be appealing.
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5. A disdain for previous generations: We are in great danger of breaking God’s commandment to honour our fathers and mothers—to honour the aged—to honour those who have contended before us.

These are not so much dangers for those who are successful (I hate that word, but you know what I mean); they’re more for those who aspire to be successful. I can see all these dangers within myself; they crouch at my door and I must master them.

These are dangers, but they are only that. None of them should stop us from evaluating what is wrong with the way we are trying to reach the world, and then doing something about it. None of them should stop us from being courageous and a bit ‘out there’. But perhaps they should cause us to tread a bit more carefully.