High tech, skepticism and the nation under God

When I read "Worship Goes Big-Screen and Hi-Fi, With Direct-Deposit Tithing" (WaPo, Sep 25, 07), I have to admit my first reaction after this:

[A]t McLean Bible Church in Northern Virginia, fancy lighting, rock music and occasional applause spice up spirited sermons.

was to sigh a little and think fondly to the folk choir in my childhood parish of St. Jerome's.

But then, I recalled the Easter mass where the folk choir came down the aisle while singing Godspell's "Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord" -- and how my dad, who grew up in the pre-Vatican II church would roll his eyes at hippie nonsense like strumming guitars to the psalms or saying the Mass in English. And really, what stands out about this piece is how new ways of delivering a message demonstrate the fluidity of a religion that many often wield as justification for "traditional" practices and mores.

Right after that, I read the Barna Group's press release "A New Generation Expresses its Skepticism and Frustration with Christianity." Of note:

Even among young Christians, many of the negative images generated significant traction. Half of young churchgoers said they perceive Christianity to be judgmental, hypocritical, and too political. One-third said it was old-fashioned and out of touch with reality.

[...]

When young people were asked to identify their impressions of Christianity, one of the common themes was "Christianity is changed from what it used to be" and "Christianity in today’s society no longer looks like Jesus." These comments were the most frequent unprompted images that young people called to mind, mentioned by one-quarter of both young non-Christians (23%) and born again Christians (22%).

Kinnaman explained, "That’s where the term 'unChristian' came from. Young people are very candid. In our interviews, we kept encountering young people - both those inside the church and outside of it - who said that something was broken in the present-day expression of Christianity. Their perceptions about Christianity were not always accurate, but what surprised me was not only the severity of their frustration with Christians, but also how frequently young born again Christians expressed some of the very same comments as young non-Christians."

The entire release is worth cogitating on; I feel as though it reflects much of the rhetoric coming out of evangelical publications like Christianity Today, and will likely cause more.

But the larger point here is that again, we're looking at a religion that's proven to be very adaptable to social shifts (despite often positioning itself as being direct opposition to them), so I am curious to see whether the changing nature of face-to-face worship and congregant outreach will be part of the next big shift in Christianity's social focus.

 

Comments

[Michelle]

McLean Bible Church is just plain scary, though. I mean, eek. Seriously.

They have that megachurch in McLean (duh) Lon Solomon, the converted MOT broadcasts his "not a sermon, just a thoughts" on the radio, and they have started renting the Uptown Theatre to extend their ministry.

[Brooke]

It looks like one of the ways that Christianity is adapting itself or being adapted by a younger generation that isn't enthused about current Christianity is to create a new label. Here's a blog entry I came across which talks about the use of the term "Christ-follower" rather than Christian.

[Kerry]

I went to Mass in rememberence on my dad's birthday, and I about cracked up thinking how The Don would have hated that there was the dreaded guitar at a 9am Mass and that the director actually instructed the congregation on the tune. Real Catholics sing off-key!