When Are We Going to Grow Up? The Juvenilization of American Christianity

Christianity Today ^ | June 2012 | Thomas E. Bergler

[SoFloFreeper]

We're all adolescents now

The house lights go down. Spinning, multicolored lights sweep the auditorium. A rock band launches into a rousing opening song. "Ignore everyone else, this time is just about you and Jesus," proclaims the lead singer. The music changes to a slow dance tune, and the people sing about falling in love with Jesus. A guitarist sporting skinny jeans and a soul patch closes the worship set with a prayer, beginning, "Hey God …" The spotlight then falls on the speaker, who tells entertaining stories, cracks a few jokes, and assures everyone that "God is not mad at you. He loves you unconditionally."

[SoFloFreeper]

The author of this long article--plenty of history is used to recount why the church is "juvenile" today--is an expert in youth ministry.

I urge anyone here who is a Christ follower to take the time and read it--even if you have to do it in "shifts", since the article is quite lengthy.

Bergler does NOT think all modernization is bad--but that it should not be EVERYTHING the church is about.

A few excerpts follow, but please read the whole thing.

Here are some worthy excerpts from the article:

When asked what they get out of their rock band-energized youth liturgies, Catholic teenagers report that they like the "intense experience" that serves as a "stress reliever" and they "love the music." Some African American church leaders are experimenting with hip-hop worship in order to reach young people who are alienated from traditional black churches. The history of white evangelical youth movements suggests that over time these innovations will filter into adult church life. And that is not all bad. "That's the way we've always done it" is not a compelling theological argument.

Still, churches new to juvenilization would do well to consider its unintended consequences. Juvenilization tends to create a self-centered, emotionally driven, and intellectually empty faith....[Teenagers] They seldom used words like faith, salvation, sin, or even Jesus to describe their beliefs. Instead, they return again and again to the language of personal fulfillment to describe why God and Christianity are important to them. The phrase "feel happy" appeared over 2,000 times in 267 interviews.

Songs, games, skits, and other youth-culture entertainments are followed by talks or discussions that feature simple truths packaged with humor, stories, and personal testimonies. As they listen to years of simplified messages that emphasize an emotional relationship with Jesus over intellectual content, teenagers learn that a well-articulated belief system is unimportant and might even become an obstacle to authentic faith. This feel-good faith works because it appeals to teenage desires for fun and belonging. It casts a wide net by dumbing down Christianity to the lowest common denominator of adolescent cognitive development and religious motivation.

Bergler urges churches to become places where there are mature adults helping kids to become grown up--and places where kids help the adults to become more passionate.

[BigFinn]

Deception is subtle, sometimes it is just overt.

I was just today watching a live sermon online where a preacher of a huge mega church was talking about Paul's discourse (1Cor. 8) on whether Christians should eat meat sacrificed to idols. He likened it to today's culture and brought a six pack of beer out of the podium and was trying to say that drinking beer is ok because you have freedom in Christ. ???? He should have talked about halal meat instead. I turned it off.

[Pining_4_TX]

The problem is that churches no longer strive to worship and obey God. They seek to please man. In doing so, they create their own god who thinks just as they do.

Being an old school Calvinist myself, I disapprove of Christ being hawked as if He were just another entertainment option.

[HarleyD]

Excellent article. I would suggest that spiritual maturity is not about what God will do for us or even what we can do for God. It really about purging the sins in our lives; the little foxes that spoil the vineyard. God will take care of the rest.

[tiki]

There is a small church up the road, Sonshine Baptist that has recently been taken over by a group of malcontents who have recently left their Bethel Baptist church, they are going to take the pews out and rename in Sonshine church.

It will be like so many churches that spring up overnight and die just as quickly. It will be the church of ME and how I feel, forget theology, forget Truth, this is all about me. it needs to be fun, it needs to fit MY needs and MY philosophy. They will use their interpretation of the Bible to tell them that they are doing everything right...until someone disagrees and leaves to find or found another church that fits what they want to believe and it too will die.

[papertyger]

He likened it to today's culture and brought a six pack of beer out of the podium and was trying to say that drinking beer is ok because you have freedom in Christ. ???? He should have talked about halal meat instead. I turned it off.

Wow, you really missed the boat on that one, din'cha?

and halal meat really is one of those issues we wrestle with every day, huh?

[EBH]

I am not going to critique the article, but the excerpts are interesting.

Christianity for as long as I have known it...has always had hippies and guitars. In my youth I used to always go on Friday nights to the local Christian Church to rock out with Jesus.

There were two doors the ‘faith’ could have gone through at that time. One marked with the study of learning what Jesus’ love in our lives means and our responsibility to that kind of unconditional lover. The other door, which I think was the opening to the progressive church, led to a false testimony of faith.

I only see this now as our faith fights to stay relevent in a progressive world. I am still seeking the right church for me, as my longing for blessed Bible teaching weighs heavy. But, here where I live I find many references to the idea of social justice.

My last interview with a pastor had me asking him about Matthew 6:33 and of sparrows. Verses the ever persistent pressures of social justice actions waged in the name of the church?

[Mach9]

“Christianity for as long as I have known it...has always had hippies and guitars . . . “

Imagine the frustration of those who knew otherwise, those who had come to love the austerity, silence, and holiness of the house of God, even the sermons that reprimanded them for their sinfulness. Church wasn’t for ‘reaching out’ or cameraderie; it was for union with Christ—difficult even under those world-rejecting conditions.

[WestwardHo]

Give sermonaudio.com a try.

[CatherineofAragon]

Can I say that it bothers me when I see congregation members sitting in God’s house sipping on coffee they bought inside the church?

I don’t know, I just go back to the OT, to how God and Moses impressed upon the Israelites how utterly holy His house is. What would have been His response if one of them sauntered in, carrying a goats’ milk latte?

[HerrBlucher]

All of society is being juvenilized, ever since the boomers became influential in the 1950’s. Christianity is just another victim of the ongoing desire to please youth first and foremost. Look at our juvenile president, and number 42 was just as juvenile. Ugh!

A giant Ward Cleaver needs to come out of the ocean and clobber us.

[HereInTheHeartland]

“All of society is being juvenilized, ever since the boomers became influential in the 1950’s. “

The Seinfeld or Friends effect on TV. Grown men shown hanging out and acting like they are 18 years old. Never maturing or marrying.

The opposite was shown on TV when I was a kid. Kids were shown to be doing adult things; ahead of their years.
Most of those were Westerns.

[Talisker]

A giant Ward Cleaver needs to come out of the ocean and clobber us.

Careful what you wish for...

[reaganaut]

“Christianity for as long as I have known it...has always had hippies and guitars . . . “

Imagine the frustration of those who knew otherwise, those who had come to love the austerity, silence, and holiness of the house of God,

- - - - - - -

Just an aside here, many of the ‘hippies’ I know are more mature than the ‘others’ I know.

A few years ago we moved from southern california to the midwest, there are no evangelical churches here within a 40 mile radius, we have Lutherans and Methodists. They pride themselves on their silence and austerity, but really have no idea of basic theology or Christian life outside of church. It is sad.

I’m not saying all ‘modern’ Christians are mature, or that all ‘old school’ Christians are empty, I am saying that spiritual immaturity occurs in both groups.

[HerrBlucher]

That was a transition period. Yes there were many great sitcoms and westerns in the day showing kids properly disciplined and given responsibility. That lasted up until the late 60’s. The anti authority, anti adult, hippie movement completely changed everything.

[mountn man]

In the beginning God created man in his own image.

Then man returned the favor.

[papertyger]

What would have been His response if one of them sauntered in, carrying a goats’ milk latte?

Gee, thanks for THAT barista visual....

[CynicalBear]

>> impressed upon the Israelites how utterly holy His house is<<

Other than Christ lives in each of the believers today rather than an edifice or building. You can “go back to the Old Testament” if you want but God doesn’t inhabit a building any more.

[CatherineofAragon]

LOL

[CatherineofAragon]

So are you saying you find the OT completely irrelevant and that you never read it?

While I understand that Christ lives in those who have accepted Him, a church is called “God’s house” for a reason. When two are more are gathered together, He IS there——and suitable reverence does not include having refreshments while you worship, IMO.