[Re]Connected

Building Up the Body of Christ

June 23, 2011
by Dave Ketter
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Understanding Christian Studies of Young Adults

Between Barna, Lifeway Research, and a number of other organizations, there are numerous studies on generational differences in areas of politics, lifestyle, social issues, and faith. Some of these studies seem to conflict. Others have so many nuances that it’s hard to tell whether or not they agree with each other or are even answering the same questions. Two serious studies done in the past few years that have some of the most compelling work were conducted by David Kinnaman of Barna and Christian Smith of Notre Dame University. These studies were summarized and explored in the books, UnChristian and Souls in Transition, respectively.

A cursory review of UnChristian (Kinnaman/Lyons) and Souls in Transition (Smith/Snell) provided marked statistical differences, particularly in the objects of their study. UnChristian reports on the perceptions of “outsiders” (both those born between 1984-2002 and those born 1965-1983) of contemporary American evangelicals, with some attention to Mosaic evangelicals perception of American evangelicals.

Souls in Transition, by contrast, explores the religious attitudes and spirituality of “emerging adults” (born between 1980-1991). It does not give attention to evangelicals as a Christian group, but focuses on broader sectarian divisions (Protestant, Catholic, ethnic/political differentiations, and several non-Christian religions) and denominations.

Besides the difference in groups studied (apart form the apparent overlap in age between Mosaics and emerging adults) and religious lens, Souls in Transition is much more interested in self-perception and peer-perception in religious attitudes, where UnChristian is interested in cultural perceptions of a specific religious group.

In short, the comparative qualities of these studies is incredibly limited. What may be useful, however, is looking to understand how the generational qualities and attitudes about religious life and spirituality explored in Souls in Transition undergird/feed into the negative perceptions of evangelicals as described in UnChristian. For instance, the emphasis on individual autonomy/thinking for oneself would drive a bias against evangelicals in suggesting that they are “sheltered” from the real world, where there are differences and cultures are relative. Values that insist that harming/hurting another person is self-evident would very easily lend towards a dislike or disgust of what is perceived to be (and sometimes can be) an antihomosexual culture amongst evangelicals.

So, rather than looking to compare the studies, a good use would be using Souls in Transition (and perhaps other generational resources like Generation Me, The Narcissism Epidemic, and The First Year Out) to understand why young adults feel so strongly about the things they see in evangelicalism (which certainly exist to some extent), This could also provide the proper framework for contextualizing the right response in going from “unChristian to Christian.” Resources like The Next Christians by Gabe Lyons would be appropriate resources here.

At the end of the day, studies here are helpful tools in knowing the people we’re preaching the Gospel to. 1 Chronicles 12:32 commends the men of the tribe of Issachar for being men who “understood the times” and knew what Israel had to do. As disciples of Jesus, we, too, should understand the times and respond in ways that are contextually-attentive, missionally-driven, and Christ-honoring.

June 17, 2011
by Dave Ketter
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I’m So Weak

We make so many friends and acquaintances over a lifetime, especially with the advent of the internet/social media age. I made more connections in a year on message boards, through blogging, and networking in youth movements than I made through five years on one college campus. Seriously. And , if I’m honest, more of those discovered-each-other-through-the-internet relationships were deeper, more honest, and more involved than the ones with the people who smile, ask “How are you doing?” and go back to their lives, their homework, and their ambitions. But some of these other people…well, they were open, transparent and broken with me. I’ve had more opportunity to “be pastoral” and pray with, counsel, encourage and mourn with these online connections than anywhere else. It’s given me a wealth of experience. Much of it I wasn’t ready for or used to, but Jesus was bigger than my youthful incompetence. I’ve grown tremendously.

Some things I’m still not ready for — like when those people I’ve prayed for, spent sleepless nights talking with because they’re afraid of themselves, rejoiced with and cried with in times of change, and see some good fruit…six months or six years down the road choose an entirely different course for their life and, if Hebrews 6 is to be believed, I know there is no coming back. My heart breaks. It is broken. I don’t know how to deal with that. I don’t know what comfort there is for it, because what I’ve seen is my anamcara walk away. It’s brutal. I love them. I hurt for them. But I don’t know how to pray for them at that point. I want to show love, but I don’t know how. I can be civil, decent, friendly, and all things they themselves can ask for in a friend…but how do we show agape when they have cut off its source? I don’t know. But I want to know.
I don’t know how to deal with the heartbreak that comes with witnessing these journeys. But I know that Jesus knows what it is. He loved Judas, did he not? Lord, teach me…how can I show the love I have for those who cannot be renewed again to repentance?
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

May 22, 2011
by Dave Ketter
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[Re]view: A Kingdom Called Desire by Rick McKinley

Among Christians, you tend to have two groups: those who are passionate about the Kingdom and those who are passionate about the Church. And in both of those groups, you have people who are trying to figure out their calling and vocation. And both groups, ultimately, want to know how to love Jesus faithfully. Well, McKinley isn’t about the “how” questions. In fact, he’s rather tired of them. But what you will find in A Kingdom Called Desire is a passionate theology of loving Jesus and in what ways loving Jesus affects how you live your life in the Church for the Kingdom pursuing whatever vocation God has for you.

McKinley is a pastor out in Portland, OR, and in this text, he writes in a winsome, engaging style that will show the reader the clear teaching of Scripture, draw you into the overall narrative of God’s redemptive plan and challenge you to take your place in it. This book is the best I’ve seen that does justice to both the Kingdom and the Church, so check it out.

May 10, 2011
by Dave Ketter
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[Re]view: The Sword of the Lord by Andrew Himes

Evangelicalism, fundamentalism, legalism, judgmentalism, and hypocrisy are words that have close association in the minds of the wider Western culture. It’s part of the religious landscape of the 21st century. David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons’ study UnChristian captures these realities convincingly. How did this Christian subset get to be that way? In The Sword of the Lord: the Roots of Fundamentalism in an American Family, Andrew Himes attempts to provide a historical exploration of the evangelicalism that we know through the lens of its history and his own family’s experience at the front lines.

Himes weaves a compelling narrative that spans the breadth of the American story, particularly honing in on the Southern and Western U.S. as the native territory of what would become Christian Fundamentalism. Delving into his own struggles with his Fundamentalist background, with the family’s rise to prominence in laying the foundations for Fundamentalism, and the wider counter-cultural revolution that was coming into being, he skillfully provides a lens for us to understand contemporary envangelicalism and its own personal demons, as well as those things that we should learn and maintain in our own practice of discipleship.

My one major criticism, aside from some editorial mishaps, would be Himes’ understanding of Calvinism. His only understanding of reformed/Calvinist thought seems to be the more extreme sort, not the moderate to strong Calvinism that typifies American Calvinism today. Otherwise, when this book is released on May 15, I would recommend anyone who is serious about being missional, or is interested in Christian history, or in the sociology of religion to buy a copy and read it.

March 31, 2011
by Dave Ketter
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[Re]view: Letters to a Young Calvinist by James K. A. Smith

In a generation of believers that have quieted at the sound of voices like Paul Washer or Mark Driscoll, John Piper or Al Mohler, C.J. Mahaney or R.C. Sproul, Calvinism has come again to the forefront as a radical take on Christianity that a younger Christians have embraced in contrast to their parents and grandparents. Going by names like “New Calvinists” or “Young, Restless, and Reformed”, we have a veritable movement who have rediscovered a treasure in the Christian tradition. And in light of this, Dr. James K. A. Smith, a “New Calvinist” himself in many respects, writes us all a series of letters as “an invitation to the Reform Tradition.”

Exploring everything from Augustine and Calvin to Edwards and Kuyper, Smith deftly displays the wider treasures of the reformed tradition beyond what Calvinism has been known for. The reality that Calvinism is a “world- and life-view” and that its orientation is about worship, not lectures or picky doctrinalism are just two fine examples of the points that Smith makes with these easily-read, finely-written, and often amusing letters. Whether you consider yourself reformed or Calvinist is beside the point. This book is well worth reading.

March 16, 2011
by Dave Ketter
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[Re]view: The Next Christians by Gabe Lyons

Having just heard Gabe Lyons speak on Being a Restorer this morning at Geneva College’s weekly chapel program. I was very interested in taking a look at his book The Next Christians: The Good News About the End of Christian America. Lyons, co-author with David Kinnaman of the insightful study/application UnChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks About Christianity…And Why It Matters, has spent the last few years questioning and thinking about what it means for us to be Christian in an increasingly post-Christian American culture. In a culture where 9 of 10 assume that to be Christian is to be anti-gay, and another 8 of 10 assume it’s also to be judgmental and hypocritical (and the list goes on…), what can disciples of Christ do in order to be faithful and winsome. It might be easy to dismiss it as persecution, but aren’t these the same people we’re supposed to be appealing to with the Gospel?

The results of Lyons’ struggle with these questions includes The Next Christians. In this book, Lyons sets out to create a vision (with lots of good examples) for what Christians can pursue and create, not as cultural separatists or as cultural Christians, but as culture restorers empowered by the work of Jesus Christ and His mission in the world. Lyons looks at how the world has shifted and changed in the last several decades, and what kind of communities we ought to be seeking as people who love Jesus, love the Gospel, and love creation and are crave its redemption.

This book was excellent as a summary and providing a way for Christians to begin to think differently about their roles as believers and as churches, and what story God is writing in the creation and its coming restoration through Christ. As disciples, we have a responsibility to engage with the work of being restorers and agents of reconciliation in a world that was torn away from its harmony with God. The Gospel empowers us to do this, and the hope of this restoration is the unique contribution of Christianity. So let’s recover it.

March 14, 2011
by Dave Ketter
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Why Bad Theology Happens to Good People

The Church in America has had another schism. Not really. But if you paid attention to Facebook, Twitter, and the blogosphere for the past three weeks, you’d believe it did. The anticipation leading up to the release date of Rob Bell’s new book Love Wins caused controversy enough that you would have suspected Luther had posted another 95 theses to the door of the Wittenberg Castle Church. Debates, arguments, and fights have broken out and those protective of orthodoxy have started singing AC/DC (“You got that Bell,  he’s gonna take you to hell”).Those protective of Bell’s views being within the bounds of orthodoxy aren’t doing much better. Labels like “universalist” and “heretic” are getting thrown around left and right. Every well-known pastor with a website is chiming in on the conflict and it’s bad enough that a guest columnist for Christianity Today is trying to put a moratorium on all contributions made by people without at least a Master in Divinity. It takes every ounce of discipline in me not to agree with him.

But casting my vote for or against Bell, or his book, or the detractors or defenders, is not what I’m going to address. In a short lifetime of 22 years in the American Church, I’ve seen people follow and admire a Christian teacher or pastor for years and then with one controversial doctrinal statement (not a moral scandal, though we’ve seen our fair share of those in American churches too), they put them aside with “That’s such a shame” or “I didn’t know she/he was a false teacher.” For a spiritual culture that has not placed a high value on discernment, we sure do have a lot of anathemas that get passed around.

And that may be precisely the problem. Rather than being a priesthood of believers, we’ve become priesthoods of believers, where each of us is responsible for the protection of our own brand of doctrine and practice in Christian faith. We are all empowered to approve and condemn teachers and preachers as we wave our Bibles around to justify ourselves. Rather than being people who are in submission to discerning elders who are empowered by the Holy Spirit to lead our churches, we shepherd ourselves and very often label that which looks foreign or unfamiliar “Wolf!” It’s gotten to the point that for those outside the Church and for many others who are still in the Church, it’s all a rendition of “The Boy Who Cried Wolf” where the villagers never learn that the boy’s just fooling around. So much so that one questions whether a wolf actually exists.

That’s unfortunate…and dangerous. Scripture does tell us that there are wolves. It also tells us that elders are to be responsible under-shepherds and keep a lookout for the wolves and protect the sheep. It also tells Christians to submit to the elders that God has given to do this work. If it seems there are many wolves, it is because there are not many submissive sheep. Bad theology has existed since the father of lies has started his corruption of true creation. It’s not new, and it’s not usually very original. But what has changed is that Christians have taken to being lone rangers in their spirituality, and that has only caused rank confusion.

I’m not arguing for a strong distinction between “lay Christians” and “Christian clergy.” Elders are part of the congregations that they have been guarding. Jesus is the Chief Shepherd/Senior Pastor of the Church, so elders are also under authority. But all of us could be more faithful in submitting to the teaching and direction of the discerning elders in our midst. As disciples, we need to question whether we’re taking on all the work of elders on ourselves for ourselves, or whether we’re submitting to the fathers in Christ that God has given us out of His mercy and love for us. Are you?