There has been a great deal of attention paid recently to
the exodus from traditional churches by young adults. We are told that we are
losing our future to a generation uninterested in the churches and
denominations of their parents. Nones they’re called. Probably Christian but
certainly not religious.
There are going to be books, conferences, consultants
consulting, all in an effort to stem the erosion and lure those leaving back to
the sanctuary, some of which might actually be effective. Those that believe
the traditional church is no longer relevant are simply wrong. Traditional
church as we know it isn’t going to die, but will probably continue to be a
shrinking part of the spiritual life of our country for the foreseeable future.
Which still leaves us with the problem. Young people are
fleeing organized religion and we don’t know what to do, worse yet, nothing we
are trying is working. So do we just give up and join ranks around a shrinking
institution, do we redouble our efforts, devise new tactics? Or maybe we can
redefine the “problem”?
What are these “Nones” really saying? For many of them their
disillusion is with the church, not Jesus. So really we have an enormous common
ground with them. We all think Jesus is cool, so why argue with them about
their feelings about religion when what we should be doing is to encourage them
to form their own faith communities, better yet we should be reaching them
where they’re at.
We all need to be among a community of believers, but
worship is not a one size fits all deal, and that segment of the population
that believes that church IS irrelevant needs to be addressed in ways that
traditional churches can’t. It will be in ways that discard the hierarchical
structure of churches, that gives real responsibility to laypeople and new believers,
that regards Christian service to the community as more important than sermons
and songs.
Who, after all, decided that the only acceptable worship is
that worship that takes place inside the walls of a sanctuary?
