Our Youth in Christianity’s New Culture
August 1, 2010
I read a fascinating article in National Geographic about pre-historic whales that were unearthed in the deserts of Egypt. These whales had legs. Some were functional and seemed to be used to actually walk on land, while others were too tiny to be of any use, presumed to be leftovers as the species progressed down the evolutionary path from a land mammal to a complete sea mammal.
Setting aside that the article was trying to disprove a creator God, what alarmed me most about it was the blatant pot-shot to the idea of Christian faith in general. The article ended with the Mennonite-raised (an assumedly turned secular evolutionist) archeologist celebrating the inspiration of the whales in connecting you to something bigger than yourself. “There’s room here for all the religion your could possibly want.”
The assumption here–and in our culture at large–is that Christianly is, as a mentor of mine recently put it, “in a state of continual dying.” It is not dead, but always dying. Christianity has lost its credibility, its plausibility, and appeal in western society at large. It is always seen as pathetically gasping for its last breath, and our culture can’t wait for it to stop being a bother… The question is, what does this mean for the youth of our church as they face a future as believers in Jesus where they increasingly “can no longer rely on cultural support systems to keep [Christianity] alive”?
It means that the only way to be a Christian is by living the life of faith that God calls us to live, as opposed to living the Christian life because our (sub)culture dictates it to us. This is a faith that must deny holding onto its culture for tradition’s sake, as well as deny applying worldly glitz and glamor to validate it. This is a faith that must leap a little farther in trusting God as circumstances grow more adverse, love God a little deeper than our stuff (as ones who have been perfectly loved by Him already), and pull together as an authentic community identified as God’s true family in Jesus – which is the only way of communicating to such a culture that God and his love for humanity is real.
This is the idea behind the Missional Communities that WABC Student Ministry has endeavored in the last year, and a vision for Missional Communities at Whitton in general. Not only is the life of Christian faith the only way to really be a Christian, its also the only way that Christianity will impact people in a culture where Christianity is in a perpetual terminal state.
Is Christianity endangered in our culture? I don’t think so. Jesus said He is the builder of the church, and even the gates of hell won’t overcome it. Christianity isn’t loosing. We simply find ourselves following Jesus into new territory, and we are excited for what he is going to do.
Following Jesus with you,
Aaron