Speaking in a kindly Southern drawl, University of Indianapolis medical student Todd George, 25, explained why most traditional churches turn him off.
"You're supposed to know the answer to every question about God," he said. "And if you don't, you're somehow inferior."
When he left his hometown of Spartanburg, S.C., to attend Brevard College in North Carolina, George discovered what he called a "community church." "It was so much more laid back," he said. "A lot of the religious jargon that you would normally hear -- 'Salvation comes to those who repent' -- wasn't used. What they said didn't have to be decoded." Read More.
Friday, February 22, 2008
How young Christians are changing the face of church
The emergent Church is going to make an impact whether people are prepared for it or not:
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3 comments:
There are a lot of good mega-churches, however there are a lot more good community churches. Myself I like the community churches.
The church is not the building, its the gathering of believers. It's a gathering of believers and not a business.
I grew up in the church, and I think the claim that "You're supposed to know the answer to every question about God" is disingenuous. Certainly there may be situations in which that is expected, but my experience is that most Christians are too lazy to want to know the answer to every question about God - they're more interested in "experiencing" God.
I would also take issue with the "decoding" aspect of his comments. Again, if you're speaking to a non-Christian, then certainly speak in understandable terms. But if a Christian has a difficult time with the terms salvation and repent, then that Christian is, imo, either too dense or lazy (there we go again) - or both.
Cynic that I am, I think the emerging church is simply another varietal (i.e., denominational) aspect of our expectations of Christianity within our culture. This makes it, in essence, no different than the other denominations (i.e., varieties) of western Christianity.
I have some serious issues with some of the emergents (ie., Brian McClaren) But some of their criticisms are correct. I also grew up in the church and speak fluent christianeze. It has taken a lot of effort to retrain my speech patterns so that both christians and non-christians understand me on Sunday morning.
It's not watering down the message as re-phrasing it.
I also find it difficult to get a handle on a good definition for emergent. They are so different from each other.
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