I was thinking about what David said about, “The ‘New Christian’ in America is struggling for direction and identity.” By new, what I think he means are Gen X and Millenials who have left megachurch evangelical Christianity.
I actually wrote an email last spring discussing this issue with the professor for the Church Planting class that was the impetus for this blog.
I have posted this email because I think it raises some very interesting questions about direction and identity of the new Christians. It answers maybe a few questions while also being very open ended. I would love to hear what you all think about this. In true epistle style I have posted it unedited—this means that it certainly has a “contingent” or “contextual” nature so don’t get bogged down in that.
Dear Dr. Bolger,
My name is Jonathan Barker and I’m exactly half finished with my M.Div with a GPA of 3.57. In the next year I’m really excited about, and planning to take, Church Planting, The Church in the Age of Facebook, and Evangelizing Nominal Christians.
This summer I was hoping to do a guided reading and I wanted to see if you could be the professor I worked with or might know of someone who would be interested.
Before I explain my guided reading project let me tell you a little about my vision for ministry.
The call God has given me has two parts. The first part of my ministry is to create a contextual spirituality for the “world beneath”—a phrase from Chap Clark’s Hurt that perfectly describes the world I was delivered from and hope to minister to. I have largely accomplished that project in the last seven years—the center piece being a 70,000 word unpublished manuscript entitled, War For My Soul: Failed Nice Prayers, Shouting F*!#; A Spiritual Memoir, that explains how God found me in the “world beneath” amidst binge drinking, drug abuse, partying, pornography, depression, loneliness and even a suicide attempt. So far seminary has been very helpful in grounding that theology in scripture. Whether it be the Israelites under Pharaoh’s oppression, the Psalmist, or various outcasts in the first century God and Jesus hear and respond to the groans and shrieks of the broken hearted and crushed in spirit. In broad strokes I see the first part of my ministry as helping to lead an Exodus out of the “world beneath.”
The second part of my ministry is attempting to figure out where we should go once God has found and delivered us (my generation) from the “world beneath.” Again, to use OT imagery, I see this part of my ministry as going towards the Promised Land.
This part of my ministry so far is under developed and I can’t yet fully articulate where exactly I think we are headed. I do have a vague sense of some places we are definitely not headed and also of where we might need to go.
First, the Promised Land cannot be a place where “systemic abandonment,” the root cause for the world beneath, is practiced. Because the traditional evangelical church and their youth ministry structures have been complicit in the formation of the world beneath it must be something different than that or a highly reformed version. Also, because the lifestyles’ of our parents were complicit in the creation of the world beneath we must do something different.
The second aspect is I believe New Monasticism (Shane Claiborne) and Emerging Churches (as presented in your book) offer many of the key changes that are needed. Yet, as I understand both of those movements, there seems to be potential problems. They both abandon the suburbs in favor of urban settings, they heavily have accepted the use of information technology, and seem to value a very busy lifestyle. Because of these particular concerns I am fearful that the children raised by an emerging church pastor or even member of the Simple Way would still end up being systemically abandoned.
Third, my mentors who graduated from Fuller in 2004, left me with a strong feeling that community and serving others are key aspects of the Promised Land. Following this emphasis I mentored an elementary student for 4 years, volunteered 3 nights a week with a h.s. youth ministry program for 3 years, volunteered with children in down town Los Angeles, served homeless men dinner once a week for two years, did a Bible study with homeless men for a year, worshipped at an AME church for a year, raised awareness and money for AIDS orphans in Africa, and lived on campus at Westmont College for two years. These experiences serve as a rich tapestry of what Christian service and community can look like.
Fourth, upon talking to older adults and other seminary students, watching the Colbert Report, and my own life at seminary (I work the 10 pm to 6 am shift at 24hourfitness) I have come to realize that the biggest obstacle to getting to the Promised Land is time and stuff.
This is where the guided reading comes in. I want to explore time and stuff from three different perspectives. First, I want to look at how three popular secular writers featured on the Colbert Report think about our present situation and culture. These books are:
Pages: 352
Pages: 288
3 No Impact Man: The Adventures of a Guilty Liberal Who Attempts to Save the Planet, and the Discoveries He Makes About Himself and Our Way of Life in the Process
by Colin Beavan
pages: 288
Second, I want to look at two major works of sociology and one work of psychology that explore contemporary American culture and I believe will offer valuable insight into time and stuff. These books are:
1. The McDonaldization of Society 5
pages: 320
2. Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community
pages: 544
3. The Costs of Living
pages: 400
Third, I want to look at Christian theological responses to these issues and look at how these cultural assumptions of time and stuff and infiltrated the church. These books are:
1. Economy of Grace
pages: 172
2. Being Consumed: Economics and Christian Desire
pages: 103
3. The McDonaldization of the Church: Consumer Culture and the Church's Future
by John Drane
pages: 215
4. After McDonaldization: Mission, Ministry, and Christian Discipleship in an Age of Uncertainty
by John Drane
pages: 192
5. Life on the Vine: Cultivating The Fruit of the Spirit in Christian Community
By Philip D. Kenneson
Pages: 246
That represents close to 3,000 pages of reading and I hope to devote my summer to this project. I really believe this will be one of the defining moments of my seminary experience and entire life.
I really appreciate you taking the time to read this and whether or not you can help me this summer I am very excited about your upcoming classes. If you cannot help me I would still be grateful for any further reading suggestions and if you know of any other Fuller professors who might want to help me with this.
Blessings
Jonathan Barker
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