Postmodernism & Willow Creek

I had a great opportunity to get into a coversation on another blog about Postmodernism in the church. While there were only a few voices at the time, there were some pretty good thoughts put out there. I realized was that there's some misinformation out there about what PM is and what it means to the church... so this isn't by any means an educated rant, it's just a few thoughts that I've picked up and put together. I'd love to hear your thoughts...

First... the term postmodernism is more descriptive of an entire generation of thought & philosophy that's presenting itself. It relates to the Church primarily as the Church takes up the call to reach the generations of people who are growing up with a postmodern mindset (note: a similar shift happened during the enlightenment. Copious amounts of new information caused people to change the way they saw the church, God, and their world. Also, the word "post" is neutral, and simply means after. So this new frame of reference is simply the mindset that is taking shape after the "modern" period. Modern doesn't mean "now.")

So, with postmodern children, teens, and others coming into their own, the church must respond. That's where the term "Emerging Church" comes in handy. This new "postmodern" church is emerging out of the modern church and all that it stood for. Again, post doesn't mean bad any more than a Post Script (P.S.) means that everything that came before it was bad. It simply means that there is something else. So I prefer the term "Emerging Church" with an understanding that my frame of reference and mindset is "postmodern," or somewhere on the scale between thoroughly modern and thoroughly postmodern.

This can all sound like a lot of mumbo jumbo, but there are some very real practical differences. For instance, I would say that the period in church history directly preceeding this one (and indeed, still going in in many ways. There's always going to be overlap) would be characterized by the "seeker sensitive mega-church." Churches like Saddleback, Willow Creek, Northpoint, etc. became intensely focused on mobilizing Christians to reach the lost. There was and is amazing fruit from these churches and indeed this whole mindset. One of the hilights of my year is going to Willow's Leadership Summit. But I digress. These seeker sensitive churches aimed at making worship and God more accessible. They tried to talk more in the language of every man, and create experiences that every man was used to. Their values were excellence, growth, multiplication, etc. The goal of making God accessible was and is a good one. However when people started to think and process life differently, te way to reach "every man" changed.

Results of that goal were that some things that might be deemed offensive were removed. Crosses, a lot of talk about sin, many of the historic traditions, etc. The idea seemed to be finding people who had found the church irrelevant at an earlier time and bringing it home to them again. As people re-discovered church, and realized that it didn't have to be pipe-organs and red carpets, they found their way back to church, and hopefully God in the end.

The Emerging church (leaders like Brian McLaren, Dan Kimball, Chris Seay, Leonard Sweet, Kyle Lake, et al) began to see, however, that there was a group of people who were turned off by this, or atleast not attracted to it. They were starting to see a demographic that wanted, needed, and was crying out for a thoroughly spiritual experience. This group was already spiritually minded, seeking answers in spiritual places... eastern mysticism, new age philosophy, wicca, etc. So maybe the answer wasn't to remove all these symbols and ideas of Christianity, but maybe the answer was to bring back the ancient symbols and traditions, and let them find meaning for a new generation that was hungry for a truly spiritual experience. The "Worship Service" moved from 4 songs and an upbeat message to a "Worship Gathering" where the bible discussion, worship music, tangible worship experiences were interwoven and community driven throughout. It became much less linear and much more organic.

There is no such thing as a model for the Emerging Church, because the goal is a gathering that finds God in ways authentic to the people who are gathering. I can't be just like UBC in Waco, because I live in San Antonio. But there is a tie that binds, and this is where some people (I think) get antsy. One of the great (misinformed, I believe) criticisms of the Emerging Church is that it doesn't stand for anything, it relegates truth to relativity, and it's soft on the concept of sin. My experience is anything but. However, what I have seen that really excites me about the emerging church, is that it openly and freely admits that we are all struggling to make it. It's far less likely (in a perfect emerging church, that is) that a pastor or leader or emerging christian will point fingers and dispense "The" prescription to make it all better. Instead, the response would be to say, "hey, we're all struggling with something so I don't have any right to judge or criticize you because I wouldn't want you to do that to me. The things that you're doing are going to cause problems in your life, and God wants you to be able to get past those problems, and He wants me to help in any way that I can. So why don't you and I get together regularly and build a relationship so that we can help each other get where we need to go." The value is relationship, and group discipleship. Beloging before believing.

Alright, now the problem with this is that I've tried to reduce an entire philosophical genre to a blog. It doesn't work that way. There are lots of things that I haven't touched on, and probably lots of things that I've misquoted or gotten wrong. So, I ask for grace, and I ask you to share your thoughts. Thank you for reading, and thank you for being a part of the conversation. If you're interested in more reading on the topic, check out The Emerging Church and Emerging Worship by Dan Kimball, A New Kind of Christian and Adventures in Missing the Point (w/ Tony Campolo) by Brian McLaren, Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell, or An Unstoppable Force. There are also lots of good blogs on the topic, some that I recommend are A Generous Orthodoxy, and The Ooze. These are by no means it, but check them out and they'll atleast be a beginning. I can't wait to hear your thoughts.