Are you a Team Player?

Several years ago my eldest son was interested in attending the Naval Academy. As you might expect, the entrance requirements are quite stringent. In addition to academic requirements, they have a physical fitness test that has to be administered by a coach. They also require an interview with alumni and admissions counselors to determine your fitness to attend and serve.

Although my son was in pretty good shape, physically, one particular point with which they took issue was that he had not played any team sports, only individual sports, like tennis and golf. In their minds it was important, even critical, that he prove himself to be a “team player”.

I think we sometimes forget the importance of that, particularly in our spiritual lives. We tend to think as long as we are living like we should, doing our individual faith practices, like prayer and Bible study, that we are on the right track. But just like the Naval Academy recognizes the critical need to live and work as a team player, I think the same is true for us as God's people.

I know that there are people who have been “burned” by the church or have otherwise become disillusioned with “organized religion”, but just like in athletics, there are some things we cannot do on our own. It is important that we meet together on a regular basis to exercise the communal practices of nurture, hospitality, and love. These things cannot be practiced in isolation.

The writer of Hebrews says, “Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful. And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching” (Hebrews 10:23-25).

It is our privilege and our responsibility as members of God's family, the church, to meet together and to encourage one another. There may have been times in your spiritual walk with God that you wanted to give up, to say, “Why am I even doing this?” If you were in it alone, you may well have done so. But we are all in this together. We share our joy, as well as our pain, and that's what makes it bearable.

As you make your New Year's resolutions this year, put being more regular at church on the list. Set a specific goal, like only one missed Sunday a month. That way, you can see how well you are doing, you can measure your progress. Don't do it for yourself, because you think its good for you, like castor oil. Do it for others, because we all need the encouragement and the support of our brothers and sisters in Christ.

The Emergent Church

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to attend a conference on what is alternately called Emergent Christianity or Emergence Christianity. Basically, the question is, what will the church look like 10, 20, 50 or 100 years from now?

There is no question that we are in the midst of an upheaval. This generation's gap is greater than ever, it seems. It has to do with technology, and communication, as well as goals and values. Look at the last presidential election. The great mantra was "change". No one, or very few, stopped to ask, "Change to what?" because change, it was deemed, was enough.

So what is happening and will happen in the church? Young people aged 18-35 are staying away from the church in droves. In some cases it means they have abandoned their parent's religious values, but in other cases not. Its not that they don't believe in God, and polls tell us that most do. Rather, its that the old wineskins are inadequate for their expressions and beliefs.



The conference I went to was outstanding in terms of the speakers and their areas of expertise and qualifications to speak on this topic. Richard Rohr, Brian McLaren, Tony Jones, and Phyllis Tickle. If you look them up on Google or Amazon, you will see that they are some of the top writers and thinkers on this subject.

There was a lot of speculation about what the emerging church will look like, and I think its important to state that many have thoughts and opinions, but nobody knows exactly what it is that is emerging, except to say that it won't be your Grandma's church. Musical tastes are different. Communication is different, now we have blogs, texts, and tweets, and social networks like FaceBook and MySpace that are much more immediate and frequently used by this age group.

A couple of things I thought were interesting about the conference. First, most of the people there were middle aged, 50+ and from mainline denominations. Which means they were not from this emerging generation, nor did they go to one of these emergent churches. There are probably not a handful in the D/FW metroplex. Its not just contemporary worship songs. Its a complete change in the way these folks approach church. Second, the pastors of emergent churches that were there, and especially those who spoke, tended to be, in some ways, more traditional than some of the more traditional congregations I know. For example, these folks walk Labyrinths and the Stations of the Cross, they fast during Lent and pray the Psalms. Many of their practices are hundreds of years old, but they are being packaged in new ways. One pastor talked about a theme they are exploring during Advent (yes, they observe Advent). It is that nothing is wasted by God. What seemed like a backward hick town was the birthplace of the Messiah. In practice, they have one of those rolling drum composters at the church, maybe in the sanctuary, where people can "recycle bad theology". For those who have been hurt by the church they can write their pain on recycled newsprint, put it in the composter and give it a turn. When its done, they will plant something and all this pain will cause something good to grow. Kind of a cool idea and VERY memorable.

Many of these new Christians are much more politically liberal than their parents. So what else is new? I think that is reflective rather than definitive. This generation is generally more liberal.

I still have a lot of reading to do on the subject, but the main point is that emerging means just that: its not finished or complete. We don't really know what it will become, except that it will be different. What is it they say, "The only thing that doesn't change is that there will be change"? I think the biggest issue is, Will the church be ready and willing to embrace the change, or will it be swept away and dismissed as obsolete? Time will tell.