Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Jesus Creed

Home
Evangelical
Doomsday Approaches (RJS)

Doomsday Approaches (RJS)

Last updated on: November 5, 2015 at 6:24 am by RJS

Doomsday Approaches (RJS) 2015-11-05T06:24:07-06:00 RJS

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

A couple of weeks ago I put up a post (Just the Facts Please) on Jonathan Hill’s short book Emerging Adulthood and Faith. This book describes some of his research into the faith evolution of young adults today – trying to separate the influence of stage of life from historical and generational effects. A wise response to the apparent exodus of younger adults from the church depends on the nature of these influences. Today I would like to look at the conclusions that Hill draws from his research.

Why do doomsday scenarios carry such appeal? Hill suggests three reasons:

“First, our own social experience strongly colors how we frame the problem and interpret the data, yet our personal experience can frequently be an unreliable guide.” (p. 61)

There is a distortion in perception that arises from the ways we receive data. Personal stories are powerful and true, but the ones that “stick” are the stories from the margins, not the mainstream. Hill points out that many Americans feel that violent crime is up while the data shows that homicide, for example, is markedly down since 1990 and at about the same level as the 1950’s. “All violent crime has been declining, yet public perception of crime—largely filtered through mass media and politicians—is systematically in error.” (p. 61-62) The stories told in the Christian community carry the same kind of bias.

Second, generating crises in the Church can be an efficient and effective way to mobilize the faithful to action. (p. 62)

Sociological study of social movements can identify techniques that succeed in building a community.

Elites must work on generating an interpretational framework that identifies a specific problem, then identifies the source(s) of the problem, and finally provides a potential solution in the form of collective action. Further, the entire interpretational framework must align with existing grievances in recruits, otherwise collective action will fail. The temptation, then, will be for leaders in the Church to frame concerns about the next generation of Christians in such a way as to result in action by the rank and file, even if these interpretations are not entirely accurate. (p. 62, emphasis added)

Grabbing onto a crisis works to build a cohesive following.

Last, there is a fairly large gap between the ideal concept of Christian faithfulness and the “lived religion” of ordinary
believers. (p. 62)

There is a tendency to idealize the past and see the current trends as a significant deviation. One thing the longitudinal studies show is that this is not really the case. While there is a clear generational loss of youth from the Catholic church the same cannot be said for Protestants, particularly “evangelical” Protestants. Beyond these longitudinal studies, there is a temptation to believe that the current state is the result of a serious religious decline and the historical evidence (although sketchy) doesn’t really support this. A so-called “Christian” nation didn’t necessarily mean deeper, or more wide-spread, devotion.

What about emerging adulthood? There is a real tendency for emerging adults to be less religious than either children or older adults. That it is primarily a stage of life issue rather than a generational change doesn’t make it less of an issue although it may change the approaches we should take. More discipleship, engagement, and community, less emphasis on the need for massive overhauls.

Hill looks at the sociological analysis of social scripts. Most emerging adults (or for that matter most people of any age) do not give much thought to the social scripts that define the parameters for their actions. These scripts are shaped by many different factors include family, schools, churches, and the mass media. Because there is a “faith script” in our culture that makes church something important for “a good and happy life,” it doesn’t really require attendance or involvement during the years of emerging adulthood. Hill notes that it is frustrating to interview emerging adults about this because they don’t really give coherent explanations. There is not an intentional walk away from faith practices, but they simply do not seem relevant for the stage of life.

How can a Church respond, providing a compelling counter-narrative? Hill suggests that we don’t need to make Christianity “relevant,” especially not by mimicking the forms of secular culture.

After all, that approach too often baptizes the very practices that need to be countered. …What this approach fails to recognize is that the very form taken by popular culture often contains tacit pictures of the good life and human flourishing. (p. 66)

One response should be to teach youth to read the cultural liturgies of the surrounding culture rather than to simply respond to or adopt them. Engage in discussions that question and teach our young (and older) people to think. This will happen when it comes from youth group, the overall orientation of the church, and most importantly, the family.

Hill offers some reflections:

The church is a place of Christian worship, and worship is something to which all of God’s people are called. Church is not about learning how to be a moral person (though that is what the dominant narrative they hear tells them); it is a place where immoral individuals go in order to receive the grace of God. It is a place where a people collectively profess how they have fallen short and are collectively pardoned though the cross. Worship places the gospel of grace at the center of life. It is a necessary source of continual sustenance for the Christian,
not an optional add-on to faith. (p. 68)

He concludes by noting that some of the social forces that lead to the absence of emerging adults from the church may be stronger than in the past, but they are not new. Both the church and the culture seem to reinforce each other … leading to a view that church (participating in this worshiping fellowship of Christians) is not really relevant for their season of life (raised, but not yet raising children of their own).

The only way to combat this is through recognizing, and countering, the ways that these beliefs were formed. Thankfully, there is a deep well of Christian teachings and practices that work to do just this. As we ponder how to deal with the contemporary challenges of emerging adults, perhaps it is time to turn away from the latest marketing technique and toward this ancient wisdom. (p. 69)

When doomsday approaches we need doomsday approaches. But these are not sustainable for the long haul, not in the life of an individual and not in the life of a church. Eventually they will fail to engage as we all tire out or move on. As a church, in worship, fellowship, discipleship, evangelism, there should be an intentional effort to engage and involve people of all ages and stages of life.

How can we develop a culture of community and engagement?

How can we involve emerging adults (and older adults) in our congregations?

What does it mean to be relevant?

If you wish to contact me directly you may do so at rjs4mail [at] att.net.

If interested you can subscribe to a full text feed of my posts at Musings on Science and Theology.

Uncategorized

Previous Post

November 5, 2015

White Heresy, Black Heresy (by Austin Fischer)

Next Post

November 5, 2015 Campbellsville University and Christians for Biblical Equality

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Acts of the Apostles Adam Advent Anabaptism Angels Anglican Apologetics Atonement Baptism BCP Prayers Bible Biblical Studies Birds Blogging Bloglossary Bonhoeffer Books Calvinism Christianity Church Church History Coffee Colossians Commentary Recs Conversion Creation Creeds Culture Death Ecclesiastes Economics Education Embracing Grace Emergent Emerging Movement Eschatology Essays Ethics Eucharist Evangelicalism Family Fasting Fathers Fellowship of Differents Footsteps Tour Fun and Whimsical Gospel Grace Happiness Heaven Hell Holy Spirit Irenaeus James Jesus Jesus Creed Job Justification Kingdom of God Law Lectures Lent Liberalism Love and Marriage Mabanteneni Manhood Mary Miracles Missio Alliance MissioLife Missional Missional Jesus Movies and Film New Perspective Northern Seminary OneLife Origins Project Orthodox Parables Pastor's Spouse Pastoring and Leading Pastoring and Preaching Patristics Paul Paul-John Tour Pharisees Pietism Political Theology Prayer and Formation Preaching Problems for Faith Psalm 119 Psalms Public Issues Purgatory Religions Resurrection Revelation Romans Rule of JCreed Science and Faith Sermon on the Mount Sports Ten Commandments Theology Third Way Top Ten Lists Translations Uncategorized Universalism University Ministry Way Out Weekly Meanderings Wisdom Women and Ministry Work Worship Writing & Blogging Youth Ministry

Select a Month July 2021 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 0000

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

According to James, where does wisdom that is pure, peace-loving, and considerate come from?

Select your answer to see how you score.

From study From experience From heaven From Prayer