Seven things

There's a list of seven things “they (unchurched postmoderns)wish church were like,” in Dan Kimball's book, "They Like Jesus But Not the Church". During the just completed course in "Strategic Evangelism", I read the book cover to cover. I had always thought of Kimball as slightly off, but in the whole, I think he really does have a good understanding of today's emerging generations and where they are versus the church.

1. I wish church were not just a sermon or a lecture but a discussion.
2. I wish the church would respect my intelligence.
3. I wish the church weren't about the church building.
4. I wish church were less programmed and they allowed time to think and to pray.
5. I wish the church was a loving place.
6. I wish the church cared for the poor and the environment.
7. I wish the church taught more about Jesus.

You know, everything Kimball lists as the aspirations of those outside the church has been on a list I carried around inside for about two years. Granted, some of the "wish list" are simply impressions of people who may not have had any meaningful interaction with "church" or who had bad experiences with "church" when they did interact. But I get where they are coming from.

The sermon/lecture format may very well have reached its zenith a while back as an effective conduit for information. Gardener's research into educational intelligences as well as our own experiences with lectures say that it is darn hard to keep people's attention as mere listeners. I know it's hard for me. So I've tried preaching topically, using lots of illustrations, fill in the blank handouts, powerpoint, lots of images, video clips, and props to help people connect.

In the last few Sunday night services, I've tried to push interactive exercises and multi-sensory inputs to try to leap the "pew gap." I think we'll need to do more as time goes on, including possibly some "midrash" time where we work through a passage together. There are bright people out there in front, and maybe what they need to learn more effectively is not listen as much to someone telling them what to know, but spend some time in discovery mode themselves.

As for the buildings wish, all I can say is "amen". I'd go portable if we could just so we wouldn't have all that money and energy tied up in buildings. But we have them, and good stewardship would be to use them most effectively. I think we do that at New Hope. We open our campus to a home schooling network who pretty much fill it every Wednesday. They are great neighbors. We've hosted Girl and Boys Scouts and Junior Gardeners as well.

Programming is a real big hurdle for traditional churches. We're... programmed to look for plans and schemes. It's what we do. But it is changing and I'm glad to see it.

"A loving place" is an elusive goal. Most churches are very loving within the ranks. But people on the outside won't see that as those in the "club" do. That's been true in almost every church I have ever been a part of, and I have been on both sides of it. But you know what, every organization I have been a part of has been basically the same. The difference is that we are to be bearers of grace, and hospitality is part of that.

We're moving in the right direction when it comes to the poor and the environment. Our benevolence ministry helps quite a few people every year, and we have made a deliberate effort to be conscious of our impact on the environment. But we can do a LOT more in both areas.

As far as the last "wish" goes, I believe that we do teach a lot more about Jesus than I can ever remember before. We did go through a period of looking for "felt needs" to apply the Bible to, but we are focused on Jesus now - where we should have been all along.

So Kimball's reflections and research were both confirmation and a spur to more effort. Dan Kimball might have weird hair, but he's okay. :)