Dropping into an Evangelical Conference

It's been a crazy weekend. On Thursday, I got a call from a good friend of mine, Justin, who lives in Raleigh, North Carolina who said that he just flew into town to do a presentation at a conference of GLBT-affirming Evangelicals on reaching youth with technology.

So, I made the trek via bike and bus out to the conference center in East Mesa on Friday night to see him. After I got there, I snacked on some takeout Chinese food with some people who were staffing the conference. The six or seven of us around the table were probably in age range from about 25 to (at most) 40.

We started off with a lot of chit chat, but about halfway through the topic turned toward the various worship services that they were going to have. And I should say at this point that we were in a registration room that was right next to the main hall where the plenary sessions of the conference were held. There was a music group rehearsing during this dinner break time for the closing worship service coming up later in the evening.

At about that time, I happened to turn my ear to hear the music that they were playing next door, and a lot of it were Praise & Worship pieces from the mid to late 80s. I remember them well because I played so many of them at a small storefront charismatic liturgical church I was involved with for about a year when I was a junior in college. (Ironically, the Bishop of that tiny church - one of the founders of The Evangelical Network - was also speaking at this conference - guess the music hasn't changed much.)

I mentioned something to the folks around the table about how I didn't care for this style of music in church. I had told them that I was an Episcopalian, so they asked me what kind of music we used. Without thinking, I casually replied that we used traditional music.

They looked at me, completely befuddled.

One of them then said something like, "Traditional music? They're rehearsing next door for our traditional worship tonight. The contemporary service is tomorrow morning."

It's ironic how our use of language gets in the way of real communication - but even more than that, when referring to church music (and maybe even to theological bent) - "traditional" seems to basically mean "whatever I grew up with" or "whatever I'm familiar with", regardless of its age or style.

Justin, his conference suitemate who is a music professor from Northwestern University, and I all spent a couple of hours talking about reaching people - touching on issues of authenticity and being fully present in the moment. We also discussed ideas on how to reach young people.

One point we discussed was how churches often try to start "contemporary services" thinking that doing this will attract young people. As if this were the magic formula for bringing youth in. Almost all of these efforts fail, because it is an inauthentic - or fake - experience. The importance of this can't be underestimated - especially since so many young people, who are very turned off by Christianity, see most of us as very hypocritical. Perhaps the epitome of "fake".

[RANT ALERT] I've personally seen examples of this here in Phoenix. At best, they start with well-intentioned pastors who want to do something to be relevant to the younger generation. Others may simply want to appear progressive and make themselves look especially hip, or build a megachurch that will get them looking powerful or make them a lot of money.

Regardless, they will use justifying phrases similar to "not changing the message but changing the way it's presented". And then the gimmicks and pandering begin. How about hiring out a "praise team" of about 6 university students to come and sing rock music week after week at a Sunday night service in a liturgically-oriented Lutheran church? Or pretty much overnight dismantling the organ installed in the church, eliminating the sizable choir, firing the organist and choir director, and replacing the music with something contemporary? Result? Immediately losing 1/3rd to 1/2 of the church membership. Maybe instead you'd like to try Wednesday night "Andy Griffith Bible Study"? That'll bring the young people in for sure! [END OF RANT]

All the ranting aside, the important thing that I took out of that conversation is that these efforts to reach out to others need to be organic - which, in my mind, need to come from the legitimate desires of the congregation or group that's doing the reaching. They cannot be forced upon a group from the outside.

That said, I think it is very important to note that a function of leadership is to help to inspire a group with a compelling vision. Not one that is dictated from on high, but one that comes from a deep knowledge of a congregation's desires - a prophetic word that articulates something that many people can quickly become excited about. Then, it is the job of the leaders to be bearers of the vision and to remind the wider group of the vision that is commonly shared.

While I wasn't able to spend any more time with Justin or my new acquaintance this weekend, I was very happy that I got to see him for the short time that I did, because it is always energizing and hopeful to be able to spend time with someone who shares the same passions that you do.