Liberty's Library

Originally written 12/01

Introduction
In the first few pages of his book, “The Frog in the Kettle”, George Barna makes the point that the church should be evangelistically ready for the inevitable change that comes with the advancement of the new millennium. With a changing audience comes the responsibility of adapting the methods of sharing the unchanged message to better reach the masses.

“We have continued to operate as though our environment has remained the same”, says Barna, “At this crucial point in history, we must begin to anticipate the world’s needs in order to meet them” (p. 21).

It has been 14 years since this book was published and in those years we have seen the pendulum swing from a more reserved, traditional worship service, to a more vibrant and active period of devotion. The assembly is not the only thing that has been affected by this kinetic shift. Some Christians have raised concern about this alteration movement and its future in the Church. Some ask when is modification the answer and how much change is too much? What effect does this have on new converts? How does division or change among a congregation affect its outreach efforts? Finally, has our effectiveness in those efforts been lessened? We’ll look at these and other questions when we consider the future of the Twenty-first century church in the mission field.


Youthful Spirit
Barna doesn’t want to see the church choking on the dust kicked up by the winds of change. The need for advancement is understandable. And although alteration is always needed in order to improve, I believe that in some ways the pendulum of modification has swung too far. We have witnessed a move to a more youth-led church, are in danger of losing our grip on the essentiality of baptism, and have sacrificed our four-part musical tradition, that teaches the knowledge of God, for praise and worship songs that are sung by ‘praise teams’ that don’t teach hierarchy, but simply make the worshippers feel good (David R. Canterbury, 2001).

Some believe that we are changing our methods not out of necessity, but rather to be more like other denominations that have bigger attendance and larger budgets. I am convinced that we should not sacrifice our first-century identity or what sets us apart as a church for the sake of being among the “in-crowd” of Christendom. We should rejoice in the fact that we are correctly modeling our biblical example that is described in Acts.

In the April 30th 2001 edition of the Christian Chronicle, F. LaGard Smith was asked what he could say if he had 10 minutes to speak to every member of the churches of Christ. Smith says,

“In all seriousness, I would call on the church to abandon youth ministries, which have toppled the spiritual hierarchy. Throughout Scripture, spiritual leadership is not only male, but it’s elder. It’s the wisdom of the years that leads and nurtures younger generations. We’re just a youth-driven church, like the youth-driven culture of which we are apart”, (Smith, 2001).

I think doing away with youth ministry will do much more harm than good. Yet, although his words are extreme, I believe Smith has a solid point. He says that although teen-involvement is critical to the growth of the congregation, we have a youthful culture that is leading the church and this is simply not the role of the younger generation. Youth participation is one thing, so is leading a public prayer or leading singing during a service. These acts of service are great and are a benefit to the work of the local congregation. However, Smith is trying to warn us of something very dangerous. He argues that the youth are more susceptible to failings because they follow the wrong impulses.

“The youth culture is not driven by issues of truth”, says Smith, ”but issues of the heart. And the heart is just volatile. A younger generation does not perceive authority in the same way previous generations have. And in the absence of that collective understanding of Biblical divine authority, every man is his own law”.

The heart is a very wonderful and magical thing. Its power is unfathomable and its affect on us is great. It moves us to serve or give at our expense, yet crumbles when we hurt. A lot of times, however, our hearts are blinded by such strong emotion. To allow ourselves to be led by these impulses could lead to tragedy. Our hearts can be clouded of judgment when we are depressed or when we experience great joy. It is tossed and pulled in so many different directions that it’s hard to know the right time to follow its yearnings. In the same way, when the youth of our congregations try to lead with their hearts, they are not always being led down the right path. Rather than obeying your heart, follow the unshakable knowledge of the one who made your heart. God, His son, and the Bible are all you need to stand on. By removing the human vulnerability of emotion and relying on divinity, we can know without doubt where the right pathway lies.

Singing Sweetly
In the same issue of the Christian Chronicle, Gary Browning writes an article titled, “’Real Sin’ in Sacrificing Quality Singing”. He is concerned about the welfare of our identity in our four-part a cappella singing tradition. But more than that, he is worried that what began as “Praise Groups” has taken away from the worshipping experience of the congregation because they are doing all of the worshipping. We tend to participate less in the service when we hear just a small group of singers over the entire audience.

Browning writes, “God’s children are not learning to sing in parts or in some cases even participate, for we have groups and individuals who “worship” for us better than we can – obviously, for they have the best voices. Are we becoming spectators? Would God agree with that logic?"

Some have heard this argument and said, “Then let those who want to have a more contemporary service have a separate assembly from the traditional service”. However, this ‘quick fix’ is not an answer to the question; it is simply cutting off and separating the church’s membership. What we need to consider when we want to change the worship assembly is the effect it will have on our children, new converts, and indeed the entire congregation. We need to pull back on the reigns of the ‘praise team’ songfest and involve the whole body, as Christ intended we do so very long ago. The purpose of the worship service is not to achieve an emotional high or to make the audience, “feel good”. Let’s remember that the worshippers need to be focused on the effect their praise has on the worshipped and not the effect their praise has on themselves.

Conclusion
It’s exciting to see something that needs fixed and feeling the Spirit moving you to act on it. It’s exciting when He gives you a vision of how much better things could be. But knowing when to stop modifying and not fixing things that aren’t broken is a gift of wisdom. When there is a need for change within the church, let’s work to find a remedy while keeping in mind Christ’s prayer, “That they may all be one”.

Once the church has a clear vision on where they are and where they want to be, they can be more effective in reaching out to the community and to those who are lost.