Growing Edge Book Review: Not What I Do

It was dark. Not complete darkness, but certainly darker than any worship space I had experienced. The music sounded more earthy Miles Davis than uplifting Amy Grant. The space had been an urban storefront. To my surprise, instead of gutting and remodeling this space, the church that worshiped here seemed satisfied gutting it, leaving walls unpainted and pipes exposed. This was my first visit to Spirit Garage in Minneapolis.

Once I noticed that the oldest person there might have been the pastor who was in her thirties, my ministry instincts kicked in. I created a list: “How to reach twenty-somethings.”

Low lighting.
Dingy feel.
Dark music.
Tight quarters.

I soon pictured a clone of Spirit Garage happening elsewhere under my leadership. “If this worked for them,” I thought, “I could make it work somewhere else.”

In The Emerging Church (Zondervan, 2003), the pastor of a postmodern ministry in Santa Cruz, Cali- fornia, critiques this kind of church cloning. Dan Kimball claims a church that clones others’ programs will have a harder time reaching young adults. Many young people stay away from church partly because the worship seems phony. It appears to be more like McWorship than an actual response to the Holy One. Acts performed in worship are viewed as either old and unappreciated, or new and trite.

Boomer responded well to cloning. Theater-like sanctuaries, professional bands, and sermon-centered services have popped up across the country and have drawn many Boomer-era seekers to Christ. But, Kimball warns, if church leaders are not careful, “this time it will be the seeker-sensitive movement that loses touch as it grows more and more disconnected to the heart of the emerging generations.”

From Kimball’s vantage, “culture is causing emerging generations to desire a more multi-sensory worship experience” in their quest to encounter God. Instead of assuming that people only encounter God when they are told what God is like, church leaders must recognize that non-Christian youth “desire to experience God and not just be told about Him or told about the things He doesn’t like.”

Adapting to this mindset will not be easy for churches caught in a teaching-oriented rut. The reformation from table-centered to pulpit-centered worship has given many Protestants tunnel vision. They see the sermon as the essence of worship. Kimball counters that the Word comes in many forms and to many senses.

So if leaders shouldn’t develop one new style or program to reach this generation, what can they do? Kimball suggests that when focused on mission, Christianity connects well with this emerging culture. In fact, Christianity arose in a culture not unlike today’s pluralistic world. Just as Paul stood in the Areopagus in Athens and said, “I see how you are religious in every way,” today’s preachers speak to people open to many religious ideas.

If the church returned to its “vintage” roots, communities would be able to connect with postmodern-minded people more effectively. Kimball points to the early church’s experience of mission and love when he proposes that the “emerging church is about the Spirit producing missional kingdom-minded disciples.”

The Emerging Church‘s two parts provide a guide on critiquing and engaging today’s culture. Part one concentrates on the departure from modernity. This section not only serves as a great primer on postmodern thought, it is also a good critique of the church’s ability to reach this emerging culture.

In part two Kimball introduces churches that have successfully tapped into the emerging culture. Without part one, which grounds the reader, church leaders would tend to clone these successes. Kimball offers a clear and reasoned picture of the emerging church based on his deep relationships with postmodern youth and, more importantly, offers creative reflection on a biblical way of ministry, with multiple examples.

—Eric NelsonKenosha, Wisconsin