There Once Was a Party

Lately the talk around the minister water-cooler has been all about the millennialist trend within the church. The focus is always on why they are leaving the church. Notice the word leaving. Leaving implies they had some relationship with the church through either attending with family or friends, on their own, or through another source. I take that to mean they, like so many do, became upset about something happening or not happening in the church so they are leaving or they left.

In an article by Rachel Held Evans, a list of reasons was given as to why they are leaving the church. The list is interesting and good but as I read it, I find myself in the minority on it's challenge. I feel the wrong people are being challenged.

You see, if millennialist attended any of my friend's churches in which they minister, they would find most of her items on her list are indeed checked off. My friends are challenging their congregations to live holy lives by discovering and living out their call as followers of Christ. They would find an allegiance to the kingdom of God and not to a party or flag. They would find Jesus if they simply took a moment and looked. But they are a part of a culture that has forgotten how to look hard and look beyond the scars and tragedies of those in their midst. All they have to do is look and they will find a church of numerous denomination's, all of whom are living out those "items" she lists.

In that spirit, I challenged any who agreed with her article to come and spend a week ministering with me in my context. I challenged that not only would they find these items being met day and day out by people who are doing their very best to live as one who follows Christ; but they would find a generation in desperate need of more than what this trend can provide.

None accepted my challenge.

Of course, while they can find the church they are looking for, all they have to do is look and they will find ones that do not as well, and there I suspect is the real issue.

I am not a sociologist or culturist or researcher but I am a minister and this is my observation. We have entered, as my friend Adj says, a new paradigm in which (he'll have to correct me because I know I am going to misspeak) we are shifting out of the modern/post-modern paradigm into one that is not yet fully defined. He suggests what is important in the new paradigm is dialogue and acceptance of the experience in life of another. Meaning, my experiences have shaped how I interpret or read as your experiences shape you; yet we must be able to dialogue through those experiences in order to better understand one another.

At least that is what I believe he tells me every time we get into a Twitter conversation. Which one of the many reasons I love him dearly.

Back to my point.

As I read the list, I found myself not amening but asking a question with one word: And?

The article and the article that followed in which Evans spells out why they cannot leave the church does not answer my question, and?

And how do you propose ministers relay this information to their congregations?

And how are you going to address it? From another blog?

And how does this information help bring about the kingdom of heaven?

And how does this help the poor, the oppressed, the hungry, the sick, the lost, the abandoned, the unloved, the thirsty, the naked, or the imprisoned?

And where is the challenge to the millennialist to stay in the church and help reform from within?

A couple of years ago, CM Punk's contract was up in the WWE and he did not want to leave but he did not want to re-sign either. He wanted to change the system but felt it would be best to change it by leaving. A friend told him (I'm paraphrasing): If you want to change the system you cannot change it from your couch.

I remembered those words when I read the articles on milliennialist and the church. A certain age group, upset with the church culture, took their cue from other generations, and leaves and will not return until the church is made "right". This argument is one I hear on a daily basis in congregational ministry. So-So is upset and will not come back to church until the pastor's fired. So-So is upset at Mary Lou and will not come back to church until she leaves or apologizes. The examples go on and on. So when I read the reasons why milliennialist are leaving the church I become frustrated because they are, in reality, no different than their predecessors.

The lack of grace and forgiveness is evident in their own lives as they claim is evident in others. They are just like their father's generation.

I know I am in the minority when it comes to this trend and I have not even began to mention the racial and class aspect of this trend (mostly white middle to upper middleclass), but I simply do not understand why this is the issue it has become. I do not understand why ministers who bash the church and leave it gladly allow the church to ordain them or pay them. I do not understand the selfishness of believers who leave their faith communities and make ungracious demands before they return. I simply do not understand this and I am not sure I will.

It reminds me of a story I once heard:

There was this young teenager. One day she decided to throw a great party and invited all her friends. She invited everyone she knew. Word got around town about the people she invited. The seniors did not want to come because the freshman had been invited, so they rejected the invitation saying, "We cannot come because we have a graduation meeting to attend." The juniors did not want to come because the seniors were not going to be there, so they too rejected the invitation saying, "We have college visits to make." The freshman were excited to receive an invitation but upon hearing the anger of the seniors felt uninvited. Having received their invitation to the party, the sophomores rejected the invitation as well, writing to the host: "We would attend your party but since you invited the seniors, and they rejected because of the freshmen, and the juniors rejected because the seniors were not attending, thus exiling the freshmen, a group which decided not to attend for that reason, we too must decline your invitation. We will not take part in a party with such hypocrisy." They did promise to attend if she confronted the seniors and juniors. They however were just going to have their own party and invite the freshmen.

Frustrated and angry, she told her mom, "That's it. Invite all the kids from across town. Invite all the kids from the orphanage, and the shelters. Invite all the kids from at the recovery centers, from the parks, from the ghettoes, and slums. And, because our house will still not be filled, go and bring in every kid from the Y, the annex, and the hospital. Go and invite every single kid who cannot see or hear; or walk, or drive. Invite every single kid who has been exiled for their autism, down syndrome, or any other illness defined as socially unacceptable. Invite every single kid who has been abandoned, forsaken, abused, and unloved. Go and invite every single one you meet. We will fill this house and none of the seniors or juniors or sophomores will ever taste this cake or drink this punch for they rejected my invitation."

I think of that story, told a little different in Luke, and I fully understand why I do not understand this trend.