Ted Haggard thinks so. This is from his twitter feed.
- I believe we are at the end of what church historians will, in the future, call the Billy Graham era.
- I believe we are also nearing the end of the "Religious Right" representing Evangelicalism.
- My prayer is that over the next 10 years, there will be a Love Reformation and the Gospel will retake the Bible-believing church.
Of course, Ted Haggard isn't the greatest spokesperson. The guy got busted cheating on his wife with a prostitute and taking illegal drugs. He reminds me of the quote, "A liberal is just a conservative who's been arrested." That said, I do agree that we are nearing the end of the Religious Right representing Evangelicals.
However, I tend to think it's more a generational thing than anything else. Baby Boomers grew up in the free-love sixties and seventies, without a lot of rules and a serious distrst of authoirity. And then when the Boomers became adults and had kids, they got terrfied and leaned on a legalistic view of the Bible to help keep everyone in line. Conversely, Gen-X and Millenials grew up in the more conservative 80's and 90's and don't have the same fears of openness and tolerance that Baby Boomers do. It's not that Christians under 40 are advocating more sex and drugs, they just approach the issues differently. And I expect they will want their churches to approach these issues differently as well.
I suspect that the moral beliefs of the church will remain pretty much the same. The Modern Church will still oppose pre-marital sex. Alcohol and drugs will be frowned on. Homosexuality will probably still be considered a sin. But the difference will be in how these issues are approached in the church. There is gonna be a lot less condemnation and a lot more compassion. Because let's face it. We all sin. And we all need forgiveness.
Good thoughts, however — as you said — I hardly think Haggard is a good spokesman. If you want the answer to the question, check out Ted’s crony Dutch Sheets. Or even closer, see what the Oregon Family Council guys are up to. That will give you a better feel for the religious right, I think.
Personally, I think they just changed their name to TeaParty and switched their focus a bit.
Why would anyone listen to Ted Haggard’s twitter feed?
Well said Catalyst! Something’s gotta give when it comes to how the church deals with the gay issue among others. It’s not going to go away as we’ve discussed lately.
WHS: since Ted and wife are now back in CO starting another church, i suppose those 100 followers mentioned in the article I read are prone to be gaga over his tweets. chumps.
I truly believe that the reason for evangelicals losing ground in the years to come will be that people are just harder to impress. We will be harder to impress because we swim through what seems to be an infinitely vast sea of information on a daily basis. We are bombarded by things ranging from genius and groundbreaking, to completely bunk and bogus. To navigate these waters with enough efficiency to be at all competent in this format, we must acquire a “six-sense†that will, in the blink of an eye, differentiate between useless and useful information. This sixth sense is essentially being able to “smell†when something we are shifting through is fishy or legit, whether it is what we were looking for or a mishit.
Evangelical’s message in the midst of the madness just gets drowned out. People just have more access to things that can occupy their interest, and something as taxing and draining, not to mention restricting as evangelical philosophy, is just a lot to ask someone to commit to with all the other things available to them.
My second theory to why evangelicalism is bound to go the way of the Dodo, is that is just can’t keep up. Information and ideas (memes) progress so rapidly, that evangelicals and their baggage miss the boat like clockwork—every time a new trend occurs, they are a year or two back. To be able to evolve and remain current means that you must be ready to turn on a dime.
The problem is that evangelicals must always check to see if they are “onsides†with respect to doctrinal beliefs and norms. Why is Christian music painfully behind all trends? Why are churches and their sermons so painfully out of the loop with respect to pop culture? It is because they spend so much time checking to see how they can integrate this into their teaching, and by the time they do so, it is too late and everyone else has moved on.
This then relates to my first point—to be on the radar of an ever-distracted/inundated society, you need to not only be current, you need to be fresh—they are barely the former, and definitely not the later.
Interesting article in USA Today:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2009-03-09-american-religion-ARIS_N.htm
By the way, the reason why I am posting the following link has nothing to do with Christian music sucking (don’t let the title fool you). In fact, I think it makes an interesting point regarding the absolutist vs. artistic approach to evangelizing.
Listen to the audio starting at 6:40, which sets up the premise. The part that I thought hit the nail on the head was from 7:30 – 9:00. Perhaps evangelicals should take a note of what this concept means in terms of the essence of Christianity versus a more literal version.
http://www.stbrunolive.com/2010/02/podcast-christian-music-sucks-prt-1/#comments
Thanks for the links Matricks! I bookmarked st. bruno. As a musician I relate completely. The Christian Music Industry is just that – money making is the bottom line and if you don’t look and sound their particular part then there’s no room for you there – not that’d i’d really want to be there never having felt an affinity with that culture. It’s probably the same reason I never really fit in churches… although I do go to what we call the Good Church and could probably ‘fit’ there if I allowed myself. It’s just not what God’s doing with me right now can can’t forsee spending my energy ever doing church chores again.
As I’ve evolved as a musician I’ve come to the same conclusion mentioned on the st. bruno podcast that art is essence and when you share your art you are sharing the light (and dark struggle) within you. If ppl don’t witness the struggle of real life then how can they identify with it and find how to apply the light as an answer. Love is a big factor too – not the new agey weird expression of it but the genuine caring for the human race and individuals you meet. If it’s there, it comes out in your art in one way or another.
So, I believe it’s relational – how are we accessible to those the Lord in his mysterious way brings to you and you to them? If we are so busy in our cloistered groups, how can we even see beyond to step outside to be present in case anyone does come along?
I agree with you on staying current but I believe it could be a treadmill too. The answer may lie more in staying true to the authentic person God has created within you and going from there. Not that we don’t endeavor to stay current, but if we pray for the leading of the Holy Spirit, he will connect us with the ppl we are to connect with and if we are led by him then it all seems to fall into place. Usually he brings to light what each of us needs to work on, and if staying cutting edge comes into it, then we’ll have that desire and it should come naturally to us. If not, then maybe it’s not going to be a factor.
Personally, I’m motivated by what’s new that’s available but for some reason not driven to make sure I’m using every tool. . . I feel to just keep going forward and evolve as me and put my life into God’s hands and let him do what he may with it.
DeTox, I’m glad you enjoyed the link!
With regards to staying current, perhaps I misspoke. I am not necessarily advocating that “the church†and Christians must stay current for the sake of staying current. I am actually more along the lines of where you are coming from. I think that the church should stop trying so hard to stay current. The fact that they have to think about things so hard in order to develop a plan of attack is what holds them back: How do we take this innovation and put our stamp on it? How can we be hip and edgy and not offended the (often times) easily offended? It’s like they are trying to playing chess in the middle of a basketball game.
The fact is, what is “acceptable†is so narrow, and therefore the artistic well so shallow, that they can’t be anything but unoriginal (they being any kind of artist—musician, preacher, author; they are all artists). I am sure many of these artists are so restricted by the material they can draw from, not to mention being tethered the ultra-lame history of Christian pop culture, that they have nowhere to go. If their audience was to open their minds a tad bit, then perhaps they could use their skills and talents to the fullest. Let me rephrase, if the people who decided what was appropriate for their audiences to listen to would open their minds a bit, then these artists could use their talents to their fullest.
This could be a microcosm of the greater evangelical movement as a whole. They have spent the last couple generations painting themselves into a corner, and now they are where they are. The message they preach and the parameters they operate in leave so few degrees of freedom that: 1.) they are vastly unappealing due to this constricting nature, which is easily apparent from the outside looking in, and 2.) they cannot innovate because they have disarmed themselves of all the tools capable of doing the job.
The potential spectrum of the human experience is so vast that a marketing plan that consists of selling the idea of restricting one’s self to a hard-lined/closed minded set full of rules is bound to fail. The emphasis being hard-lined/closed minded. I had my phase, but the bubble had to, and eventually did, pop. The same was true with many of my peers. The world is too dynamic to subscribe to the static mindset that exists with these people. Just like a hillside that temporarily stands still against turbulent winds, this paradigm of evangelical fervor, too, will eventually erode with time, giving way to the non-static and fluid reality of what is.
P.S. That last line was not intended to sound new-agey
Oh My My – you just described our former pastor’s strategy meetings! None of us are missing those torture sessions that’s for sure! I almost feel sorry for the chumps who took our place(s) who are enduring it as we speak. BUT I can’t since I remember them drooling over our positions while they were waiting for us to leave. Picture a long line (and the pastor and his wife eyeing them and dismissing the ones they already used and saying NEXT). Actually it’s kinda like a revolving door. Being on staff or an elder is a sure sign you are on your way out, waving bye bye to the line of chumps waiting their turn!
During the ‘strategyfests’ I remember thinking – no matter how hard these people try to be
coolrelevant, they will just never be bcz of their muddled maniac way of starting a project only to abandon it so they could try the nextcool thing that Wendell was doing up in Kirklandidea that came along.But I know you are speaking of the church at large, Matricks, sorry to digress on the wac world I came out of. I agree with your thoughts on over-thinking, over-strategizing to the point of missing the windows of opportunity. The church should just chill and be authentic, humble, and compassionate with their neighbors. Keep it simple, keep it gospel of Jesus, and stay accessible. Perhaps the church isn’t mean’t to
be coolfit into the world – we should just BE. Period. But that would entail releasing the controls and not being so narrow minded, as you were saying.Detox –I am LOL at the strategyfest paragraph. Only because it is all so true.
Why is it the truly cool people who are also relevant are out there working their head off in projects that actually get off the ground.
Case in point: I pull up to the cool church Sunday morning -in total freedom now about when I feel like going …and the buzz of activity is amazing from selling fruit every week to fund missions -orphanages, selling food in a foodcourt outside to help with a building fund so they don’t have to shake us down, to a car wash, bookstore, coffee stand.
Its just what they do on a weekly basis -because they actually care about getting something done. We sooooo wish the ‘church across town’ would see it but they never would ‘condescend’ to use a Jane Austen term!
Its ok we may post a video to another blog we may be starting just to show the difference. Now where can we get video of our X-Senior Pastor and going to Disney World with the ENTIRE family from here –posting and blogging on it for sure the whole time. We’re looking for closeups of using the church credit card to fund the whole trip. If you have any footage just let us know.
I remember a quote from a documentary on the music biz; I think it relates to the this whole “manufacturing” of the church image that goes on, and how some can’t leave well-enough alone. The quote went something like:
“Rich white guys have always run the music business– what screwed it all up was when they began to think that they actually knew something about music.”
This is a great explanation…exactly what I been thinking. We are all a knee jerk reaction to our parents. Liberal creates conservative and visa versa.