Bridging Generations:  Community/Fellowship

Corey Fields

June 21, 2009

Luke 22:14-27

 [[MAIN IMAGE]]  Who is welcome at your table?  In New Testament times and before, table fellowship was a big deal.  Who you shared a table with (who you invited to dinner, so to speak) and where they sat at that table said a lot about you and a lot about them.  “Breaking bread” with someone showed that you approve of them and that you trust them.  And there were certain people not worthy to be at the table but instead were servants.

    Our current worship series is called “Bridging Generations,” and each week we look at one of the 5 purposes of the church to explore how different generations experience that aspect of church different.  We’ve already looked at service and evangelism, and today we look at community (or, fellowship).  That terminology difference right there demonstrates one of the shifts).

    First, we have to define our terms.  What I mean by fellowship or community is the experience of God’s people doing life together.  Having fun, sharing, praying, and going to Royals games.  It’s all of that, but it’s more.  [[SLIDE1 – “Community/fellowship is God’s people – together – living out the values and vision of the Kingdom of God.”]]  Even if it isn’t seen or doesn’t work in other parts of life, the Church is where people turn the other cheek, love enemies, and sell all they have for someone else.  The Church is where we live out the Kingdom of God by displaying forgivness, compassion, and serve “the least of these.”  It has an intentional aspect to it.  “Being the Church.”  The Church is the living, breathing example of the kind of world the prophets envisioned and Jesus preached.  In the first sermon I preached in this church, I said that Christian community is vitally important because it’s the primary way people meet God.  You have to experience God before you can believe in God, and the place many people experience God for the first time is among his people.  As I said back then, “WE ARE where people meet God.”  That is Christian community/fellowship.

Secondly, I need to show you how many sociologists divide up the “generations” that we’ll be talking about, and this will help you know what my terms mean.  Take a look at this timeline/model. [[SLIDE 2 – Generations]]  Verbal explanation of chart.

I’m going to tell you how Christian fellowship is starting to look different, and how the new generations who are now becoming adults see and do community.  I’m going to focus on the more recent generations because that’s my specialty and what I know more about.  I don’t feel very qualified to speak on what the older generations see as important or what they focus on.  At some points I’m going to try it, but I might be wrong and that’s where you can correct me at the back door. J  And by the way, since I’m comparing and contrasting generations, if you leave today without me saying something that didn’t make you angry or worried, you must not have been listening.

Now we can get to our question.  How do different generations “do” community differently?  I’m already giving you one answer to the question when I say “DO community.”  Community is intentional.  And that leads me to the first word I want to use to describe how Christian community is changing:  [SLIDE 3 – AUTHENTICITY]]. Whether or not it’s true, when young people come to church, what they say they see is a group of people their parents’ and grandparents’ age who come in here and put on a mask.  By and large, young people today complain that churches are full of people who are being fake; putting on a show.  You saw this in the second quote from earlier in the service.  As you older generations were growing up, there was an unspoken but very real social code about what you can and can’t say in church and what you can and can’t do in church.  Part of it was because church was seen as the high point of society.  There were things you could do at home and at work and at the schoolhouse but church was where you were at your best.  But church no longer sits on the pedestal that it once claimed.  And with most of today’s young people, what you see is what you get.  They will let you know what they think, they will share their struggles, and they feel no need to put on a mask.  Authenticity is highly valued.  Example:  every once in a while, from the pulpit, I will share something personal.  Every time I do, there’s always a couple of people who comment on their way out that they were surprised I would share something about myself that publicly.  But that’s what’s changing about people coming together, and that’s what’s changing about sermons.  Young people have no interest in a 3-point sermon that explains a biblical concept or affirms a theological truth.  They want flesh and bone.  They want to hear what’s going on in my life.  They want the dirt – and young people are much more likely to find and embrace the dirt that the Bible contains.  You would see what I mean if any of you could be a fly on the wall during our high school Sunday School class.  Thanks to their able leader and thanks to the postmodern personalities of the students, all gloves are off in that room.  They will tell you what they think, and they are not here to uphold any status quo.  Example:  A youth leader told me about a conversation he had with one of our students.  The student had expressed discomfort with inviting/bringing his friends to church.  The leader asked why, and the student, without missing a beat, said:  “They wouldn’t like it.”
But not so fast.  The younger generations are making church a more authentic place, but they have developed a new medium where they put on the mask too.  It’s called the internet.  Whether it’s Facebook, MySpace, or a personal website, young people can and do go online and create this whole persona.  You can go online and make yourself out to be whatever you want to be for those who don’t know you.  And, young people will say and do things on the internet and on their phones that they wouldn’t dare in person.  It’s become so widespread that there’s a new term for it: cyber-bullying.  Nevertheless, postmodern generations are bringing a new wave of authenticity to the church.  We see this in the scene at the last supper.  It was a very intimate setting.  Jesus expressed his love for his disciples, and at the same time, he hit them with the brutal truth of their shortcomings.  And Judas was welcome.  And Judas was called out, not only because he would be the one to betray Jesus, but because he was sitting there faking it.

Number 2.  The young generations are bringing to Christian community a fresh wave of [[SLIDE 4 – DIVERSITY]].  Thanks to things like the digital revolution and immigration, today’s young generations are growing up in an America that is as diverse as it ever has been…and not only that, they are instantly connected with people, practices, and ideas outside of America.  Today’s younger generations are less likely to identify themselves with reference to sociopolitical boundaries.  Two weeks ago, at a Republican fundraiser in Washington, DC, Newt Gingrich stood at the podium and declared, “I am not a citizen of the world.”  He received applause for saying this.  But I can guarantee you that 20 to 30 years from now when the Millenials are shaping commerce and public policy, that sentiment will be dead and gone.  Today’s young generations are completely surrounded by people who believe and behave and see the world differently from them.  (The east coast, where I’m from, is much more diverse than Kansas, but you can still see the point).  Have you been following the news about the Iranian elections?  A few decades ago, it would have been unthinkable to be able to get instant messages and video from everyday people halfway across the world, letting everyone know what’s really going on.  It completely bypasses government spin and press releases.  The powers that be are powerless against it.  It was unthinkable just decades ago, but today, it’s the norm.
This is what the younger generations are used to.  What this means is that in church, our young people don’t want to be surrounded by others who will only reinforce their beliefs.  Their experience of the world quickly teaches them that their views and opinions are one among many, and they WANT to hear what different people think.  They don’t just want to be challenged, they expect to be challenged.  And any version of church that simply takes what you already believe and pounds it into your head is going to be rejected by Gen Xers and Millenials.  (Pete Rollins example?)  But just like the major drawback/caution I offered about authenticity, the extreme diversity that is experienced by today’s youth has driven some of them to embrace relativism.  They are overwhelmed with the number of different opinions they encounter every day, and so some of them throw up their hands and say, “Everybody’s right, and all paths lead to the same place.”  Diversity is a great thing, but it must be accompanied by critical thinking and a search for truth.
Do you remember in the Luke passage where Jesus’ disciples began arguing about who was the greatest?  Jesus responded by telling them to approach their differences with each other from the stance of humility.  He said, if you want to be great, be a servant.  Put others before yourself.  And of course, Jesus knew that the only possible way to be at peace with your neighbor who is different from you is to take the stance of humility.  And perhaps more than any other generation, Millenials are poised to approach faith and church in this way.

And the last point.  The young generations are bringing to Christian community a fresh wave of [[SLIDE 5 – OPTIMISM and ACTION]].  A few years ago, researchers took a survey of high school students and one of their questions was, “What is the biggest problem at your school?”  Can you guess what the number one answer was?  It might surprise you.  [[SLIDE 6 – Lack of respect for authority.]]  When you think of pessimistic teenagers with a bad attitude and no respect for teachers and parents, you are thinking of Generation X.  But Gen X is now having children, and their children, the Millenials, are turning this around.  Millenials, by and large, take pride in themselves and believe in doing something positive.  Let me give you a sense for this shift.  One of my favorite styles of music is rock.  Here’s what you would typically hear and see from rock music produced by Gen X artists:  [[SLIDE 7 – Disturbed lyrics]].  Depressing, alienating, pessimistic, and full of self-pity.  Now compare this to another song by a band that’s popular with today’s teenagers:  [[SLIDE 8 – Hawk Nelson lyrics]].  You hear a completely different message in that second song, and the most interesting part about it is that those are lyrics being written and sung by a Millenial to his Gen X parents who displayed all the characteristics contained in the lyrics of the first song.  The X-Generation is one of apathy and pessimism, but the statistics are showing that their Millenial children are having none of it.  You will always find many exceptions, but statistically, in today’s high schools, achievement is up and violence is down.  Teen pregnancy is down.  In some areas of the country, virginity until marriage is becoming a cool thing again – a sign of strength and maturity.  I hear adults talk, and some of you seem to think that today’s teens are doing little more than having sex with each other and shooting each other.  They are not.  You think that school shootings are happening all over the place.  They are not.  The reason you think they are is because when something like Columbine happens, you see on TV 1500 times.  These kids are rejecting the culture that the older generations are creating for them.  
What the young generations are bringing to the church is optimism and a passion for doing.  This somewhat goes back to what Matt said in his sermon two weeks ago.  Today’s young people don’t want to support other missionaries, they want to be missionaries.  Now, that’s assuming they’re in church.  My disclaimer here, and what you need to know, is that the church is seen as an unnecessary middle man to doing something good.  Young people see the church as a sanctified country club.  If we want them to see church as worth their time, we have to prove it.

[[SLIDE 9 – Authenticity, Diversity, Optimism & Action]].  That’s what the new generations are going to bring to the church…if we can keep them in the church (but that’s another topic for another day).  Now you might be wondering, “What is this is contrast to?”  I’m going to end by being very clear.  I am not trying to say today that the younger generation is going to be BETTER for the church than the older generations.  I’m a little bit biased, of course, but I’m not saying it’s better, I’m saying it’s different.  If you were to ask me what the older generations brought to the church that the younger generations need to learn from, I would think of words such as [[SLIDE 10 – Loyalty, Experience, and Commitment]].  And so let us learn from each other as we seek to be Christian community in this world.  And let us watch for where the Spirit is at work in this world, because the Spirit will be at work with or without us.