In The Younger Evangelicals, Robert Webber describes a new kind of leader that has risen amongst evangelicals. These leaders are young in age and in spirit, seeking to practice historic Christianity in the 21st century. Whereas the church has recently been led by pragmatic, program-driven Boomers, these younger leaders have an entirely different value system. They have grown up in a world which they consciously recognized as postmodern, and they reflect many postmodern values. These postmodern values include authenticity, community, relationships, mystery, and diversity. I am not only a “younger evangelical,” but I am also part of a church that is overrepresented by this group. The question is, what implications does the “younger evangelical” value system have upon how we ought to “do church” or rather, “be the church”?
One challenge that we face in our congregation is the “20th century” mindset of some of our leaders who still see “success” in terms of church growth. I am following a classic Boomer, church growth type of minister, whom the younger generations largely rejected. In fact, he was fired. During the time between ministers, the leadership surveyed the congregation to determine what values they would want in a minister. The congregation indicated that they were looking for someone who would help the church reach out to the community, be evangelistic, and connect with people; however, during the job interview process, the measure of success that the leadership said that they would be looking for was numbers (attendance and contribution).
As might be expected, the “younger evangelical” congregation is solidly behind our new outreach efforts, including feeding, clothing and ministering to the poor and broken, while the leadership is nonplussed. This past Sunday, however, we may have had a breakthrough. A man had come into our building earlier in the week needing help. He was living in his van, looking for work. We helped him some that day, and then he came and worshipped with us. I asked his permission to tell his story to the church, and he gave me permission. At the end of our worship, one of our members offered to let him stay with him in his house. One of our elders told this story back to me with tears in his eyes.
Being conscious of the mindset of the congregation that Webber describes is essential in understanding, anticipating, and solving the missional challenges and opportunities that lie ahead. The large numbers of young evangelicals in our church are pushing us out into the community, where God calls us to be. There is much transformation that must still happen in our church, but God is at work amongst us.
