When I first started getting involved in the church, it seemed like everybody was talking about how to reach the Gen Xers. It was all anybody seemed to be talking about in the church. There was a new "must-read" book put out daily, along with a monthly conference on how to reach Generation X people.
Funny how we don't really hear about Gen Xers anymore.
Of course, it then became the Postmoderns. It took me a bit of time before I realized I had been sucked into a marketing scheme. What finally tipped me off was when I was reading a particular book and it kept talking about what Postmoderns believe, what they want, etc, without really producing any evidence as to how these conclusions were reached. That's when I realized Postmoderns were the new Gen Xers for the church, which means the new way for twenty somethings to feel cool and trendy within the church as they talk about what their church is doing on Sunday mornings.
Lately I've noticed a decrease in the amount of Christian books being published with the word postmodern anywhere on the cover. Which is great, but feels like the calm before the storm. Right now I am wondering what is replacing postmodernism for the cool thing for churches to talk about. Do you have any ideas? Have you seen anything trend-wise going on? I don't want to be caught off-guard again and so would love your input!
Peace,
Matt
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6 comments:
africa dude. It's trendy to adopt babies from there and AIDS is still a hot topic over there.
Either that, or the Missional Church movement. Though its always been around, as Wayne pointed out, the emergent church has brought out a call for social justice...though it always isn't here in the states.
Good call Ron (2).
I'd say Africa/Social Justice/Missional are all becoming trendy, though I think all 3 are going to consist of churches doing the same things they have always done, but choosing to call themselves missional because they send 10 people to Africa once a year to do nice things and put on a VBS.
Too bad we don't die to our selves as the church and really sacrifice for our God and our neighbors, huh?
Though I agree that the term/concept of Post-Modern has been marketed and turned into a sort of niche... I don't think it is going to go away. Fundamentally, the term Post-Modern is far more than an adjective. It is an actual description of a time and place in historical shifts. Whether or not it has to do with faith.
Hopefully we'll keep looking at issues like "what does it mean to do/be church in a post-modern context' because that is a reality. I'm fine with labeling people post-modern as long as they acknowledge the conceptual reality of being in a (post)modern world.
Things like Emergent and the Missional Church movement I think can be tied back to the acknowledgment of a PM culture and a desire to respond to it.
I heart buzz words.
Brad. I heart you.
I think that the church cannot call itself postmodern yet because they are still modern and are still trying to figure out what modernity is as we flail around in it.
I also think that with the ADD culture, we are always looking for the next thing to jump on. That's why so many pastors grew goatees and shaved them into soul patches right?
I heart Ron too.
I agree that the church isn't postmodern- for the most part. What I was trying to say, though, is that the church is made up of post-moderns. Like me. I'm not trying to be PM, I just am. Working w/ students these days- if I read anything to them out of an acclaimed Post-Modern church book- they'd just look at me like, "duh"
When you take the term away from labeling 'things,' and look at it as a factual shift on Planet Earth-- then it can't really be dismissed as a fad. And hopefully, people continue to try look at faith in that context. Not just soul-patches.
I don't have facial hair. Just hilarious t-shirts like "Porpose Driven Life"
Brad,
I agree with what you are saying. My issue has been churches marketing the same ol' thing, only with the word postmodern tacked onto it. One day I was at a conference and heard some guy talking about how he works at a postmodern church. He then went on to describe what their weekend services look like, as if this somehow proves they are postmodern. Perhaps this is the case in the way we have twisted the word, but when you check out the writers who have influenced and named this shift in our world, this guy's definition and theirs definitely do not line up.
But I do think it's going to go away. First of all, because marketers need to always change and have something new. Secondly, because "post" implies that it is still defined by its relationship to modernism. This will change as it becomes its own thing. Although that may happen far after our time...
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