Friday Pick of the Week

As you may know, Fleet Foxes has been one of my favorite bands since music guru Parker Ingle passed along to me their first album a few years ago. I was saddened to learn this spring of the departure of the band's drummer J. Tillman.  Fortunately, the move led me to check out his solo stuff, which he was putting out well before his time with Fleet Foxes.  Here's one of my favorites, the title track from his 2009 album Year in the Kingdom.

You Lost Me

Young Americans are checking out of the church like never before. In effort to explore this a bit, I picked up David Kinnaman's You Lost Me, in which he investigates the reasons so many in the Millennial generation are struggling with the faith in which they were raised.
Kinnaman, the head of the evangelical Christian research firm the Barna Group, approaches the book as both a social scientist and a Christian.  I appreciate his openness in stating his beliefs and perspectives, something scientists often shy from in effort to appear objective (supposed objectivity is driving force in scientific bias, but this is a discussion we can have another day).  Kinnaman is unashamedly evangelical, and while his research addresses some Catholic and mainline protestant trends, white evangelicals are at the heart of his discussion.  While some of the language he uses has undoubtedly contributed to the departure of burned out Christians, on the whole he works hard to foster thoughtful discussion.
Kinnaman generalizes wandering Millenial Christians into three categories: nomads, who have departed from local churches but who continue to identify with the faith; prodigals, who have departed from Church altogether; and exiles, who remain consistent church-goers but with strong frustrations about American Christianity.  He employs examples of folks who have walked through periods such as these, from Stephen Colbert to Katy Perry.  Collecting a wealth of surveys from folks under 30 who were raised in the church, Kinnaman dispels some myths as to why young Christians are checking out, instead offering six major reasons the Millennial generation is dissatisfied with the faith.

1. The Church is overprotective: Young Christians live in a world consumed with safety, and find the Church has fallen in line by prioritizing protection over the call of the gospel.
2. The Church is shallow: Young Christians are frustrated with the tension between the gospel's call to death and the clean, comfortable lives of their congregations.
3. The Church is antiscience: In a world rapidly changing due to science-driven technological innovation, young Christians struggle with world views offered by their denominations that seem incompatible with science.
4. The Church is missing the mark on sexuality: Raised in the wake of the feminist and gay rights movements, young Christians wrestle with harsh views of the Church pertaining to gender equality and homosexuality.
5. The Church is exclusive: Young Christians, exposed to a wealth of different beliefs and cultures in a rapidly globalizing world, struggle with the Church's teachings on the exclusiveness of salvation.
6. The Church is hostile to doubt: In the period of life where self searching and experimentation thrive, young Christians find the Church has little room for doubt.

While the list is not comprehensive, I think it lays an excellent foundation for discussion.  I imagine for most Millennials raised in the Church, some if not all the points echo to some degree.  Kinnaman approaches his solutions section with a Millennial value: collaboration.  He incorporates fifty varied voices to speak towards how the Church can re-engage the generation, with a range of insightful suggestions and perspectives.
In the first emphatically evangelical book I have read in years, some of Kinnaman's assumptions and wording recollected memories of my early disillusion with the Church. Overall, it is informative, and I recommend it to someone curious about the issue, particularly those spending time with white evangelical Millennials. Otherwise, you can get the gist here.

What about you? Do any of Kinnaman's assessments resonate with struggles in faith for you?

Friday Pick of the Week

It's a polyphonic Friday. If you don't know The Polyphonic Spree, you're welcome.  If you know The Polyphonic Spree, you're welcome.

Friday Pick of the Week

Speaking of roots, this past weekend I had an opportunity to experience one of the pillars of American music. The Grand Ole Opry has aired a new show every Saturday night since 1925 without missing a week.  Countless legends have graced the Opry stage, whether at the Ryman Auditorium or at the Opry House, and it has been called "the home of American music."

The set-up of the Opry is brilliant - performers ranging in style from bluegrass to bubble-gum pop-country and in age from young to old perform two songs apiece, broken up by performances and banter from four different hosts.  You could feel weight of the place from the time we walked in the door, and every artist who stepped on the stage displayed a reverence for where they stood.

While the highlight of the night was watching mandolin legend Jesse McReynolds, I appreciated the entire experience, particularly the way the hosts and regulars incorporated so many different elements of country music.  I've never been much a fan of the honky-tonk steel guitar, but hearing it from that stage gave me a new perspective.  I've been listening to Hank Williams and Patsy Cline all week. Without further ado, here's an Opry staple that we got to hear live this past week:

And now for something completely different...

Knitgeek is a blog that appreciates British humour

Since the advent of this blog, you've patiently walked with me as I've tried to process my world according to the values I purport to hold.  You've heard me rant about politics and Christianity, and you've provided patient criticism and a gracious ear.  But the time has come for something a bit different.

In fact, that's actually what I want to focus on: difference.  Our culture loves the in-versus-out dichotomy applied to practically anything you can imagine: conservative versus progressive, egalitarian versus complimentarian, Ford versus Chevy.  I live in a state where people have literally been murdered because of their allegiance to Auburn versus Alabama football.  As avid readers through pregnancy and child-rearing, we've found that dichotomous camps exist here too.  More hostile than college football fans are the militant home-birthers versus the establishment who thinks they are crazy. And according to an anti-Baby Wise author, those keeping their babies to a strict schedule are the worst of child abusers.

Nowhere are these differences more emphasized than in the Church.  Rachel Held Evans recently published 15 Reasons I Left Church, where she describes an experience that echoes conversations I've had repeatedly.  Foreign Affairs and the Economist have detailed the dangerous marriage between an established political party and the evangelical Church, as well as the implications of the changing demographics in that Church.  Instead of dismissing these as vengeful attacks on religious conservatives (the "in") by the liberal media (the "out"), we ought to consider the realities of the common themes they raise.

David Kinnaman, president of the evangelical polling firm The Barna Group (hardly a bastion of the liberal agenda), has recently published You Lost Me, which discusses the unprecedented flight of Millennials out of churches and investigates why they are leaving.  Again, he raises points that resonate with my experience over the last few years, as young Christians try to sift out their values from the cultural Christianity in which we've come up.



If you were to eavesdrop on a conversation between my father and myself, you might believe that we are reading entirely different bibles.  The ways my values flesh out in politics and faith can drive him crazy.  However, despite our stated differences, the values I hold now are nearly identical to the ones on which I was reared: be kind and gracious, advocate for those without voice, pursue Jesus unceasingly, work honestly and diligently, trust that God is in the process of making things right, don't give up. I've heard harsh language from older Christians, describing the Millennial generation as spoiled and wayward, and I've been equally as hard on Christians who shop at Lifeway and listen to bad music because it is labeled "Christian."  But the truth is, we're all we've got.

And so a new season is dawning here at viva la Re... In the months leading to the presidential election, our society will emphasize our differences as much as possible.  News networks and political action committees will accentuate the things between us, demonizing those who differ with whoever is the "in" they accommodate. And I don't want to deny that differences are real.  But I do hope to dig into our common values and faith, through differences both real and perceived, as we trace our wandering roots.  Please join me with comments and feedback as we strive to figure this stuff out together.  And now for something completely different...