Counter-Cultural Church: Episode #207: September 7, 2014

Hear the episode Counter-Cultural Church

Well, this is kinda exciting. Pastor Vermon is working on a book in conjunction with The Gospel Coalition. Unfortunately, stars got in my eyes when I heard the phrase “working on a book,” but it’s my understanding that The Gospel Coalition is planning a five-book series (working with The Good Book Company), and Pastor Vermon’s forthcoming bestseller will be the second one in said series, which will focus on the “Counter-Cultural Church.” While you might get a little teary-eyed over the fact that it has nothing whatsoever to do with Harry Potter, please join me in taking comfort and finding peace in that it also bears little resemblance to Fifty Shades of Grey. Actually, let’s be clear about this: it bears no resemblance to Fifty Shades of Grey.

I have to admit that I was a little confused by the concept of counter-cultural. What were the implications? Counter-cultures, by definition, run up against mainstream cultures. Were we talking about Bohemians? Hippies? Hipsters? Punk? Hip-hop? Comicon again? (You guys!)

And, of course, the very use of the terminology begs another question: what is the mainstream culture?

Pastor Vermon’s discussion (which is also featured in a sermon series that you can find here) draws largely on the metaphor of the counter-cultural church acting as a light in a dark world. This metaphor hits upon a major concept: the church is distinctly in the world, but not of it. No matter how many times you long-term believers have been exposed to that lingo—in the world, but not of it—it behooves you to think deeply about it again.

What does that mean? To be in the world, but not of it? (I especially liked when Pastor Vermon noted that light is meant to operate in the darkness—not shine brightly in a light shop. It reminded me of that light store on Central Avenue in Phoenix; it’s been there forever—I think I went there in the seventies with my parents).

Perhaps, this really requires us to not live in fear!

Let’s be honest: it’s not easy to be a Christian in a secular world. There’s a tendency to withdraw, go all commune-y, create our own kinda weird and often off-putting rules of engagement; OR we sometimes rush into the world like—pardon the cliché—bulls in china shops, making all kinds of statements to put people in their rightful place, letting them know just who speaks Truth. We get weird, and/or we get in your face.

I guess the big question, then, is: Even though you’ve probably heard this in the world, but not of it business a million times, what does it actually look like for you?

In order to be more than vocal protestors or conscientious objectors, we need to be creators of culture. We need to build, and not just destroy. How do we build? Pastor Vermon discusses a number of topics, including the not-so-hot trend of homogeneity within the church body, and the need to be self-sacrificing church in a self-serving world.

A few standout moments from this show illustrate why we’ll need to get this book, and see if he’ll autograph it too:

·      I thought a very good and relevant point was made when Pastor Vermon noted how we often want to do good on our own terms, and Pastor Bob added, “We want to get these good deeds over with and get my reward.” As much as I hate to admit it, I think this is often the spirit in which we sign up to do charity work. Our time spent in service is an opportunity to feel good about who we are as people. Is this necessarily a bad thing? Not sure. But it gives one pause.

·      Christians often settle for strained familial relationships, and Pastor Vermon issued my favorite quote in the show when he said, “It is compromising your humanity.” Yikes. We totally accept strained familial relationships—BUT this can’t mean that we make nuisances of ourselves, asking them when they’d finally like to let Jesus into their hearts, since their life sucks, while we’ve so obviously got it made. Again, we’re forced to think of familial relationships in this context: How should we be in the world but not of it when it comes to in-laws or those pesky atheist siblings or unsavory-but-loveable-for-maybe-one-hour relatives who show up at major holidays?

·      Pastor Vermon mentioned that one of our biggest opportunities to show that the Gospel is in fact the Gospel is in the area of joy; we can be joyful in the midst of suffering. Can you say conviction? Here’s what I’ve previously written about joy.

I think, then, this topic requires further exploration. There seems to be this unspoken spectrum on being in but not of the world. On the one had, we can be too in. On the other, we can be withdrawn, misfits, weirdoes. But, even as I write this, I (who struggle with worldliness) honestly wonder if we should be misfits and weirdoes. Should we kinda embrace misfitery? Is this part of suffering for Christ’s sake? Didn’t Paul have a lot to say about this?

There you go. The spectrum might need to be filled out quite a bit.

Review by Roosevelt Community Church member, Jennifer Bell

Kill Your Youth Group! | Backpack Radio Reflection Episode #35

Kill Your Youth Group! [05/29/2011]

• In which Pastor Vermon says, “I’m black, so I’m naturally cool.”
• In which a question is begged: Is the Gospel boring?
• In which we learn the meaning of  “adultolescence” and it hurts.

I listened to this one because I’m scared of teenagers. Even though the rumor is that I once was one, and even though I spend a chunk of my day with them. Just today, in fact, I sat behind a desk and listened to them positively butcher Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice (I’m a teacher). And yesterday, I heard the following snippet of conversation about the movie Gravity:

Jane: "I'm never going into space."
John: "Jane, you may be forced to one day."

They’re amusing creatures, aren't? The problem is that I’m just not there anymore, and so they’re a little mysterious too. I used to speak the language of rock n’ roll, but my rock n’ roll is passé now. Once upon a time, I related to the emotional and moody ones, but Kurt Cobain is dead, kids aren't really so angst -y anymore, and now I think like a mom. Plus, the gospel of my former teenaged self is not a gospel worth spreading.

So, there’s this problem: how do we meet teenagers where they’re at, and how do we meet them with Truth?

This episode tackled my problem.  First, let’s follow Pastor Bob’s lead in making sure we identify the show’s subtitle, lest you think this broadcast is a recipe for murder. The subtitle is “The Steady Decline of Faith in Youth.” Teenagers raised in the church are leaving the church. When they grow up, they take off. The Youth Groups aren't working.

The introduction to the show included some daunting stats.

According to a 2002 Southern Baptist Council on Family Life study, about 88% of Evangelical Christian kids leave the church shortly after high school. Other studies are not encouraging.

Then, a group of sociologists, including Christian Smith, the co-author of Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers (2005), has dubbed the belief system of these teenage Christian casualties Moralistic Therapeutic Deism.  Moralistic Therapeutic Deism is expressed in the following (kinda quoted, kinda paraphrased) five tenets:

1. There is a God.
2. God wants people to be good.
3. The main purpose of life is to be happy.
4. God doesn't need to be involved in our personal lives unless we’re in a bind.
5. Good people go to heaven.

So what’s the deal?

Vermon offers a good critique, suggesting that there’s a difference between the Youth Group and a Youth Ministry. Jim Rayburn, the founder of Young Life, is quoted as saying, “It’s a sin to bore a kid with the gospel.” The implication is that too much theology and too much Bible and too much talk of sin is boring. This, of course, begs the question, Is the Gospel boring?

Vermon emphasizes the need for the real Gospel, rather than one belonging to an “emaciated God.”

One last thing to spark your interest. The Backpack guys mention how the “teenager” is a modern concept and how we've even extended our youth to include “adultolescence”; our twenties are now designated as our time to find ourselves. We postpone responsibility.

I know I definitely postponed adulthood in my twenties, which really shook things up when I ended up married at thirty-four and a mom at thirty-six. I was, if you must know, forcibly removed from my search for self by a tragic car accident at twenty-eight (in Africa! Where I was finding myself!). Which was too bad, because I had been hoping to backpack through Latin America at some point, and I was thinking of going for another college degree because I still wasn't entirely sure what I wanted to be when I grew up—though it might involve animals or photography, as long as no math were involved.

Here’s the thing, which the show does touch upon: Youth Group Culture, with its emphasis on a fun albeit shallow and transient time, is focused on self. It naturally leads to adultolescence. Adultolescence may be the saddest thing of all, since one can at least say about teenagers, “Well, they’re just kids.” Can’t say that about the adultolescents out there!

How do you fix it? What does it mean to be God-centered rather than pizza-oriented? What is a vital youth ministry? How do we speak to where kids are without catering to the places they do not need to be? Does that make sense?

Teenagers are special. Despite my removal from their reality, I get this. I have a sense of their topsy-turvy psyches, their seemingly unique and nameless longings, their new abilities. They too hunger and thirst. But the pizza will not cut it.

About Vermon’s quote on being cool, I just wanted to include that one.

Jennifer Bell is mostly a writer, but she's also an English teacher. The author of two books of fiction, she lives with her husband and two kids in Phoenix.