For the better part of two weeks now, I have been focusing my attention on the kind of churches that we need to be to welcome “seekers” (that is non-Christians looking for God), “wanderers” (Christians who have fallen away from God) and “adventurers” (Christians disillusioned by churches and looking for a new way) and help all of these folks to find a place to belong and grow deep in the Christian life.
I have discussed examples both famous (Bono) and fictional (Neo) and acknowledge that while spirituality, even Christian spirituality is of interest these days, and “community” is a sought-after commodity, “church” is not.
Now, this is not a new phenomenon. In fact, it is simply the most current manifestation of our enduring western worldview commitment.
In his book, Habits of the Heart, University of California sociologist Robert Bellah, studied the primary commitments and core values of the American people, that is, the most cherished and dominant features of our worldview. Bellah's research declared that the two primary commitments of Americans are forms of individualism. He called these two dominant worldviews:
Utilitarian Individualism: If it works for me, then it is good, and
Expressive Individualism: If it fulfills or satisfies me, then it is good.
In many ways, this is the big issue in all of the discussion of post-modern faith and new ways of being Christians. Many seekers, wanderers and adventurers are simply saying that the church doesn’t work for me (utilitarian individualism) so now I am finding a community that fulfills or satisfies me (expressive individualism).
In some ways, this is the very discussion that I see happening in “emergent” circles. Modernity is based on utilitarian individualism (The Bible is the authority that tells us that this is how the world works, that is just a fact that we can’t deny, so therefore this is what we should do.)
It seems helpful to me to think of post-modernity as a questioning of the assumption of utilitarian individualism. Post-modern folks (for lack of a better term) are saying, “Well, When I read the Bible from an older, more Hebraic, less western point of view, I don’t think the world does work this way, it’s not necessarily a fact, and frankly, it is far more meaningful, real and satisfying to seek to discover a different way.) And whatever satisfies me and inspires me to live better for Christ is what matters really.”
Please don’t get me wrong. I am not criticizing the seekers, wanderers and adventurers. I am also not trying to deconstruct our world in to relativity. I just think that most of our techniques, strategies and approaches to church and theology keep overlooking the big elephant in the room. We assume individualism is a God-endorsed worldview. While the world may be moving from modern to post-modern, the enduring worldview grid for determining most of life’s commitments remains virtually unchanged: Individualism.
And this is not only the great unnoticed assumption of our day, it is also a myth. More on that tomorrow.
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