Digital DNA has possibilities

Digital Storytellers: The Art of Communicating the Gospel in Worship, by Len Wilson and Jason Moore, has wonderfully helpful nuggets buried in a rather cumbersome written presentation.  If the reader can sort out the changing voices of the authors, Len and Jason offer valuable insights into the preferences and outlook of younger adults.  (The one caveat of which the reader needs to be aware is that this book is now ten years old.  In the day of rapidly changing technology, some of the media suggestions are already dated.)

   

Len and Jason, as they refer to themselves, are at their best as they describe what is unique about young adults today.  The authors say “Digital DNA” is the necessary mysterious ingredient needed to understand the digital generation.  Ministering to the next generation is possible, Jason and Len suggest, even for those of us with Dino DNA, if we are willing to pay attention to the characteristics of the digital generation.

Len and Jason point to three characteristics in Digital DNA, brought about with the rejection of Modernism .  Young Adults appreciate ambiguity.  Because Postmodernism seeks to embrace more than one truth, Young Adults today are more inclined to appreciate the opportunity to look at a problem through multiple lenses and are comfortable with holding paradoxical answers.  With this rejection of a single truth, Young Adults value story and metaphor as vessels of truth.  Truth for the Digital generation can be affirmed through a story that rings true with one’s experience or a metaphor that captures the essence of an idea.  The argument for creativity as a characteristic of Digital DNA seems to come out of the authors’ own creative bent.  They make the case for a diversity of media experiences among younger generations who have been immersed in multimedia from childhood.  An appreciation of participation and team are closely linked.  Jason argues that one way to decrease control, which is rejected by younger generations, is to increase participation.  Likewise a decentralized approach to power requires a team of people to make decisions. 

Finally, Len and Jason maintain that “People in digital culture aren’t looking for information about God.  They are looking for an experience of God.” (p. 48).  A key characteristic of Digital DNA is experience.  The move from an analytical culture to a culture of experience, they believe, is the most significant change in the move from Modern to Postmodern thinking.  They stress the most powerful experiences are those that employ all of the sense of the body: sight, hearing, taste, touch and smell.

I find this particular description of digital culture helpful because it allows preachers who speak in a variety of worship settings, from contemporary to traditional, to attend to the real cultural distinctiveness in younger adults.  Jason and Len actually speak to this point on several occasions, recognizing that not every congregation is ready to remodel their sanctuary and throw digital images on a screen tomorrow.

 Jason and Len are clearly interested in using a variety of digital media to make worship more meaningful to young adult worshipers.  They spend a significant portion of their book redefining the purpose and meaning of “art”.  They are eager for the church to understand digital media as a new form of art that speaks to a new generation.  The book includes a CD of images and video.  Unfortunately I found the artistic offerings less than compelling and their arguments strained.

For those who are just starting out in digital media or who are preparing congregations to explore such new horizons, Jason and Len offer terrific suggestions about working with church boards, building support and expanding creative choices.  They are also good at pushing the reader to think outside the box.  The later chapters about creative use of digital media are full of interesting ideas that could be useful to worship teams that regularly create worship together. 

Great Title! Disappointing Text. :-(

Preaching to a Shifting Culture: 12 Perspectives on Communicating that Connects, edited by Scott M. Gibson, is one of the more disappointing books I’ve read in a while, although not a total loss.  Gibson features a group of twelve preachers who are self-defined Evangelicals to discuss topics around preaching in a new day of changing culture.  I had great hopes as I read the titles describing the issues to be addressed: preaching in a post-modernist culture, the pluralistic nature of society, connecting to the congregation, sensitivity to the listener, preaching in a global world, anti-authoritarianism, etc.  The content was less than inspiring.  A recurring refrain throughout these articles suggest a generic solution to each concern raised:  preach the Bible.  No matter what the challenge presented by modern culture, the answer was almost always a resounding outcry for preaching the “Word of God” as if correct teaching is the only answer to all the complex issues of our day.

             

As a preacher within the Reformed Tradition, I was particularly struck by the recurrence of the phrase, “Word of God”, in part because reformed theologians define the term differently than do these Evangelical preachers.  The term “Word of God” is a complex theological phrase that takes its roots from the Greek word logos meaning “word”.  The Greek term has an overlay of meaning from the wisdom literature that almost personifies the wisdom of God as the logos.  The “word” of God is thought to bring understanding and to communicate God’s thoughts and intentions.  This personified “word” comes to its fullest fruition is Jesus Christ who is understood as God incarnate.  The “Word” becomes flesh and dwells among us in Jesus.  (John 1:14)  Presbyterians and other reformed expressions of the Christian faith understand the “Word of God” to be that which allows us to hear God’s voice in our lives.  Sometimes that voice is heard in the scriptures.  Sometimes it is heard in the Spirit speaking in our lives.  Sometimes we hear the Word of God in a sermon.  Always we see and hear the Word of God in Jesus.  What surprised me in Preaching to a Shifting Culture was that the Word of God was understood to be scripture alone and the scriptures were elevated above everything else.  At moments in some articles the Holy Bible seemed to be more sacred than God.

Gibson’s book was not, however, a total loss.  I found a couple useful articles. “Dusting Off the Old Testament for a New Millennium” by Ray Lubeck provided helpful suggestions for tackling Old Testament texts or as he would put it: the Hebrew Bible.  Lubeck makes several good observations.  He points out that we have misunderstood the place of the “law” in the Hebrew Bible, defining it too narrowly.  Lubeck suggests that the word Torah means instruction or teaching.  This instruction is set in the context of the gospel story of God redeeming his people.  Lubeck also describes a rather complicated process of interpreting the Hebrew scriptures called the Speech Act Theory.  He wants interpreters to look for the originally intent of the text, the purpose behind the writing and what response the writer was seeking.  A third helpful idea is what Lubeck calls Big Picture thinking”.  Unlike the New Testament which can often be understood in small episodes and stories within a story, Lubeck says the stories in the Hebrew Bible belong to a very large story.  The interpreter needs to cast a much wider net in understanding the context of large Biblical themes.

A Second helpful article was Rodney L. Cooper’s “The Psychology of Preaching”.  Cooper argues persuasively that we live in a therapeutic culture and advocates for using the sermon, on occasion, for group therapy.  He is careful to point out that preachers are not psychologists and few are trained as such.  Cooper, however, rightly argues many of the psychological issues faced by modern people are addressed beautifully in the scriptures.  The scriptures, interpreted in the sermon can provide healing, sustaining, guidance and reconciliation all of which promote a healthy sense of mental, emotional and spiritual well-being.  Utilizing Chris Thurman’s book, The Lies We Believe, Cooper argues a cognitive behavioral approach in preaching enables listeners on Sunday mornings to identify debilitating falsehoods in their thinking and to replace them with live giving truths.  He then provides a suggested outline for constructing a “counseling sermon” with the scriptures.

In spite of the two useful articles, I cannot recommend Preaching to a Shifting Culture for preachers in the Reformed Tradition.  The assumptions and cultural bias of the majority of “Evangelical” preachers featured here create a book that appears hostile to the modern world and likely ineffective in its ability to speak meaningfully to the next generation.

Can An Old Dog Learn New Tricks?

Andy Stanley and Lane Jones offer uniquely practical advice to contemporary preachers in their book, communicating for a Change.  Clearly Andy Stanley has made it a lifelong ambition to communicate in a way that would be both memorable and life changing.  His creativity is evident from the very beginning of the book as he turned loose his associate, Lane Jones, to create a parable introducing the reader to his theory in a disarming story about a frustrated preacher who gets advice from a truck driver evangelist.

Some readers will find Stanley’s approach to preaching alarming as he advocates single point preaching and makes a very convincing argument in favor of preaching “without notes or manuscript”.  The argument for the memorability of a single point convinced me to adopt this strategy long ago.  Likewise I discovered many years ago that the internalization required to preach without notes was well worth the effort in enabling me to connect with my people.  What surprised me as I read, however, were the many tips and tools Stanley reveals that help create structure and aid in both preparation and presentation.  I simply haven’t run across a more useful set of “tricks of the trade” before.  This is an engaging read for a preacher!

Stanley question that most intrigued me and continues to spark my thinking, is posed early in the book:  “What is your goal in preaching?”  A good story teller, Lane raises the question in the voice of his truck driver evangelist and doesn’t answer it until he is most of the way through his story and about half way through the book. 

Stanley says his goal in preaching is changed lives.  One sees this goal articulated in the title of the book, Communicating for a Change.  Lane articulates the goal in the voice of his truck driver who says, “I want to see their (people’s) lives changed to reflect the love of Christ.” (p. 84)   Stanley says it again in his more didactic section.  He writes, “(The goal) is to teach people how to live a life that reflects the values, principles, and truths of the Bible.  In short, my goal is change.  I want them to do something different instead of just think about it.”  (p. 95) The goal drives Stanley’s preaching structure as everything moves toward applying the message of scripture in ways that change individual lives. 

Coming from a preaching tradition that has long focused on changing thinking or belief, I am quite fascinated by this alternative and am enjoying tinkering with my own approach to preaching.  For anyone who is new to preaching and especially for anyone who has been preaching a while, Communicating for a change offers fresh ideas and lots of “hands on” tips.  It is as practical as Stanley’s preaching seeks to be.

               

Preaching to the Great Diversity of Us

I was a little disappointed in So That All Might Know:  Preaching that Engages the Whole Congregation by Thomas Troeger and Edward Everding Jr.  I heard Tom Troeger preach wonderfully at The Montreat Music and Worship Conference last summer.  I hoped this new book might help me gain insight into how Troeger approaches sermon preparation.  It did.  Although he doesn’t go as far into the new territory into which I hoped he might venture.

Tom Troeger nicely describes the enigma of preaching to a congregation that seems to hear very different sermons than the one preached.  Indeed, listeners of the same sermon often describe hearing very different messages.  Troeger believes this is because people have different learning styles and so assimilate the sermon differently.  The theory of Eight Intelligences, outlined by Howard Garner, has been utilized by educators in the classroom for some time.  Troeger uses this theory to describe how the sermon might be created so all listener/learners can hear and respond to the gospel.  It is Troeger’s implementation of the eight intelligences theory for preaching that I found disappointing.

Writing for people with Linguistic intelligence is relatively easy Troeger points out.   Most preachers have been writing for the “Word smart” among us forever.  Troeger suggests using numerical calculations or scientific reasoning to capture the attention of the Logical-mathematically intelligent.  The musically intelligent appreciate refrains and sound pictures with words.  Troeger suggests the preacher needs to embody the sermon so gestures flow freely for the bodily-kinesthetic learner.  Those with spatial intelligence appreciate having pictures and spaces drawn with words.  Those with Interpersonal intelligence and intrapersonal intelligence are drawn to preaching that shows an understanding of people and self awareness.  Finally the naturalistically intelligent listen well to preaching that is attune to the natural world.

While Troeger’s description of the various intelligences was useful I was dissatisfied with how tied to the linguistic intelligence the preaching connections were.  In the end, everything came back to words.  One would think the interest in multiple intelligence theory would give rise to preaching that might make use of images, art or music or physical activity during the message to engage the spatial, musical and kinesthetic learners.  Perhaps elements from nature, plants, flowers, rocks or water could be included in the preaching moment for the naturalist.  The Logical-mathematical learners might appreciate a good puzzle to ponder.  Those with interpersonal or intrapersonal intelligence might find conversations in the pew intriguing.  In short, there are surely ways to engage the multiple intelligences other than simply using our words.

The second half of So That All Might Know is devoted to preaching in child ways of knowing and adult ways of knowing.  While the first section of the book, dealing with multiple intelligence theory seems to be primarily authored by Tom Troeger; the child ways and adult ways of knowing seems to come from Edward Everding.  

Everding seems to loosely follow Fowler’s Stages of Faith as he describes two kinds of childhood learning which he names Magical Maggie and Literal Larry.  Although somewhat simpler than Fowler, these two typologies draw the preacher’s attention to a couple of important childhood ways of knowing the world and remind us of the usefulness of a child’s perspective.  Not only do children draw our attention to the mystical and simple realities of God, children inhabit our pews with great regularity and deserve our consideration as we preach.

I was not impressed with the four ways of adult knowing.  Everding again describes his four ways of adult knowing using typologies.  However, whereas the child typologies seem to be based on stages of faith tied to child development, the adult typologies do not seem to be tied to anything.  Rather they seem to be stereotypes of personalities sometimes found in congregations.  It is an intriguing idea, however, to consider how different personality types might respond to sermons.  Everding’s theories started me thinking about the Myer’s Briggs personality preferences.  I began to wonder how a thinker or a feeler might respond to my work or how a senser or intuitor might hear what I was saying.

Ultimately Troeger and Everding’s work invites the preacher to consider how our audience is different from ourselves.  They are quite correct in suggesting that a very diverse group of listeners and learners makes up the body of Christ.  Our challenge is to look beyond our own preferences, personalities, styles of learning and comfort zones to engage the whole congregation.  It is an exercise in creativity and

Talking Together in Worship

Note to the reader:  I realize I have not blogged in a while.  With my last blog, October 18, 2011, I completed my studies on the Millennial Generation.  I have since moved on to a study of Contemporary Preaching.  My new study involves reading a book that offers a new take on preaching.  I then try out some of my insights in a sermon for my congregation.  This is proving quite interesting and may be helpful to those wanting to engage the next generation in meaningful worship.  I have decided to use this blog to share my thoughts.  Here we go…

Doug Pagitt in Preaching Re-imagined, suggests that contemporary preaching is greatly enjoyed by many Christian people but is largely ineffective.  Pagitt says “Christians continue to struggle with what it means to live in the way of Jesus” (p.19) and this is evidence of the insufficiency of preaching.  Pagitt believes the basic problem is presenting the Pastor as the single expert on matters of faith and Biblical interpretation.  The sermon, Pagitt says, has evolved into a Sunday morning speech  supposed to impart the wisdom of the scriptures and bolster the faithful enabling them to live well their Christian lives.  Pagitt calls the practice, “Speeching.”  The problem with speeching, Pagitt maintains, is the lack of communication between the preacher and members of the congregation.  Pagitt believes pastors don’t really know what’s happening in parishioner’s lives and so can’t speak to the very specific concerns of those in the pew.  Additionally, Pagitt maintains that if we fully subscribe to the doctrine of the “priesthood of all believers” then it is time pastors engage other believers in the discussion about what the Bible means and how we are to apply it to Christian faith.

The cover of his book says it all.  A very enthusiastic preacher sits on a couch with a megaphone to his mouth.  He is turned to the woman at the other end of the sofa speeching hopefully to her.  She is turned away looking irritated and bored.  On the back cover the image is transformed.  The preacher has lost his megaphone.  He and the woman sit facing each other, engaged in animated conversation.

As an alternative to speeching Pagitt advocates what he calls progressive dialogue.  Pagitt wants preachers to find creative ways to engage the thoughts of those who attend a worship service and to allow the sermon to develop out of conversation.  Although Pagitt never sets out to suggest “how to” make all this happen, he gives hints as to how progressive dialogue is worked out in his Minneapolis congregation, Solomon’s Porch.  The process for creating the sermon actually begins on Tuesday night at Bible Study.  All in the congregation are invited to join the pastor in a study of the next Sunday’s topic and related scriptures.  Out of the conversation an approach to the coming Sunday’s dialogue is developed.  

Worship at Solomon’s Porch is set in the round.  The congregation sits in couches around the edges.  Although it is unclear how Solomon’s Porch enables participants to be physically heard in their space, Pagitt makes an impassioned plea for group microphones to be available for those who wish to speak during the gathering.  Pagitt says he usually begins the sermon, shares some initial thoughts about the scripture and gives context to aid its interpretation.  Then the sermon is thrown open to the congregation for a sharing of ideas and dialogue.  Sometimes Pagitt will wrap it up and sometimes not.

I struggled reading Preaching Re-imagined.  I disagree preaching is largely ineffective and that pastors are not involved with their people and so unable to speak to them.  Perhaps this is problematic in larger congregations.  I also, admittedly, was put off by the term, “speeching.”  I suppose that was Pagitt’s intention.  My own preaching style (without notes, and out in front of the chancel) is much more conversational than Pagitt envisions as typical.  Although I struggled with his critique, I was taken with Pagitt’s assertion that saints in the pews have valuable wisdom to offer one another and this is a largely untapped resource for the encouragement of faith.  In my experience the good people of my church often are thoughtful and faithful in many ways.  

With this in mind I approached my worship planning team about encouraging conversation and sharing in an upcoming sermon.  My team immediately rejected offering an open microphone and community discussion.  However, they were open to the idea of small group sharing within the context of worship.  My only concern was that the impact of the wisdom shared would be limited to the handful of people involved in any given conversation.

On the day of my “new sermon” I was met with a good crowd.  Having told my congregation in advance a little of my plans, they were in attendance and ready to experiment.  They are such a fun group!  I had announced through Facebook and our Web site that the topic was “faith and doubt” and offered a couple questions for them to think about in advance.  I am well aware that introverts often need time to consider a problem before they are comfortable speaking.  I set up the conversation, introduced them to the disciple Thomas and asked my questions: “What causes you to doubt God?  and… “What helps you have faith in God?”.  My people turned to their neighbors in the pews, shifted a few seats and began what looked like animated discussion.  Seeing I now had nothing to do, I went and joined a group.  I listened a bit, asked questions, and moved on to another group.  At this point I fell upon how I might enlarge the conversation.  When I pulled everyone back together, having listened to some of their conversations,  I was now in a position to share what I was hearing around the room and did so.  I admit I had planned the ending of the sermon.   It did not entirely progress from the small group conversations.  However people related my planned remarks and their conversations expanded what I had to say in the remaining moments.

I was pleasantly surprised at the end of both worship services by the positive reactions to group conversation within the sermon.  I did not do a formal evaluation, but people came to me with comments over coffee hour.  They said how much they enjoyed talking with others in their small groups.  They spoke of stories told and faith shared.  There had been unexpected testimony and encouragement to the community.

Doug Pagitt says every congregation has to work out for themselves how best to involve their people in dialogue about their faith.  I suspect I would never be comfortable with the laissez-faire style of Solomon’s Porch, but Pagitt has stretched my imagination as to what’s possible.  We will “talk together” in worship again.

Love Wins: An Expansive, Inclusive, Consistent Theology for the Millennial Generation

Love Wins: A Book about Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived, by Rob Bell makes an innovative contribution to theology for the 21^st century in that it articulates a distinctly Net Generation theology.   Although born in the heart of Generation X Bell articulates Christian Faith in terms that take seriously the Millennial Generation’s critiques of what has come to be understood as “Orthodox Christianity.”  Like Donald Miller Bell has an uncanny knack for connecting to the culture of today’s young adults.  Bell, however, has a very complete knowledge of the scriptures, the church fathers and a thorough grasp of Greek and Hebrew which gives his theological assertions a depth and authority that is compelling and refreshing.

Bell’s opening story revolves around an art show held at his Grand Rapids, Michigan church in which one woman included with her art work a quote from Mahatma Gandhi. The quote drew the attention of an anonymous critic who left a note next to it:  “Reality check: He’s (Gandhi) in hell.”  “Really?” questions Bell, “Gandhi’s in hell? He is?  We have confirmation of this?”  He then asks a long list of difficult questions that point up the terrible inconsistencies between a theology of a loving God and the popular understanding of a God who readily condemns his children to hell and eternal punishment.  For Bell, the notion God might hold people hostage to an eternity of punishment in hell, based on wrong decisions about Jesus, made during a few short years on earth likely determined through misinformation delivered by less than exemplary disciples; is incompatible with a loving God!  For Bell any notion that our salvation is dependent on us, renders God powerless.

I was particularly impressed with Rob Bell’s discussion of heaven and hell.  People have talked wistfully of “heaven on earth”.  Bell does a nice job of affirming that possibility through his assertion that Jesus understands the Kingdom of God is available to us in the present age and in the age to come.  This is not, however, the classic articulation of the social gospel’s exclusive focus on bringing in the Kingdom through our good work in this time.  Rather, Bell talks about living toward heaven in the here and now as a sort of “practice” for the people we will need to be in the age to come.  It’s the best articulation I’ve seen of why it’s useful,  important, and joyful to live as God’s people in the present.

Bell’s unpacking of hell is equally helpful.  He begins by talking about every reference to hell in the scriptures, which are few.  He works through the Old Testament references to a place of the death, pointing out that this simply wasn’t a doctrine of much interest to Judaism.  Then he deals with Jesus’ twelve specific references to hell in the New Testament  and works through some of the allusions to hell.  Interestingly Bell points out that in all of these instances Jesus is not warning the heathen about the consequences of wrong belief, but is warning the religious of the “consequences of straying from their God-given calling and identity to show the world God’s love” (p. 82).  I especially appreciated Bell’s interpretation of the parable of the Sheep and the Goats from Matthew 25.  I’ve always been uncomfortable with the Lord sending the goats to “eternal punishment.” Rob Bell uses his considerable knowledge of the Greek to correct our misunderstanding of this common translation, suggesting a better rendering might be that the goats are sent to a time of intense correction (p. 91).  In conclusion Bell says,  “we need a serious word to describe the real consequences we experience when we reject the good and true and beautiful life that God has for us.  We need a word that refers to the big, wide, terrible evil that comes from the secrets hidden deep within our hearts all the way to the massive, society-wide collapse and chaos that comes when we fail to live in God’s world God’s way” (p. 93).  Bell says “hell” is a good word to describe all this awfulness, but he doesn’t believe that hell is final or that it puts us beyond God’s reach.

 I am particularly interested in Rob Bells theological treatise because he seems to be addressing objections to popular Christianity raised by young adults in American today.  He is impatient with formulaic Christianity (ie.  “Believe these truths and you go to heaven when you die.  Don’t believe and you go to hell.”)  He courageously identifies the vengeful, wrathful, violent God as a misconception of the God Jesus proclaimed.  Bell is post-modern enough to hold multiple understandings of heaven and hell, and the cross and resurrection.  He understands these diverse theological perspectives came from differing faith communities trying to explain large life changing concepts to different people.  He is not threatened by holding multiple theologies together.  He welcomes the opportunity to look at concepts from different angles.  Lastly Bell has a broad theology of acceptance of all people which is a core value for the Millennial generation.  His embrace of all cultures and all beliefs is remarkable for one known as an “evangelical”.  Hi s theology might, at one time, have described as liberal and yet the Biblical defense of his positions is rooted in his Evangelical base.  He nicely defies a label.

As a pastor deeply committed to reaching the next generation I find Rob Bell’s discussion of the church’s “outreach strategies” both amusing and hopeful at the same time.  Bell says that the deepest problem we face in the church today is theological.  Somehow the culture has decided that Christianity proclaims a God that is supposed to be loving, but  in action is vengeful and untrustworthy.  “(This) is the secret deep in the heart of many people, especially Christians:  they don’t love God.  They can’t because the God they’ve been presented with and taught about can’t be loved.  That God is terrifying and traumatizing and unbearable.  And so there are conferences about how churches can be more relevant and missional and welcoming and there are vast resources, many, many books and films, for those who want to reach out and connect and build relationships with people who aren’t part of the church…  (but) if something is wrong with your God;  If your God is loving one second and cruel the next, if your God will punish people for all of eternity for sins committed in a few short years, no amount of clever marketing or compelling language or good music or great coffee will be able to disguise that one, true, glaring untenable, unacceptable, awful reality.”  (p. 174-175).

Bell says we need to reclaim the God who loves us all, unconditionally.  Of course we do.  This is what the reformation was all about 500 years ago.  Somehow the church had boiled down the grace of God into a few simple steps to achieve salvation:  give some money, visit a shrine, or buy an indulgence.  How absurd that salvation could be accomplished by we creatures.  Yet popular Christianity seems to assert that grace can be boiled down to a few right beliefs.  Affirm the right theological tenets; say the right prayer and you’re “in!”  How absurd that salvation could be dependent on us.  Bell pulls us back to grace and reminds us God gets what God wants.  God wants us and simply never gives up on us.  Love wins.

A couple weeks ago I watched an interview with authors Morley Winograd and Michael D. Hais on the Newshour.  They were discussing their new book, Millennial Momentum: How a New Generation is remaking America.  I was delighted at their assessment of the positive impact they believe the Net Generation is having on education, the work place and especially on politics.  They believe the Millennial Generation is actually the best hope we have to build cooperation into our future politics.  You can watch their interview at: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/social_issues/july-dec11/millenials_09-26.html.

The more I study this generation and learn about the Millennial’s different take on community, learning, working and knowing the more hope I have for our future.  Rob Bell seems to be wrestling to articulate a theology that is both faithful and works for this generation.  I suspect this theology has emerged out of the faithful listening of a Pastor to the yearnings of his people as they intersect with the cross.  This new generation may indeed reform the church without even knowing it is doing so.