Here is an interesting fact about western European young adult and youth culture: Even after spending most of their lives attending the same church, they would rather join a soccer club than become a member of the church. Why do they have no problem putting on the jersey of a certain soccer team, but don’t want to wear the “jersey” of the church?

Since I work with youth in the Netherlands primarily, I will speak about this topic from their perspective. It is obvious that they are no longer interested in, or being a part of, denominations. Theology, convictions, and values are no longer first priorities. As a youth pastor who grew up in a Nazarene pastor’s family, I struggled with this at first. My parents raised me in a time when the proclamation of beliefs and commitment to a certain set of values and standards were still of main importance.

The fact that theology, convictions, and values are no longer of high importance seems to be a negative characteristic of postmodernity. Today, youth choose a church mainly for its forms and style. It seems individualism strongly influences the decision-making process: Do I like how they celebrate their service? Am I satisfied with the youth ministry? Do they teach what I think I need?

For a time, I wondered if our generation was losing sight of what is important. But soon I asked myself: Is this different from the decision-making process of selecting a church 20-30 years ago? Then, individualism was probably already a leading factor. The only difference is that we asked ourselves different questions: Do I like their theology? Do I agree with the teaching? Do I like the pastor?

My conclusion: We can’t blame today’s changed attitudes completely on individualism. Our own preference was always a major factor in the decision-making process. I believe that one question has remained the same throughout the centuries: Do I feel at home in this church?

Young adults and youth today base their choices for a church on whether they feel at home. Today this feeling is determined by which form and style suits them. Maybe later in life they will look at the theology. And when that happens, doubts arise whether they really want to wear the church’s jersey. Maybe that is because in our effort to make them members we try to make them accept our values and theology rather than making the church their spiritual home.

I hear you! Yes, we need to teach our values. We do need to communicate our beliefs. But young people today observe those through the integrity of the church. A healthy home is built on integrity. Growing up in my parents’ home, when they said they loved me, I believed them because they showed me, and therefore I felt at home.

I don’t believe that these are such bad developments in post-modernity. Our lack of skill to cope with it just causes us to see it that way. I believe that it challenges us as a denomination to take a closer look at our proclaim-apply balance. It challenges us to think of new and creative ways to integrate and translate our beliefs, values, and convictions in forms and styles.

Why don’t they hesitate to join a soccer club? Because a sign on the clubhouse said “soccer club” and on the field next to the clubhouse they actually played soccer.

Think about it:
Are the youth in your church excited to wear your church’s jersey?

When keeping integrity in mind, the real question might be: Do you wear your church’s jersey and play the church’s team?

Is your church really living out in the community what you proclaim?
How could your church improve translating values and beliefs in form and style?

Dennis and Lara Mohn
About Dennis and Lara Mohn:
Dennis was born and raised in Germany and is now living and ministering with his wife, Lara, in the Netherlands. Dennis graduated from EuNC and currently serves as associate- and youth pastor in Zaanstad as well as regional communications coordinator for the Eurasia Region. Lara graduated from Erasmus University in Rotterdam with a master of science in clinical psychology. Currently she is pursuing her practical Ph.D. during which she works at a psychology practice. She is also actively involved in the youth ministry of the Zaanstad Church of the Nazarene.

It’s at least a decade or two old, and appears to be gaining momentum. It even has its own Facebook page, acronym, and ardent advocates. I’m talking about the “Spiritual But Not Religious” (SBNR) movement. Whether it’s a movement may be up for debate. The fact is, since the 1990s (and perhaps even earlier) a growing number of people no longer identify with any religious group or specific religion. Instead, they pick and choose like hungry people at a buffet, selecting attractive elements that fit their interests.

Not everyone is convinced that what B. J. Gallagher calls, “Burger King Spirituality—have it your way,” is a good thing. Of course those of us in the Christian Church see the numerous pitfalls and errors of such thinking. Roman Catholic and Jesuit priest James Martin says in CNN.com’s article, “Being spiritual but not religious can lead to complacency and self-centeredness. If it’s just you and God in your room, and a religious community makes no demands on you, why help the poor?”

The Southern Baptists’ research firm, LifeWay Christian Resources, reports, “72% of millennials (18-29-year olds) said they’re ‘more spiritual than religious.’” The phrase is now so commonplace that it’s spawned its own acronym (‘I’m SBNR’) and Facebook page: SBNR.org.

Nazarenes have always rejected the SBNR position as inconsistent with the Scriptures; who can forget those sermons our pastors preached on “not forsaking the assembling of yourselves together?” We believe there are positive reasons why SBNR is deleterious to one’s true ‘spiritual’ condition. Check out these wonderful statements from the Manual of the Church of the Nazarene in the liturgy of the reception of new members:

It is quite possible that few of us have read or heard read this section from our Manual:

Because it is the official statement of the faith and practice of the church and is consistent with the teachings of the Scriptures, we expect our people everywhere to accept the tenets of doctrine and the guides and helps to holy living contained in it. To fail to do so, after formally taking the membership vows of the Church of the Nazarene, injures the witness of the church, violates her conscience, and dissipates the fellowship of the people called Nazarenes. (from the Foreword of the Manual)

Becoming a member of the Church of the Nazarene is about entering into a covenant community that takes seriously not just the vows of members or the tenets of doctrine. It is a community that recognizes the sacredness of relationship of all members as we coalesce around Scriptural truths and practices.

In our Manual’s Preamble:

The ultimate goal of the “community of faith” is to present everyone perfect in Christ (Colossians 1:28) at the last day. It is in the local church that the saving, perfecting, teaching, and commissioning takes place. The local church, the Body of Christ, is the representation of our faith and mission.

From the CNN article, “Jennifer Walters, dean of religious life at Smith College in Massachusetts, says there’s a lot of good in old-time religion.” I couldn’t agree more. Every Nazarene pastor recites these words with the reception of new members:

DEARLY BELOVED: The privileges and blessings that we have in association together in the Church of Jesus Christ are very sacred and precious. There is in it such hallowed fellowship as cannot otherwise be known. There is such helpfulness with brotherly watch care and counsel as can be found only in the Church. There is the godly care of pastors, with the teachings of the Word; and the helpful inspiration of social worship. And there is cooperation in service, accomplishing that which cannot otherwise be done.

Martin, the Jesuit priest wrote, “Religion is hard. Sometimes it’s just too much work. People don’t feel like it. I have better things to do with my time. It’s plain old laziness.”

Wouldn’t it be sad if those whom we are trying to disciple in Jesus’ name thought we were only calling them to religion?

David Felter

About David J. Felter
David J. Felter is general editor and Holiness Today editor in chief. As general editor, he oversees editorial content in books and publications for the Church of the Nazarene. In addition to his role as editor in chief of the denomination’s primary magazine, to which he was elected in 2004, Dr. Felter also is the senior editor of NCN News. He pastored for 21 years in Iowa, California, Oklahoma, Indiana, and Kansas. Since 1985, Dr. Felter has held assignments at Nazarene Headquarters, having served as education program manager, coordinator of Evangelism Ministries, executive editor of Adult Sunday School Curriculum, director of Adult Ministries/Lay Training, and director of Communications Services. He and his wife, Sandra, have two married sons, David and Jib, and five grandchildren.

Parenting is not easy. Helping children and teens know and follow the will of God is both very challenging and very important. Nurturing young children in God, guiding carefully their education, leading them into knowledge of the Bible, involving them in worship and the fellowship of believers often seems more manageable than influencing them later on to maintain their faith as they grow through their teenage years. There are so many negative influences in the culture and among the people who impact their lives that it is not surprising that many mothers and fathers accept the popular belief that after their children reach about 18 years old, parents are irrelevant in the awesome choices their offspring must make.

However, the idea that parents are not important after their children reach age 18 is a myth. A national study of young adults found that even though there are often strains as parents and adolescents adjust the nature of their relationship in preparation for adulthood, the relationship matters. “What the best empirical evidence shows . . . is that even as the formation of faith and life play out in the lives of 18- to 23-year olds, when it comes to religion, parents are in fact hugely important.” (Christian Smith with Patricia Snell, Souls in Transition: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of Emerging Adults, Oxford University Press, 2009, page 285)

It has been quite a while now since I made a rather stormy transition to adulthood. There was a period, as I recall, when it was by no means certain that I would retain the faith of my earlier years and become a responsible Christian adult. Some people probably make the transition from teenage believer to faithful young adult without much struggle. Others probably make it successfully without much adult help.

For me, a caring pastor was important. Other adults in our church were helpful. I was positively influenced by Christian friends my age. Most significant of all, though, my family helped me survive and grow. Thank God for parents who demonstrated holiness, loved me in spite of myself, and helped me emerge as a Christian young adult with a faith that has challenged and sustained me all these years.

Mothers and fathers—be encouraged to know that when it comes to religion, careful research shows your influence to be “hugely important.” Your teens make their own choices, of course, but your faithful influence continues to be vital in their religious choices as they work through their transition into young adulthood.

Questions:
If you have made a successful transition to adulthood, would it be good to thank your mother and/or father for their role in helping you?
Who were the people who supported you in your journey to faith?
What are you doing to support the parents of teens in your congregation?

By Kenneth E. Crow

Kenneth E. Crow is a native of Nebraska. He graduated from SNU with a major in religion and later, while pastoring in Boulder, Colorado, earned M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in sociology at the University of Colorado. He has served as a Nazarene missionary in South Africa, as a pastor of Nazarene churches in Minnesota and Colorado, as a professor and registrar at MidAmerica Nazarene University and Nazarene Bible College. He recently retired from serving as the manager of the Research Center at Nazarene Headquarters.

For weeks now I’ve been challenging our people, at the end of the worship service, to bless three people . . . and make sure at least one of them doesn’t deserve it. This is in keeping with the covenant God made with Abraham: “You will be a blessing . . . and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” (Genesis 12:2-3)

One morning, a young man named Titus came to me and asked: “Pastor Bud, what does that mean . . . to bless someone?”

Well, according to George Failing in the very reliable Beacon Dictionary of Theology, to “bless” means “to enrich, prosper, protect, and multiply with temporal overtones.”

In other cases “to bless meant to praise, to thank, and/or to congratulate.”

More importantly, and often in the New Testament, the word is associated with grace and God’s redemptive love.

So, does that help? Still not clear? Okay, let’s try this.

Blessings can come from God or people. A blessing can be seen as divine favor . . . an inner spiritual quality. A blessing can spring forth from a strong sense of God’s love and presence. But a blessing can also come from others. Words, prayers, acts of kindness or compassion. These too can bless.

I like David Spangler’s description: “At heart, giving a blessing is really quite simple. We innately know how to do it, precisely because it comes from the heart, from a sense of caring and helpfulness. Every time you create safety and reassurance where before there was fear, you are giving a blessing. Every time you perform an act of kindness, providing money where there is poverty, shelter where there was vulnerability, food where there was hunger, love where there was loneliness, comfort and encouragement where there was despair and depression, you are being a blessing. There is no special technique other than having an open, generous heart and a loving, aware mind. You don’t have to possess any particular gift in order to embody goodwill or to be kind and helpful.”

So today, make yourself available to God and be a blessing. Out of your life, let Jesus shine.
Bud Reedy

About Bud Reedy

Bud Reedy is a pastor and avid sports fan. He loves the Baltimore Orioles, the Maryland Terps, and the Washington Redskins. He loves his wife of 35 years, Sally, his two adult children Greg and Heather and his grandkids: Bayse Joseph (3) and Makenna Grace (2).

Mark Buchanan writes:

“I am preoccupied with a question how do I get more of God in my life? What combination of discipline and serendipity, striving and resting, what mix of painstaking study, freewheeling worship, wild faring play is needed if I’m to decrease and Christ is to increase? Where must I die to myself, and where become more alive? What needs throttling, what invigorating? What branches ought I to prune ruthlessly, and which to graft tenderly?” (Hidden in Plain Sight, p.2)

Seriously, do you ever struggle with this question . . . or is it just me? Should I be more active in my pursuit of God’s presence and influence in my life or more passive? Should I pick up a hammer and smash something or pick up my prayer life? Should I even pursue God at all or put myself in a position to encounter God as God pursues me? Just about the time I get my bubble in the middle and I feel like there’s a healthy balance between things active and more contemplative, I feel a discontent . . . a greater longing for one or the other. God whispers in one ear: “Be still, Bud, and know that I am God” (pick up your prayers!) BE! And in the other: “Bud, faith without works is dead.” (pick up your hammer) DO!

Are we to simply resign and live out our days in this creative and sometimes uncomfortable tension? Is this our lot in life or am I missing something?

Can you help a brother out?

Fire away!

About Bud Reedy

Bud Reedy is a pastor and avid sports fan. He loves the Baltimore Orioles, the Maryland Terps, and the Washington Redskins. He loves his wife of 35 years, Sally, his two adult children Greg and Heather and his grandkids: Bayse Joseph (3) and Makenna Grace (2).

At the church I pastor, when we dedicate a child to the Lord, we conclude the dedication with “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so, little ones to Him belong; they are weak, but He is strong.”

I’m amazed sometimes what the effect this simple song has on those who gather to dedicate themselves and their children to Jesus. It touches something buried deeply in the spirit of every human being: the need to be loved.

In the book: Jesus Loves Me: Celebrating the Profound Truths of a Simple Hymn, author and pastor, Calvin Miller, carries on a conversation with Jesus and permits us to listen in.

Me: “Jesus, the cross convinces me you loved the world in general. But what about me? I don’t mean to be selfish Jesus but there are six billion people on the planet. I would like to know if I have any special meaning to you?”

Jesus: “I never loved or died for the masses. I spoke to them but I’ve never loved any multitude at once. I cannot love that way. I love only singularly—one person at a time. The very hairs on your head are numbered. Indeed, if you had been the only person who every needed my love, I still would have loved you.”

Jesus loves me. This I know. For the Bible tells me so.

His love dumps peace and adrenaline into my spirit today. I am at peace. I am not afraid.

About Bud Reedy

Bud Reedy is a pastor and avid sports fan. He loves the Baltimore Orioles, the Maryland Terps, and the Washington Redskins. He loves his wife of 35 years, Sally, his two adult children Greg and Heather and his grandkids: Bayse Joseph (3) and Makenna Grace (2).

Phyllis Tickle, author of The Great Emergence, writes:

“The whole question of rules is, of course, a subset of the authority question. That is, the very presence of rules assumes some authority effecting them and some consequence for violating them . . . rules also define the boundaries that determine who is in and who is out of a ‘bounded-set’ group.” (p.158)

Tickle continues: “The believe-behave-belong triad fits the bounded-set approach of both traditional Roman Catholicism and historic Protestantism. It requires adherence to certain rules of doctrinal belief and human conduct as pre-requisites to membership in their ranks.” (p.159)

Tickle’s conclusion?

These so-called bounded-set groups . . . those who accept the believe-behave-belong paradigm of congregational inclusion will have a difficult time attracting, including, and engaging the “emergent” generation. And yet, last week, the church I pastor received the largest class of persons into membership in our church’s history, including several twentysomethings. I’m not quite sure what to make of this. Are you?

I wonder if it has something to do with the way I present the covenant of conduct and the covenant of character? I present the “rules” as “guidelines for holy living.” I present I Corinthians 8 (food offered to idols) as an example of persons who have freedom in Christ submitting to the “corporate conscious of the church.” In other words, “you may be free in Christ to have a beer with your buddies at a sports bar but the Church of the Nazarene has a 100 year history of social protest against the alcohol industry so we ask you to join us in this protest and submit to the corporate conscious of the church.” Some do not join. Most do.

 So, what do you think? Do you think our church is out of position to meaningfully engage the emerging generation? I would appreciate any insights you could provide. 

 Fire away!

About Bud Reedy

Bud Reedy is a pastor and avid sports fan. He loves the Baltimore Orioles, the Maryland Terps, and the Washington Redskins. He loves his wife of 35 years, Sally, his two adult children Greg and Heather and his grandkids: Bayse Joseph (3) and Makenna Grace (2).

In his biography: When Pride Still Mattered: A Life of Vince Lombardi, David Maraniss observed that the coach used two very different techniques to motivate his players.

1. Their love for their teammates. “On this team, there is great love,” he declared to his Packers. “Anybody can love something that is beautiful or smart or agile. You will never know love until you can love something that isn’t beautiful, isn’t bright, isn’t glamorous. It takes a special person to love something unattractive, someone unknown. That is the test of love. Everybody can love someone’s strengths and somebody’s good looks. But can you accept someone for his inabilities?” And then Lombardi drew a parallel to football. “You might have a teammate playing next to you who maybe isn’t perfect, but you’ve got to love him, and maybe that love would enable you to help him.” Lombardi’s rhetoric was shaped primarily by his Jesuit instructors in both high school and at Fordham as a student, athlete, and coach. He also drew upon another source for motivating his players.

2. Their hatred and anger for their opponents. In the same motivational speeches to his teams, we called upon both their love for one another and their rage for the opposition. He once pounded on a huge lineman with his fists to get him “to hate me enough to take it out on the opposition”. He struck the player because, he believed, “to play football well you have a fire in you and nothing stokes that fire like hate.”

Maraniss concluded: “It was love and hate . . . confidence and fear . . . that drove Lombardi and his players—at the same time.” (374)

Jesus came a long way and went to a lot of trouble to set the record straight about love for those who love you and hate for those who wish to harm you. It doesn’t work. Never has.

You may win a football game or two like that. You may even have your name inscribed on a trophy that millions admire. But in life, you lose.

Loving those who love you and loving your enemies too (Matthew 5:43-47).

Now that’s a perfect season!

About Bud Reedy

Bud Reedy is a pastor and avid sports fan. He loves the Baltimore Orioles, the Maryland Terps, and the Washington Redskins. He loves his wife of 35 years, Sally, his two adult children Greg and Heather and his grandkids: Bayse Joseph (3) and Makenna Grace (2).

A supportive group of Christians can be a significant help in our journey toward spiritual maturity. For many years I have been convinced that I need to find and participate in such groups for my own well-being. I have tried to give to the groups as well as taking strength and discipline from them. The Association of Nazarene Sociologists and Researchers (ANSR) has helped me both personally and as I have attempted to serve the church.

ANSR is made up of people who are interested in social research and the Church of the Nazarene. It was formed nearly 30 years ago. It has always included a variety of Nazarenes – people who teach sociology, social work, psychology, and history, people who are involved in sociological and other research, as well as denominational leaders, pastors, students, and lay members.

The primary goal of the organization is to generate research that may serve the church. We meet once a year in Kansas City to encourage each other in the research, writing, teaching, and ministry we are doing as well as to focus on some topic. The next meeting, March 25-27, 2010, will focus on ministerial attrition.

While the focus of ANSR is serving the church, the group also serves each other in by creating a bond of fellowship among members that stimulates intellectual development and spiritual enrichment. We do better work when we are challenged by worthy examples. The stresses of life are easier when we know someone cares about us. Growth in grace is helped by association with other believers. Challenges to our faith are easier to overcome when we have good examples and counsel from other Christians.

Most of us would benefit from a group that stretches and encourages us. Our challenge is with God’s help to find such a group where we can support and be supported.

Are you participating in a group that provides support to you?
Are you part of a group that holds you accountable?
Do you have a group that helps you better serve our Lord, people in need, and the church?

By Kenneth E. Crow

Kenneth E. Crow is a native of Nebraska. He graduated from SNU with a major in religion and later, while pastoring in Boulder, Colorado, earned M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in sociology at the University of Colorado. He has served as a Nazarene missionary in South Africa, as a pastor of Nazarene churches in Minnesota and Colorado, as a professor and registrar at MidAmerica Nazarene University and Nazarene Bible College. He recently retired from serving as the manager of the Research Center at Nazarene Headquarters.

Watching Anderson Cooper on CNN tonight describe the horrors at a cemetery in Port-au-Prince was really heartrending. He spoke of those who brought bodies to the cemetery looking for places to bury or dispose of the bodies. In some cases, bodies were being shoved into any available space with no markers to indicate who they were burying. Cooper remarked that with the passage of time, there would be no way of knowing who was buried where.

I’ve visited some of the cemeteries where my ancestors are buried. In upstate New York, I walked through the woods to touch the stones and markers of my father’s ancestors, stretching back almost 200 years. I’ve walked among the stones and markers of Christ Church Cemetery in St. Michaels, Maryland, to touch the stones of my mother’s people.

Not too long ago, I visited the perpetual care cemetery in Florida where my parents are buried. While their markers are only bronze plaques in the ground, the record of their lives is available to be seen by those who visit that site.

This tragedy reminds us that God’s eye is on the most forgotten among us. The Bible says that God sees even the sparrow that falls in flight. The people of Haiti have not been forgotten by God. Though the names of a whole generation may be obliterated by the crushing weight of rubble and dust, God knows who they are. We can only trust in the beneficent grace of God and leave our questions at the foot of the cross. It is only by looking at the cross that we see the incomparable love of God who endured the tragedy of the death of his only begotten son.

The thousands who are lost in this incredible tragedy join the incalculable numbers of others lost in other tragedies who are known to God. Only God knows the communications that occur in the final fleeting seconds of life, when time stands still on the threshold of eternity. We can only believe that they are remembered by the One who breathed the breath of life into their beings and gave his only son for their redemption.

Grace and peace!

David Felter

About David J. Felter
David J. Felter is general editor and Holiness Today editor in chief. As general editor, he oversees editorial content in books and publications for the Church of the Nazarene. In addition to his role as editor in chief of the denomination’s primary magazine, to which he was elected in 2004, Dr. Felter also is the senior editor of NCN News. He pastored for 21 years in Iowa, California, Oklahoma, Indiana, and Kansas. Since 1985, Dr. Felter has held assignments at Nazarene Headquarters, having served as education program manager, coordinator of Evangelism Ministries, executive editor of Adult Sunday School Curriculum, director of Adult Ministries/Lay Training, and director of Communications Services. He and his wife, Sandra, have two married sons, David and Jib, and five grandchildren.