Pastor: Christians Should Drop ‘Us vs. Them’ Mentality
When it comes to navigating the interface between faith and culture, there aren't a lot of pastors I look to. Most I encounter tend to be having conversations that lag somewhere between five and 10 years behind secular society and the academy. This isn't a criticism as much as an observation. But James Emery White is an exception to this generalization and is often on the leading edge of pressing cultural conversations. White is founding pastor of Mecklenburg Community Church--a congregation that claims 70% of its growth is from unchurched individuals--and a former president of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. He has written a new book, "Rise of the Nones: Understanding and Reaching the Religiously Unaffiliated", in which he explores why so many Americans are allergic to organized religion and what he thinks Christians can do to capture them.
RNS: The fastest growing religious group in America is those with no religious affiliation, the so-called "nones." Why are so many walking away from church or unwilling to give it a chance?
JW: There are two dynamics at play. The first is the reality of being the first generation to live in a truly post-Christian context. The currents of secularization, privatization, and pluralization have taken their toll. Meaning, there is less of a supportive presence of Christian faith in the marketplace of ideas, spirituality is expected to be kept in our private worlds, and the idea that all faiths are equally valid and true permeates our psyche. But if you ask the "nones" themselves, they would give you another answer along the lines of "lawyers, guns and money." By that, I mean the perception that Christians and churches are overly entangled with law and politics, filled with hateful intolerance and aggression, and consumed with materialism and greed.
RNS: Many growing churches today are only experiencing transfer growth--that is, Christians moving from one church to another. You argue that this is a problem of evangelism. What are we doing wrong?