The Three Movements
I’ve been thinking lately about young people and Christianity. To define “young people,” I would say college to late twenties. I know there are plenty of young people in Frankfort, but they can be hard to find. Not long ago, I found out about a friend from my time at Georgetown College that had been living in Frankfort for a few years. I had no idea.
Specifically, I’d like to know how to find these young people so that we (myself and others) can invite them to The Point. We’ve considered reviving Vertex, which was a bible study geared toward young people at our former church. It still may happen, but not just yet. All of this got me thinking about how there are three basic movements going on right now among young Christians. These movements can sometimes be intertwined, and there are plenty of variations. But, for the most part, there are three basic movements:
Passion
This movement is aimed at our college campuses, and has been immensely popular. Driven by the likes of Louie Giglio, Chris Tomlin, Matt Redman and the David Crowder Band, the movement is contemporary in nature. The music from their conferences and tours have produced some of the most popular worship anthems of our time. When I think of Passion, I think hip, cool atmosphere, powerful worship, thousands of young people lifting up the name of God in a large arena, and teaching aimed at reaching the lost on our college campuses.
Emerging
Of the three movements, this is the one I am most worried about. While I am far from being an expert on this movement, from what I have heard about it, I don’t like what I hear. I envision young people gathering and hearing messages and teaching that deal more with their feelings than Scripture. Sin isn’t talked about. No one gets their feelings hurt, or is made to feel uncomfortable. It’s a post-modern movement for a post-modern world. One church I know in particular that has an emerging style mimics Passion’s worship style, in terms of music. And, they do it very well. I might go for the music, but leave before the message!
Reformed
While attending the Desiring God conference in 2006, I was very surprised to see a large number of young people. It was encouraging to me. When I think of the reformed movement among young people, I think we’re just seeking truth. Maybe we’ve tried an emerging church and seen the light. Maybe we’ve searched the Scriptures and seen the teachings are true. Musically, the worship preference leans more toward intellectual than emotional. Deep lyrics. The songs teach as much doctrine as a message. An appreciation of good, old hymns. The Point falls into this category, mixed with a bit of Passion’s worship style.
While there may be weaknesses to these movements, it’s encouraging to see the church do different things to reach society. I believe the traditional church had lost touch with society over the last fifty years. While society adapted, the traditional church stayed the same. Now, we’re finally seeing the church progress to do different things to reach a lost society.
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