Merry Christmas
We were getting ready for a Christmas Eve worship service when one of my daughters said, "I don't really like church that much."
"Why?" I asked. This girl is active in religious groups and goes with a church group on a mission trip for a week every summer to build homes for the poor. She's no slacker.
"I like Young Life and Campaigners better," she said.
After some discussion, it occurred to me that the mainstream church faces the same challenges as the mainstream media.
Both are gradually losing members. Both conduct one-way lectures. Neither provides much interactivity. Both occur at specific times, even as we know that people want news and spiritual guidance when, how and where they want it. Both are top-down when the trend is bottom-up.
Where Young Life and Campaigners wins out is that there is tremendous interactivity, a tightly knit community and near-immediate responsiveness.
Churches are attempting to skate to the puck. My church has audio of services available. Sunday school provides a degree of interactivity, as do other weekly activities. Ministers are accessible. Granted, there are key differences between churches and the media, some of which could be insurmountable. It's difficult to challenge or fact-check, like, the Word of God. And it might be hard on a mainstream religion not to be top-down.
I'd love to see the church adapt to its challenges. I know that many of its leaders are attempting to do so, the same way we are. The spiritual support and hope that church gives me and others are important. The service and goodwill the church provides the community are irreplaceable. Perhaps my daughters' generation will continue with Young Life into adulthood. Perhaps they will move from Young Life more deeply into the church. I hope the church will be there when they need it as it is for me.