The Perils of 'Wannabe Cool' Christianity (WSJ article)

As I embark on this next leg of my vocational journey as Campus Missioner, this pithy WSJ article caught my eye.  At heart, it seems to me that any 'traditional' or 'emergent styles' of church and worship should facilitate a deep relationship with God and neighbor.  And, before that, we'll do well to ask ourselves, over and over, why we are seeking to deepen our relation to God and neighbor... and practice honestly listening to the answers that emerge in different phases of our discipleship.  From there, we can begin drawing from the richness of our liturgical heritage (ancient and modern) to help cultivate those sublime worship experiences that help us get lost in 'opportune time', nourishing us with mystery that remains relevant, as well as challenge us constructively by propositions that, while sometimes seemingly counter intuitive, seem to make more and more sense as we gather life experience. 

• HOUSES OF WORSHIP
• AUGUST 13, 2010

The Perils of 'Wannabe Cool' Christianity

By BRETT MCCRACKEN

..."And the further irony," he adds, "is that the younger generations who are less impressed by whiz-bang technology, who often see through what is slick and glitzy, and who have been on the receiving end of enough marketing to nauseate them, are as likely to walk away from these oh-so-relevant churches as to walk into them." If the evangelical Christian leadership thinks that "cool Christianity" is a sustainable path forward, they are severely mistaken. As a twentysomething, I can say with confidence that when it comes to church, we don't want cool as much as we want real. If we are interested in Christianity in any sort of serious way, it is not because it's easy or trendy or popular. It's because Jesus himself is appealing, and what he says rings true. It's because the world we inhabit is utterly phony, ephemeral, narcissistic, image-obsessed and sex-drenched—and we want an alternative. It's not because we want more of the same.