So here is part two of my rantings about the 3 biggest problems facing the church today.

Problem #2: The Church needs to stop thinking that our society is the same as it was a generation ago, hit the "reset" button, and become innovative with our mission.
Our world is changing so fast now, one can hardly keep up! This is one area where the church just does not seem to have a clue. But it (the church) should take heart because many people in the world today can't keep up as well.

We need to realize that most of our current church forms and praxis were cultural accomodations to a society that no longer exists. I am not overstating the issue when I say that many churches are lost in a time warp. We use our own language and terms (many of which have no meaning to people, even those who are in the church). We make people sit down in rows and listen to someone give a monologue (where else in society does anyone do this on a regular basis other than a comedy club, school, or something?) and sing some songs which sound nothing like music they listen to outside of church. We expect that people are still approaching truth from a propositional standpoint, still learn through abstract thought, and on and on it goes. Some churches still quibble over whether or not you should have drums and guitars or just organs, alcohol or "dry", dress, fill in the blanks. All the while our young people drift out the doors, society has long passed us by, and we are further on the fringe of society. It is very sad.

By innovative, I am not talking about the next church fad, ala Purpose Driven/Seeker models. Nor am I thinking that it should be a great showy, attractional event that is so cool people will want to bring their friends. I am saying that we need to critically examine every form we have adopted for our gatherings and determine whether or not they fit with the mission God has for us. If I were pastoring a retirement community in Florida, I would have a more traditional church service, more like the institutional models. But that would never work for a bunch of chain smoking indie rockers. So we need to innovate and change what we do for the sake of the Gospel. It's like a closed and open hand. In the closed hand we have the core elements of the faith, the truths worth contending for like Jude 3 says. Divinity and Lordship of Christ, Triune God, Jesus the only way to get to heaven, etc. But then in the open hand is everything else. Forms of church, tertiary doctrinal issues (tongues, rapture, millenium and the like), personal preferences, etc.

In my opinion, unless the church pulls its head out of the sand and embraces the reality of change, we will be no different that Europe, we are just a generation behind.