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Presentation at The Canterbury Forum at St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Cedar Falls, IA. 2/24/13.
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Sharing the Gospel in a
“Spiritual but not Religious” AgePastor Brian Beckstrom, Wartburg College
How to engage?
Pastor Lillian Daniels Dr. Diana Butler Bass
Where the Cross Meets the
Dream catcher
Brian McLaren
“A New Kind of Christian” (1992)
Where are We?
0204060
2009 Princeton Research Associates Pollhttp://www.psrai.com/filesave/
0904%20ftop%20w%20methodology.pdf (Accessed 5/8/12)
% of US Population
Defining Terms
Word Association Exercise
What do you think of when you hear the word “Spiritual”?
Word Association: “Spiritual”Source: Diana Butler Bass, “Christianity after Religion”
Word Association Exercise
What do you think of when you hear the word “Religious”?
Word Association: “Religious”Source: Diana Butler Bass, “Christianity after Religion”
Spiritual vs. Religious:What’s the difference?
Spiritual vs. Religious: What’s the Difference?
http://benaiah.mischenko.com/pinacoladahappyhour/archive/i-love-jesus-but-hate-religion/
Spiritual vs. Religious: What’s the Difference?
“They (the public) have essentially substituted the word “religion” for institutional religion and “spirituality” for lively faith.”
-Bass, Pg. 71
“this newly defined construct (institutional Religion) is contrasted with the spiritual, which refers to the personal, the affective, the experiential, and the thoughtful.”
- Kenneth Pargament “The psychology of Religion and Spirituality. International Journal for the Psychology of Religion Vol. 9, No. 1.
Defining Terms:
Spiritual
“Personal (but not necessarily private) beliefs and experiences that provide a sense of meaning and connection to the divine.”
Defining Terms
Religious
“Public beliefs and practices expressed communally within an organized religious setting.”
History
Where the Cross Meets the Dream catcher
A False Dichotomy
“Intellect on Ice” vs. “Ignorance on Fire”
Yeats: The Second Coming. "The best lack all conviction, while the worst / Are full of passionate intensity."
A “Christian” Nation?
Perception: Americans have always been peculiarly “religious”.
Reality. 1600’s: only 1/3 belonged
to a Church. Revolutionary War: > 15%
Sources: Robert Fuller “Spiritual but not Religious: Understanding Un-churched America. Roger Finke and Rodney Stark “The Churching of America”.
American Concepts of God
The Authoritarian God (31%)
The Benevolent God (23%)
The Critical God (16%)
The Distant God (24%)
Source: Paul Froese & Christopher Bader, “America’s Four Gods” (New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 2010)
The Distant American God
Puritanism: An “Authoritarian God”
Enlightenment rationalism: a “Distant God” Deism: God the “watch
maker”.
Left Americans craving a more “spiritual” connection to God.
Alternative Spiritualities
Historical Examples. Astrology. Divination. Occult. Mesmerism. Swedenborgianism Transcendentalism
Christian Alternatives
Fundamentalist/Modernist Split (late 18th/Early 19th Century) Modernists: Biblical
Criticism, Social Gospel.
(Distant God) Fundamentalism
(Authoritarian God)
Evangelicalism
The re-emergence of Evangelicalism: A more public form of conservative Christianity. (circa 1940-1950)
Golden Age for Evangelicals: 1970’s-1980’s. Moral Majority. Religious Right.
The Rise & Fall of Modern Evangelicalism
Backlash against Evangelicalism.
Numbers declining since 1990’s, particularly with young adults. 1986: 26% Now: 15%
The Rise & Fall of Modern Evangelicalism
Evangelical growth/Mainline decline Birth rates.
Reality: American Christianity is in decline across the theological spectrum.
The Mega Church Anomaly
Nondenominational (Evangelical) Megachurches still growing.
Overall percentage of Christians in US continues to decline.
Where are they coming from?
Where are We?What’s your context?
How long have you been there?What are the biggest changes you’ve noticed?
Where are We?
0204060
2009 Princeton Research Associates Pollhttp://www.psrai.com/filesave/
0904%20ftop%20w%20methodology.pdf (Accessed 5/8/12)
% of US Population
American Religious Trends:1990-2009The Rise of the None’s
• The fastest growing religious affiliation in the US is “None”.• 1990: 8%
• 2009: 16%
Source: Newsweek Article, “The End of Christian America” April 3, 2009
Are the None’s Still Rising?
Source: Out of Ur Blog “Are the none’s still rising”? Jan. 13, 2013 http://www.outofur.com
2008 2011 201212
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
14.6
17.517.8
% None's in the US
Are the None’s Still Rising?
American Religious Trends
0102030
The Rise of the None’s (Source: Diana Butler Bass “Christianity
after Religion” )
Percentage of US Population (2011)
A Sign of things to Come
25-30% of young adults are “none’s”.
Only 25% attend worship weekly.
40% never pray.
Source: “2012 Millenial Values Survey”, Public Research Institute http://publicreligion.org/research/2012/04/millennial-values-survey-2012/ Accessed: 5/8/12.
Reaching OutHow do we share the Gospel in a “Spiritual but not Religious” age?
Two America’s?
What’s missing in American Christianity?
Faith has become impersonal & isolating. Personal experience Participation Graciousness
Reaching Out The Missional
Church Resources:
Craig Van Gelder: “The Ministry of the Missional Church”.
Alan Roxburgh “Introducing the Missional Church”
ARE (Kelly Fryer).
Changing QuestionsSource: Bass, “Christianity after Religion”
Modern question: What do I believe?
Contemporary questions: How do I believe? Why do I believe?
Discipleship & Spiritual Formation.
Best Practices Spiritual Practices
Personal: Prayer, Reflection, Study, Meditation.
Communal: Service, Friendship, Worship, Hospitality, Lectio Divina.
Resources: Brian McLaren “Finding our
way again”. Richard Foster:
“Celebration of Discipline.” Diana Butler Bass:
“Christianity for the rest of us”.
Best Practices
Catechumenate.
Resource: Paul Hoffman: “Faith
forming Faith”.
Best Practices Participatory
worship Resources:
Dan Kimball: “Emerging Worship”.
Robert Webber: “Ancient-Future Worship”.
Mark Pierson: “The Art of Curating Worship”.
“Progressive” Christianity
Conclusion
Primary Sources Robert C. Fuller, “Spiritual but not Religious:
Understanding Un-churched America”. Oxford Press, 2001.
Diana Butler Bass, “Christianity after Religion”. Harper One: 2012.
Robert D. Putnam & David E. Campbell, “American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us”. Simon & Schuster, 2010.
Dwelling in the WordActs 8:26-39