The Great Drop-Out

Very interesting interview on NPR with Barna Research’s David Kinnaman on why so many young people are dropping out of the institutional Church. Give a listen!

Here are a few paragraphs from the interview:

MARTIN: What are the young people telling you about? Whether they’re taking a break, a temporary break or dropping out altogether, what are they telling you about why?

KINNAMEN: What we really boil it down to – you know, each person that we interviewed had very specific experiences and challenges and the church was, in some way, inadequate in their mind to that. And yet, when we looked at it from a broad perspective, the way I would conclude this is that we’re living in a more complicated age, more complicated questions about marriage and the diversity of this generation, the technology used in social media

And, in a nutshell, what we learned is that churches aren’t really giving them an answer to these complicated questions that they’re facing, these lifestyle issues and challenges that they’re facing. And it’s not really a deep or thoughtful or challenging response that most churches are providing to them.

MARTIN:
And are you finding this phenomenon across what people consider liberal and conservative churches or do you find it concentrated in one side or the other?

KINNAMEN: Well, one of the
surprises for me was I figured that we would see some differences between young Catholics, for instance, and young Protestants and young mainline versus young evangelicals. But I think the overriding theme was that this generation, in so many ways, is post-institutional, regardless of their traditions. So many similarities in their reasons and their reactions to the church and to Christianity.

Some of the things that were different was I think many churches that deal well with complexity didn’t give a sufficient amount of conviction or commitment required of the young people that they work with. And then,
conversely, those that had a strong degree of commitment and sort of emotional connection with the church didn’t deal well with the complexity. So it was sort of a double-edged sword for many of these churches.

Much of this is coming from this much viewed recent YouTube video:

Here are a some additional information –

Continue reading

Smartphones, Smart Pastors, Smart Church

“The dining scene hints at the fact that many youth and young adults today have a relationship with technology and social media that is core to their formation. With this access to the Internet and, through it, the world, their worldview is significantly different than that of pr

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA - NOVEMBER 28:  A woman hol...

via @daylife

evious generations”

This is an important article and commentary by Adam K. Copeland that anyone… everyone… who has a desire to impact the lives of emerging generations should read!

Read the whole thing here:

Smartphones, Smart Pastors, Smart Church 


App Store – Dayspring Church

It isn’t a matter of just employing technology, but understanding how emerging generations are integrating with changing technology. Current technology, in and of itself, is always passe among emerging generations.

I made a Facebook post a while ago about the passe nature of the World Wide Web among younger people with respect to APPS on smartphones and tablets and how they are usurping the Web. I believing that in the coming decade everything will change, again. As today’s emerging generation moves into their 20’s and 30’s, they will access information and engage their social networks not from the World Wide Web, but they will interact with the world and get their information through APPS rather than the WWW.

Anyway, way back when I started our new campus ministry at Bowling Green State Univ., (Dunamis Outreach, part of Chi Alpha Campus Ministries) we were a part of a new church in Bowling Green, “Dayspring Church” (we had four hundred attending on Sundays in just four years). Well, I came across Dayspring’s APP on iTunes.

So, were are we with respect to emerging culture?

Check out their APP on iTunes:

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/dayspring-church/id476240885?mt=8

Sometimes…

Sometimes, I wish I was a liturgist, then I would be competent in liturgy. I wish was a theologian, then I could deal with theological issues more correctly. Sometimes, I wish I was Church historian, then I could expertly deal with issues past and present. I wish I was a biblical scholar, then I might feel like I actually have something to say. I’m none of these things. My interest – where young people, faith formation, and technology collide. That’s where I want to be, but it means I will be none of the above.

Speaking of the Presidental Race of 2012

I think this is rather humorous!  Not that I’m taking sides, mind you, although I certainly do have an opinion.  So, give a look, and realize what most of the world must think of us as average citizens in what is supposed to be the “greatest country on earth.”

For some reason, Yahoo! doesn’t allow this video to be embedded.

http://news.yahoo.com/video#video=27797158