Embracing Irrelevance as the Future of the Church

On May 22nd a blogger wrote this post which connects the fear/anxiety that Main/Old line denominational leaders have over the recent Pew Religious report and deep wisdom from a little Catholic priest named Henri Nouwen. While the recent Pew report shows that over 1/3 of Millennials are religiously "unaffiliated", Henri Nouwen wrote years ago:

The leaders of the future will be those who dare to claim their irrelevance in the contemporary world as a divine vocation that allows them to enter into a deep solidarity with the anguish underlying all the glitter of success, and to bring the light of Jesus there.

Writer and Millennial herself Amy Peterson wrote that when it comes to church affiliation she wants a, "service that is not sensational, flashy, or particularly “relevant”. I can be entertained anywhere. At church, I do not want to be entertained. I do not want to be the target of anyone's marketing. I want to be asked to participate in the life of an ancient-future community."

The thing about relevancy is that what I think is relevant is relevant - to me but probably not you. I am interested in things that you are not and you are interested in things that I am not. To build a worship service or even a leadership core with the value of "relevancy" chances are our worship service and our leadership will be gimicy , overly stylized, and plastic. Additionally, and perhaps more importantly, focusing on relevancy leads to the missing out on what could be.

Not to pull out the cliche, but when Steve Jobs presented the iPhone for the first time there were many people who thought it was a bust - it did not have a keyboard, it did not have stylus, it did not have a protected screen, etc. Needless to say, many people thought it to be irrelevant. 

Steve Jobs did not give a rip. He was set to address problems and a world that few could see coming. And for years the iPhone was the gold standard (and still is among many). Not to equate the two, but Jesus was not in hot pursuit of being relevant. He was a backwater itinerant preacher who made up stories that confounded the people and did not live into a common wish for a military leader or forceful king. When he made it to the heart of Jerusalem he quickly became the center of all hate and venom, and instead of changing his message to relevant he kept his eyes on the cross. 

Chasing relevancy is rooted not in our call to serve Christ but to serve a market we are afraid to loose. Chasing relevancy is a symptom of our fear not an expression of our faithfulness. Chasing relevancy is a lack of trust that the Holy Spirit will translate our works and perfect them to bring about reconciliation, wholeness and the Kingdom of God.

Did this Frenchman predict the decline of the Church?

Jean-Jacques Rousseau once wrote the following in his work on the Social Contract:

"As soon as public service ceases to be the chief business of the citizens, and they would rather serve with their money than with their persons, the State is not far from its fall."

As a social organization, the Church is very much in the same boat of the state of Rousseau's thought. As soon as we would rather give money than sweat to a situation or problem, then we are surely headed for decline. 

Jean-Jacques Rousseau once wrote the following in his work on the Social Contract:

"As soon as public service ceases to be the chief business of the citizens, and they would rather serve with their money than with their persons, the State is not far from its fall."

As a social organization, the Church is very much in the same boat of the state of Rousseau's thought. As soon as we would rather give money than sweat to a situation or problem, then we are surely headed for decline. 

Could it be that in the efforts to professionalize ministry and have "specialized" ministry areas in our churches we have actually worked ourselves into decline. Put another way, does having a children's minister, youth minister, senior adults minister, small groups minister, etc. actually decrees congregational investment and participation in those areas. 

When I was in youth ministry I heard this sort of thing a lot. Most folk have a reason as to why they are not able to assist with youth ministry as a sponsor or just a presence in the youth ministry. 

• People with no children would say, I don't have children, but this is why we hired you.
• People with young children would say, when my kids are in youth I will volunteer, but until then this is why we hired you.
• People with youth aged kids would say, my child does not want me helping lead their group, which is why we hired you.
• People with grown children would say, my kids are grown and I have had my turn, which is why we hired you.
• Retirees would say the youth don't connect with people my age which is why we hired you.

There are always exceptions, and for those people I give thanks to God for your ministry and willingness to serve, however on the whole finding youth ministry volunteers is a full time job in of itself. 

Could it be that Rousseau's thought is playing itself out in the decline of the church numbers and influence? Could it be part of the solution (hire professional and specialized staff) is actually part of our problem?