Lolli-Pop Spirituality: Why Youth Are Crashing From Sugar-Coated Christianity

[This is an article I wrote that grew out of an e-mail conversation with Major Rick Munn. Enjoy!]

“Show the world a real, living, hardworking, toiling, triumphing religion. Show them anything less and the world will turn around and spit upon it.”
Catherine Booth

“We don’t want God to work unless He can make a theatrical production of it. We want Him to come dressed in costumes with a beard and with a staff. We want Him to play a part according to our ideas. Some of us even demand that He provide a colorful setting and fireworks as well!”

A.W. Tozer

Major Rick Munn, the Program Secretary for The Salvation Army’s USA Eastern Territory recently sent to me an article from Time Magazine (Time, 2006) on how “…sugar-coated, MTV-style youth ministry is over”, and “Bible-based worship is packing teens in the pews.” When I read this article, I resonated with what was being written. In response, I wrote the following as a reflection on the implications of this shift in youth culture. They are going through a spiritual sugar-crash and are looking for something of greater substance that will sustain them through the challenges of living out their faith in a consumer-driven world.

The candy-coated version of youth ministry has been a homogeneous formula that has been sold as youth ministry for the past 25 years. This paradigm of youthwork suggests that the deepest, Maslowian "felt need" of adolescents is to be entertained. As a result, hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of dollars have been invested in trying to entertain our kids into the kingdom.

My problem with this strategy is that:

(1) We will never be able to compete with Hollywood, but Hollywood is competing with us. A W Tozer speaks about those of us in the church creating "second-rate talent shows" to attempt to match up to what the media industry is able to produce. Therefore we have created an entire Christian consumer subculture which, ironically, has become so lucrative (middle-class Christian teens have quite amount of disposable income!) that even the major media moguls have caught onto this. Most Christian brands from Veggietales to Youth Specialties products are now subsidiaries of larger companies such as NewsCorp and Viacom. Even Hollywood has noticed how consumer-driven Christians are - and have begun to set aside "Passion dollars" for ideologically Christian stories - because we evangelicals LOVE to be entertained!

At what point do we begin to recognize this as a form of hegemonic co-optation? Are we giving glory to Jesus or to Rupert Murdoch and Sumner Redstone? At what point do we begin to realize that this as a form of gospel domestication? I'm all up for going to the movies and listening to well-produced artists singing songs which reflect the kingdom - but this is very different to lolli-pop spirituality! If we were in Africa - Christianity that is uncritically synergized with culture is considered syncretism. At what point do we begin to examine our own ‘cultural accretions’ - our own syncretisms?

The Israelites in the wilderness longed for the benefits of slavery in Egypt - the food and treasure... these were concessionary bribes from Egyptians that were intended to win the consent of the people of Israel. The provision of the slave-lord can often be more alluring that the provision of God... but at the price of what? Our freedom? Our destiny? Similarly, we evangelicals need to seriously begin to ask whether commodified Christianity is going to be what truly satisfies this generation?

The French philosopher Guy Debord refers to America as a "society of the spectacle" (Debord, 1995). Unfortunately, those most attracted to this dangling carrot-spectacle happens to be lucrative evangelicals! The only problem is that this next generation is one of the most consumer-savvy cultures out there - they are "the iPod generation" - a generation that has the market tailored to their own desires. The only problem is that youth are beginning to sniff out that such me-centered worlds ("I"/Me + Pod/Mini-World) are simply a tailor-made prison that brings little satisfaction. In essence, the need for satisfaction is sent into an abusive, spiraling, addictive race to keep up with whatever is the latest and greatest.

If all that we (as the Church) have to offer to youth is a Christian, sanitized, knock-off version of these tailor-made, me-centered consumer prisons, they will quickly reject Christianity. Therefore, the solution for youth ministry is not to create better products and more entertaining programs - what this Time article is articulating is that youth workers are beginning to realize that these are simply hollow solutions to a much deeper need.

(2) "To be Entertained" is a misinformed goal of today's generation. We have missed the mark if we think that youth desperately want to be entertained - as I have mentioned in the previous point, they have, to use a Neil Postman concept, been "amused to death" (Postman, 2005). So what is their deepest desire? I believe there are three deep longings:

(a) They do not want to be entertained - they want to be challenged. Statistics have shown that more and more teens and young adults are getting involved in philanthropic volunteerism. Civic engagement has been steadily increasing as youth become bored with the physically solitary life of X-Boxes, computers, delivery food and Tivo. Recently, one of our students gave up their X-Box and television and came to Project 1:17 choosing to live a solitary, monastic lifestyle - with a focus on being trained to service the poor in the name of Jesus!

I believe that we are in a perfect position in The Salvation Army to take full advantage of this. With our wholistic view of spiritual/social mission, we can meet this need in today's youth. Issues of social justice such as addressing poverty, illiteracy, delinquency, drug abuse, teen pregnancy, human trafficking and the exploring community-based solutions to the HIV epidemic are among the noble philanthropic causes for an individual to commit themselves to. To do this "in the name of Jesus" - and to share the faith, hope and love available through salvation makes this type of service not just temporally, but also eternally effective.

This generation believes that they can change the world! This can be perceived of as a utopian optimism that will quickly be shattered by the harsh realities of life... or it could also be understood as a cultural opportunity which, when linked to a solid eschatology and missiology, could be seen as a God-moment

(b) They do not want to be entertained - they want to know 'why?' This generation is a deep thinking group of young people. Often, we mistake our youth's refusal to participate in something/or do something as rebellion. Most youth today are driven by a great desire to know "why" they should do things - they require a rationale and logic. A group of people that have been inundated with every form of mass-marketing are provided all sorts of rationales for why they should watch television shows, buy certain brands of clothing, click on certain websites, listen to types of music, etc. etc. that they have become what Maire Messenger Davies has called "critical connoisseurs of media" (Davies, 1997) The critical skills have made them sophisticated in their decision-making process. Gone are the days of "do this because I am telling you to." They need to know why - or they'll not buy in.

Unfortunately, in the church, we have also been going through a bit of an identity crisis. Modernity has swept the church for the past 50 plus years to the point that we celebrate the contemporary or the new that we have become disconnected with our history. As a result, once two or three generations removed from anything that even mildly represents "tradition" - we have no reason why we do what we do! So we end up having Corps which are a hybrid of Salvationism mixed with a hodge podge of contemporary church models ranging from charismatic, conservative, liberal, emergent, mega, homogeneous (ad nauseum!) Our churches look more like a Baskin Robbins after a busy streak than a community that knows who it is!

So what happens when a young person chooses to become a part of our movement? They enter into soldier's classes being trained by people who don't know what a soldier is. They sit in youth programs being run by people who don't know why what they are doing is critical to the mission of The Salvation Army. They worship in Corps that have lost focus, don't understand the difference between a holiness and salvation meeting, and have never done an open air in their lives! When they begin to ask why we are doing what we are doing... they are answered with a "just do it" response. Our youth are not going to stick around long until they are able to understand why we do what we do!!

The Salvation Army used to put out a manual called "The Why and Wherefore of The Salvation Army" - the intention was to give people a rationale for why we do what we do. This needs to be pulled out, dusted off, and taught once again. Like the temple builders who discovered the law afresh, we need to rediscover why we do what we do! We need to re-educate ourselves on the methods behind the madness of what makes Salvationism so effective. Then we need to be willing to sit down with our youth and have long conversations with them - where they are welcome to test the validity of our rationale. I have confidence in what we are doing so much that I would invite any young leader to test our philosophies and theologies, principles and procedures. Once they discover how solid things are, they will be willing to give their lives to serving gone in this amazing vehicle of the gospel.

At Project 1:17, we have incorporated a soldier's training class. One of our students soldiership was limited to being shown a picture of William Booth and being told what the flag represents!! Majors Bob and Donna Green have been relaying the foundations in this class - seeking to ensure that we send out of our program students who have had the freedom to explore deeply the why's and wherefore's. Philosopher Alisdair MacIntyre has commented that controversy and questioning is not an enemy, but an ally to tradition. Apathy will kill any sense of heritage, but asking why will produce a great sense of allegiance (MacIntyre, 1984).

An entertainment-driven youth work will repel youth from future involvement in our movement. The coliseum was created to distract the masses from asking why questions. Similarly, a trip to the movies might ward off questioning for today, but the insatiable hunger to know 'why' will not be satisfied by cracker-jack prizes - it will only be satisfied by the meat of true, rigorous engagement.

(c) They do not want to be entertained - they want to be engaged by a vibrant and authentic spirituality. A generation that has grown up after the death of God is hungry for authentic spiritual encounter. Physical entertainment will not satisfy metaphysical desires. Catherine Booth was prophetic when she said "show the world a REAL, LIVING, hardworking, toiling triumphing religion. Show them anything less and the world will turn around and spit upon it!"

We are fools if we think that the chocolate-coated, fool's golden calf of entertainment is going to satisfy the deep need for genuine spirituality. One thing which has worried me in recent years, though, is that there has emerged a commodified version of spirituality. Sometimes I will stand in the middle of a youth-oriented worship gathering and turn on the anthropologist that exists in me... and I wonder, "what social experiment am I in???" I have discovered that I can travel from Africa, to England, to the East and West of America, from community to community and find similar patterns of youth worship sub-culture! There are codes to our worship, certain CDs, atmospheric pre-requisites and emotional reactions that parallel themselves in almost all of these communities - almost a global youth spirituality culture. Is this what we understand to be "authentic spirituality?" I think the answer is both yes and no. We all create contexts, ceremonies, traditions, rites of passage - this is the essence of culture. There have been many 'skins' that have clothed the church - globally and historically.

The issue of spirituality has less to do with the skin which embodies worship than it has to do with the posture of the worshipper. Youth are looking for people who can help to lead them into the presence of God. They don't care whether this is being done by through a tattooed and tongue-pierced worship leader or through a retired Salvation Army officer - what they desperately need is not the cultural skin, but rather the bones and sinew of authentic spirituality! So many youth are being attracted to the most liturgical worship settings - not because "retro ecclesiology" is "in" - but because they are able to meet with people who are deep and contemplative in their spirituality. This is why I will often find myself chatting for hours to a Lt-Colonel Lyle Rader. We might be cultural opposites in our expression of spirituality - but we are attracted to similar things when it comes to the 'sinews and bones of salvationism.'

The Time magazine article recognizes accurately that there is a malcontent with an entertainment-driven youth ministry. Our goal in the Army - I would argue - would be to ensure that in our youth work we are creating opportunities for intentional engagement in local marginalized contexts (maybe a league of mercy for youth); increased critical dialogue on foundational issues of salvationism (Corps Cadets does a great job of this already, but maybe also relooking at soldier's training); and a deepening of our spirituality (24/7 Prayer Weeks, Prayer Weekend etc.).

In The Salvation Army, we saw the redemptive value of the circus-as-context-for-missional-engagement. We used innovation, new technology, entertainment and the absurd as tools-with-a-purpose (Winston, 2002). They were a means to an end. They were part of our Muktifaj contextualization strategy - as William Booth has said, "attract their attention." However, without “gaining their confidence; saving their souls; and training them to live for God and the salvation of the world”, attraction is simply an empty opportunity - an iPod without music!

If we are going to allow this generation to “taste and see that the Lord is good” and therefore “…take refuge in Him” (Ps. 34:8), then we must ask ourselves the hard question, “What are we inviting this generation to taste?” My prayer is that youth workers in The Salvation Army will learn to balance the sweetness of culturally adaptable methodologies and tactics with the meatiness of our time-tested biblical and practical orthodoxy. Let’s show the world what we’re really made of!

References

Davies, M.M. (1997). Fake, fact, and fantasy: Children’s interpretations of television reality. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Debord, G., & Nicholson-Smith, D. (1995). The society of the spectacle. Cambridge, MA: Zone Books.

MacIntyre, A. (1984). After virtue: A study in moral theory. Fair Haven, CT: University of Nortre Dame Press.

Postman, N. (2005). Amusing ourselves to death: Public discourse in the age of show business. NY: Penguin.

Time Magazine. (2006). In touch with Jesus: Sugar-coated, MTV-style youth ministry is over. Bible-based worship is packing teens in pews now. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1552027,00.html. (Accessed: November, 2006).

Winston, D. (2002). All the world’s a stage: The performed religion of The Salvation Army 1880 – 1920. In S.M. Hoover & L.S. Clark, Practicing religion in the age of the media: Explorations in media, religion, and culture. New York, NY: Columbia University Press.