Counter Cultural Churches

Way back in 1970 when I was swept up in the Jesus Revolution we talked a lot about being "Counter Cultural". We all grew beards and long hair and wore ugly clothes. Those things were prerequisites to being considered holy. We had to be different from the church culture and much more like the culture at large.

But we also discussed being salt and light to the society and many of us did everything we could to make a difference and make our churches into places that were making a difference. That is why we were drawn to house churches and services that appealed to the Seekers more than to the pillars. We had guitars and sang rock and roll and raised our hands to the sky in praise of God.

And, we witnessed. We talked about God to our friends and family and to our colleagues. Many came to faith in Christ. Everyone I knew believed he had a mission and was on a mission from God. Now days this is called "Missional" and I dislike the term. It sounds made up like a faux fur coat. I am sure it came out of Fuller Seminary or Trinity and was penned by a consultant or theologian because no one who was actually involved in mission would call it that.

I have been reading some articles about "The Emerging Church" and one asked the question: "Is this just the Sixties all over again?" The answer was, "Yes!" My answer is, "yes, but..." I like many of the things being done by the Emerging Church but it seems as if the anointed leaders are trying awfully hard to make it a movement.

As I recall the Jesus Movement, there was a lot going on with regular people and not much happening with theologians and seminars who were trying to guide the Holy Spirit. The passion of those days was, Jesus! We sang about Jesus and talked about Jesus. We wrote and read Jesus Revolution newspapers but Zondervan was not hyping books on the movement at the CBA.

I wonder if the leaders of the Emerging Church aren't so busy writing, speaking and promoting the movement that they don't have enough time to actually move anything. Movements require a lot of "Boots on the ground" to witness, pray, worship, serve and help people in need. The boots of Emerging Leaders all seem to be in seminars where the weather is warm and ministry carried live with Power Point slides and followed by downloads on Ipods.

I heartily affirm the counter cultural aspects of the Emerging Church Movement and hope they do well in keeping it going. But I hope they can reject all the faux terms and faux controversies to focus on Jesus who was the greatest revolutionary ever known.

I will leave you with a Jesus yell from the Revolution:

Jesus Yes!
Religion No!