alt.worship

Hip New Churches Pray to a Different Drummer

This is a piece in todays Times about the new trend in church:

Called "emerging" or "postmodern" churches, they are diverse in theology and method, linked loosely by Internet sites, Web logs, conferences and a growing stack of hip-looking paperbacks. Some religious historians believe the churches represent the next wave of evangelical worship, after the boom in megachurches in the 1980's and 1990's.

The label "emerging church" refers to the emergence of a generation with little or no formal attachment to church. The congregations vary in denomination, but most are from the evangelical side of Protestantism and some are sponsored by traditional churches. Brian McLaren, 48, pastor at Cedar Ridge Community Church in Spencerville, Md., and one of the architects of the fledgling movement, compared the churches to foreign missions, using the local language and culture, only directed at the vast unchurched population of young America.

Seems like there's a few different things going on here. On the one hand, some of it is a ploy for evangelicals to proselytize to hipsters. But some of these groups are clearly do it yourself attempts at alternative forms of worship. Even these however seem driven by certain market trends. The "Vintage" aesthetic, common in all things hipster, is sought in worship too: "Many emerging churches...have revived medieval liturgies or practices, including prayer labyrinths and lectio divina, or sacred reading, a process of intense meditation and prayer over a short biblical passage. Some borrow Roman Catholic or Eastern Orthodox rituals that pre-date the Enlightenment." One pastor, a former "punk rockabilly" drummer, says the young folks don't want the bright and shiny megachurch style, they "want it like a dusty cathedral." But hell, if we are doomed to recycle endlessly, then better medieval liturgical practices than Member's Only jackets. The one thing that shines through in this article is the longing for a sense of community that's behind all this. And whether the need for it is filtered through DIY church, or alcohol, or friendster or whatever, the absence of a real sense of community seems to be the elephant in the American living room.