The Church, Kayne, And Where We Are Going in 2020
The Church in America is beautiful, albeit, messy glory. After watching the church since 2016, reviewing trends and data, I believe that the American Church is shifting.
Every piece of research that’s out there is showing a few key things about the Western Church:
The American Church is quickly moving into Post Modernism. Some, like James Emery White would say that we are moving into Post, POST Christiandom, where the common narrative of Jesus is all but extinct, and now folks are almost Pre-Christian. Like an unreached people group in an unknown land.
The Attractional Model of Church is slowing. While the engine still works, its not as powerful, and by and large the “show” of church is falling on deaf ears. This is for countless, COUNTLESS reasons, but the data is there. From Barna, to James Emery White, to The State of the Church reports.
The Western Church is being humbled. After listening the John MacArther panel where he slandered Beth Moore last week, it’s evident that God is exposing and cleaning house on racism, misogyny, greed, pride, self-satisfaction, vanity, sin, abuse and so much more. God is pissed I think. Which… you might find theological problems with, but I don’t. I think he’s squishing and exposing the church because he LOVES the church. And He’s tired of our shenanigans. He wants us back on course, and sometimes rebuking is how he does that.
All of this would be VERY troubling news, if not for the Holy Spirit.
Which brings me to the GREAT news I’ve seen in 2019, and a trend that I think is coming to the Western Church in the next decade:
Those who are choosing Jesus right now are choosing Jesus because they want HIM, and not the additives. They don’t want the show, the fluff, the status, they just want God. Some recent data showed that while those who are claiming “no religion” are increasing (The Rise Of The Nones according to James Emery White), there is also a rise in true conversions. Meaning this: there are fewer cultural believers (I’m kind of a follower because my community is) but there are way more true believers (I’m a believer because the resurrection is REAL and I NEED GOD). There’s a whole posse of folks out there that are in it. Ride or die.
There’s a new reliance on the Holy Spirit. More and more people, and churches are turning away from strategy road maps to prayer. And, because the church is entering NEW TERRITORY, and there are no roads to where we are going the choice for the American Church is simple: You can depend on God, or get lost in the shuffle and crumbling of old systems.
I’ve seen more churches and believers turn their FULL attention to prayer in recent months. There is true repentance. True need. True dependence. And, as my pastor Shane says: “Dependence is the new Competence.” People are turning again to obedience, and to Jesus. There is no in-between anymore: it’s by the Spirit or not at all.There is a movement of God in spaces that AREN’T THE CHURCH.
Which brings me to Kanye. The Holy Spirit, on a few occasions now has brought me to tears through his rehearsals and music. It is for God, from a broken and human heart. It’s about Him, and you can sense the Holy Spirit in all of it. It reminds me of God using unlikely things and places to perform revival and miracles. Like seeing a back get healed at a Presbyterian Church in Highlands Ranch, like seeing Deborah lead armies of men, like seeing Kanye lead a BUNCH of non-believers to the throne of grace. Selah.
I believe that 2020 is going to be a GORGEOUS year for the church. But, it will be because the church repents. It will be because the church voices NEED. It will be because the church asks for the Holy Spirit, moves WITH the Spirit, and holds everything loosely. We are the body, after all, HE’S the head.
May we seek Him more now than ever.
And on that note, I’m going to listen to some worship music from Kanye.