Mistake Numero Uno: Trying too hard to be hip.

Have you ever heard people complain that the postmodern church is just an old dog dressed up in a new trick? Just slap on the candles and streaming video, paint one wall red and you’re read to go, right? This is a big mistake and should be avoided at all cost. In fact, I’m so concerned about this trend that I’ve stopped teaching arts-and-worship at most conference venues. Why? Because people are out their trolling, hoping that if they pick up a few good fashion tips they’ll suddenly become the popular kid. But this is bogus. Most postmodern churches do change-up their worship and teaching styles. But this only works if it comes out of a genuine internal motivation---a felt need to alter the ways in which people connect with God and with each other. The approach to worship and teaching that any particular postmodern community takes has got to fit the culture in which they live and the people they live with. If you try to be hip for hip’s sake, you’ll ring hollow. For postmodern God-seekers, authenticity is paramount. Whatever you do, don’t fake it.

Bad Option B) Spending your time in all the wrong places.

The first thing we did as a postmodern church plant was to stage elaborate multi-sensory worship events we called “infusions.” They were gorgeous and meaningful and well received. But they took hours and hours of time. Each one left us exhausted and creatively tapped. The idea of doing one every week, or even every month, quickly came to end. Although these beautiful worshipful evenings connected us to God, they failed to free up any of our time. We had stopped being leaders in a traditional church in order to free up our time to be with folks outside the church. But we just re-created the wheel and replaced one time consuming activity (running a traditional church for people who were already Christians) with another (running a trendy postmodern church for people who were already Christians.) We finally realized in that in order to start living outside the castle walls we’d have to give up a lot of castle activities--we’d have to find a less time consuming way to stay connected to God if we wanted to stay connect to people.

And Finally Number 3) Expecting things to happen too soon.

Two years ago I attended an event sponsored by Vineyard Central called Mayhem. It was a loosely arranged gathering of emergent types, and like most emergent gatherings the best conversations happened after hours over beers. While we were standing around the Raines’ kitchen I said something like, “If we don’t have new Christians in our community in two years, I’m really going to wonder what I threw away my pastoral career for.” All the guys drinking Guinness with me looked at each other knowingly. Finally one of them took a swig and said, “Yeah. You’d better make that five.” I immediately wanted to argue with him, to tell him that five years was ridiculously wrong. But something in me told me that the guys were right. Four years later and I’m just now seeing neighbors trust us enough to walk through our doors. And now, four years later, what do I think about giving up my pastoral career for the sake of extending the loving had of Christ to my neighbors? Priceless.

Next Month: Tips for forming generous soul-care communities.