Generational voices:
Here is a 20-something woman writing a review of two books concerning the “Disillusioned Generation” in Christianity Today On-Line. The author is Katie Galli, “a barista and a member of an Anglican congregation in Glen Ellyn, Illinois.” Since she says she is a member of an “Anglican” church rather than an “Episcopal” church, I suspect she may be a member of Church of the Resurrection (which has a great website and states that it is actually in Glen Ellyn). There are a number of “Anglican” churches in the area, which is in close proximity to Wheaton, IL, and Wheaton College.
Her review is entitled: Dear Disillusioned Generation: The ‘failed experiment’ called the church still looks better than the alternatives and was posted 4/21/2008 08:45AM.
Yes, we’re Americans. We multitask all day long. Efficiency is one of our top cultural values. I, too, am pragmatic. I’d like to use Sunday morning to worship God, to get a few pointers on how to improve my relationship with Jesus, and to reconnect with community. But every Sunday, the first words heard at my institutional church are, “Blessed be God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.” And I’m reminded that we gather weekly not to hear a practical talk on how to better live out our faith or to provide a venue to tell our friends about Jesus. We gather corporately to worship God, to celebrate the redeeming work of Christ on the cross, and to remember that our lives are not about us.
Sanders and Cunningham don’t completely disagree. Each spends some time giving a kick in the pants to the disillusioned, and Cunningham’s warning hits home: “This kind of unexpected idolatry—the obsession with living in despair over what is wrong with the institutionalized church—creeps up on you (like most shifty little idols do). … Criticism becomes what we end up worshiping.” She encourages 20-somethings to have a little more grace and patience with the failures of the church and ends her book with a love letter to the church.
The church can indeed be bureaucratic, inefficient, and, at times, hopelessly outdated. It remains one of the most embarrassing institutions to which one can belong. But it has also given us a 2,000-year legacy of saints and social reformers, and a rich liturgy and theology—the very gift 20-somethings need to grow into the full stature of Christ. [emphasis mine]
The books she reviews are:
+ Life After Church: God’s Call to Disillusioned Christians, by Brian Sanders (InterVarsity)
+ Dear Church: Letters from a Disillusioned Generation, by Sarah Cunningham (Zondervan)