From my vantage point in the evangelical landscape, I am incredibly optimistic about the future of the church. I know we have lots of cause for concern about \u201cthe culture,\u201d\u009d and I know the church tasked with proclaiming the kingdom in it seems pretty shaky right now. But I when I take a sober look at the young Christians (the millennials!) training for gospel ministry and thinking hard about mission, I like where their head\u2019s at. The rest of us, on the other hand . . .<\/p>\n
I find it incredibly interesting, sort of amusing, and more than a bit sad that the attractional church\u201d\u201dwhat we used to call the \u201cseeker church\u201d\u009d\u201d\u201dhasn\u2019t seemed to grow up at all. Yes, it\u2019s grown big. But growing big and growing up aren\u2019t the same thing. I was thinking about this recently after a few people posted a video of one of the landmark attractional churches featuring a \u201990s boy band throwback segment in their worship service. I\u2019m sure it was a lot of fun. I\u2019m also sure it was especially fun for those whose heyday was the \u201990s. It\u2019s the same fun that was had by the worship team in my \u201990s attractional youth group who were constantly reworking rock hits from the \u201970s to make them more Jesusy (\u201cPeaceful, Easy Feelin,\u201d\u009d anybody? How about a little \u201cTalkin\u2019 about my Jesus\u201d\u201dhe\u2019s some kind of wonderful\u201d\u009d?).<\/p>\n
And it occurs to me that, exceptions being granted, the attractional church is specifically designed for what was said to \u201cwork\u201d\u009d 20 years ago….<\/p>\n