Mirror, Mirror on the Wall...

Over the last few years, I have been part of a few forums, surveys, and conversations about why people are leaving the church. The Barna Group has released some big numbers as has the Gallup Survey Group. Most recently, a study by the Pew Forum hit papers across the country with this statistic - one in four Americans have left the faith they were raised in for another faith or none at all; almost twenty percent of people identity themselves as "unaffiliated," a number twice what it was ten years ago, and twice the number of people who didn't grow up in any faith tradition. And, the really interesting number, one in four people ages 18-29 do not identify themselves with any faith tradition.

Now to be honest, I can see why these numbers would be easy to dismiss, easy to see as a trend or a mis-read of the community, but the more I talk with these sociologists (from inside and outside the church), the more I am struck by their own sense of loss when this fabric of our collective spiritual existence starts to unravel. And their biggest frustration: the churches that read these surveys don't seem to have a pulse on this problem. Too often we write them off - people leave because we're part of a consumer culture, people leave because they aren't ready to hear truth, people leave because...fill in the blank. There is a large-ish church here in Denver who reports that they have had 400 new attenders over the last twelve months. Sounds contrary to these surveys until you see that they also report that their attendance has stayed steadily at 1,000 people. Meaning 400 new people in the doors, 400 others out the back. All within a twelve month cycle. That, to me, is curious and a little sad. Very rarely do we rend our clothes, sit in ashes, and cry out to God - "WHAT the heck is going on?!?!?! Where have we missed your invitation to life?" That's a much cleaner version of the typical biblical lament, but you get the idea.

Hear me out on this one, I believe strongly that the Bible paints a picture of worship that is for the disciple but also worship that is intelligible to the pre-Christian and spiritually curious who are in our midst when we gather. I think it's hard to make a scriptural or historical case for "seeker sensitive" worship or services that are geared towards numbers, numbers, numbers or being a reinvention of pop culture. I also don't think you can find any scriptural precedent for old, stale traditions (or new, stale ones) that are in place just to keep "the old guard" happy. I don't believe that there is a magic formula or a new, hip thing to try that will invite people to worship, create new disciples, or suddenly cause people to fall to their knees in wonder. Part of why I believe this so strongly is that it would be too easy to fall into the trap of thinking that we are the ones doing this or have to create these moments, instead of being ready to join in where God is doing things that are remarkable and spontaneous.

This is largely anecdotal, but I'm struck that the question that circulates most among this "unaffiliated-formerly-evangelical" crowd is "what's the point of the worship gathering?" It has lost it's relevance, it's point, it's soulfulness for them, and for many others who stick it out. I am convinced that this is more than boredom, more than consumerism, more than lack of commitment. This is about spiritual formation and kingdom-thinking.

If you are a worship pastor, music leader, liturgist, lead pastor, community pastor, etc., I would strongly recommend a book called "The Critical Journey" by Janet Hagberg. If you have already read this book, you are familiar with her model of the faith journey that maps out six stages of faith, not unlike Teresa of Avila's Interior Castle. There's not enough time or room here to map this out, but I would contend that the culture at large is in the fourth stage of faith - a crisis of identity as the Church and of westernized faith. Most of our worship is not crafted with this stage in mind, and that is one of the issues we need to begin conversations around as the Church.

This group is looking back at our old definitions and feeling frustrated; they are exhausted by a Christian sub-culture that makes them feel as if they are disintegrated and life-less; they don't know how to worship since the ways of their past spiritual encounters feel dishonest and incomplete in their new skin.

This takes me back to their original question and puts it out there for all of us to think about. "What's the point of the worship gathering?"

Our old paradigms tell us that we gather to worship to "experience God" which, in it's very definition feels counter-intuitive. That makes God the truly active person while we are the recipients. It becomes about "move me, feed me" in a very culturally specific and emotional way. That's a hard paradigm to find in biblical worship scenarios. Not to mention there's an abundance of Divine encounters that people earnestly experience outside our song sets and media accessories. We absolutely must come back to a place of re-discovery on this point. I know I've said it before, but it bears repeating...people experienced God (usually "out there" and usually not inside their/our preconceived box) and then they worshiped. But I won't beat that old horse.

What if worship is not so much about our internal, sanitized experience but about creating a mirror? Part of the act of worship is a remembering and mirroring back to each other our identity as the mystical, ageless Church built by Christ. We do this by gathering, but this should be part of our liturgy, our musical prayers, our art. It should be ringing out as we re-covenant: This is who we are. This is part of the beauty you imagined into us. This is who you've called us to be.

What if our worship is supposed to mirror back where we've seen God at work in the world? This is a BIG deal, largely because it calls us to define the work of God outside our categories of something that happens mainly in the salvation experience or some abstract spiritual redemption that denies legitimate pain and suffering and doubt. This is where the ministry of Christ and the stories of his sacred humanity serve as a model. Where is beauty? Where is restoration? Where are people finding their soul and their passion? Where are men becoming whole and women becoming integrated? Where are schools raising up leaders? Where are the poor being fed? Where is the addict being embraced? Where is good, soulful art being created and shared? Where are people finding life-giving community? Wherever these things are happening, the kingdom is breaking in and becoming reality. Maybe it's because of the work of God's people, maybe it's despite us. But these things, these out-of-the-box encounters and experiences, should be mirrored back in our worship.

Maybe it's time to move beyond the songs about salvation-only joy, future hope, and "I'm a Christian so everything is going to be okay" in our worship. This isn't limited to those of us who are part of the praise and worship community. Some of the hymns of the mid 19th century are just as guilty of this contemporary gnosticism/dualism. Maybe it's time to reflect back the unexpectedly sacred moments of the here-and-now as well as the not-yet-but-will-be.

This is where collaboration is vital and gives life to the community gathering. What would this look like? It takes a lot of people to hold this mirror up, but as we encounter God in the world and reflect that back in our worship, I'm guessing (hoping, praying, believing) that the "unaffiliated" will discover that their story is an important part of our identity as the church; their voice is an important part of our mirroring of God's beautiful and elegant, messy and tangible work---God's artistic and spontaneous voice.

We need each other's stories if we really want to experience God. I know that I need your story to help find my own identity as part of the Church in this sometimes-fractured mirrored reflection. We need to use our creativity, not to manufacture experiences for a select few, but to interpret the mystery in meaningful and whol-istic ways. We need to focus on reflecting back and celebrating the rich life of tastes, smells, tears, joys, experiences, beauty, renewal, creation, friendship, poetry, children, story, humanity, love, passion, creative soul of the kingdom and the King. This won't look the same in every church. There's no formula, paradigm, new thing to try. This is about story-telling and art-making. What would this look like for you and your church? What do we mirror back to a hurt and hungry world or to the searching-for-soul refugees of the Church? We are here for a reason, in this forum. I'm anxious to hear your ideas.


Jodi Adams is a teacher, author, and visionary for community worship. She serves as a teaching pastor and worship pastor at an urban church.

Passionate about empowering artists and leaders to take their congregations beyond the culture box, Jodi is a contributor to CTI's FaithVisuals.com and GiftedforLeadership.com and speaks regularly on the convergence of cultural issues and worship.

Jodi is currently completing her M.Div. at Denver Seminary and finishing her first book, which is due out next year. She and her jazzy husband, Justin, live in Denver with their three children: Sara, Anna-Michelle, and Leo, along with Karma the Wonder Dog.