'How can we stop the oil gusher?" may have been the question of the summer for most Americans.
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As a 27-year-old evangelical myself, I understand the concern. My peers, many of whom grew up in the church, are losing interest in the Christian establishment.
Recent statistics have shown an increasing exodus of young people from churches, especially after they leave home and live on their own. In a 2007 study, Lifeway Research determined that 70% of young Protestant adults between 18-22 stop attending church regularly.
Statistics like these have created something of a mania in recent years, as baby-boomer evangelical leaders frantically assess what they have done wrong (why didn't megachurches work to attract youth in the long term?) and scramble to figure out a plan to keep young members engaged in the life of the church.
Increasingly, the "plan" has taken the form of a total image overhaul, where efforts are made to rebrand Christianity as hip, countercultural, relevant. As a result, in the early 2000s, we got something called "the emerging church"--a sort of postmodern stab at an evangelical reform movement. Perhaps because it was too "let's rethink everything" radical, it fizzled quickly. But the impulse behind it--to rehabilitate Christianity's image and make it "cool"--remains.
There are various
ways that churches attempt to be cool. For some, it means trying to
seem more culturally savvy. The pastor quotes Stephen Colbert or
references Lady Gaga during his sermon, or a church sponsors a screening
of the R-rated "No Country For Old Men." For others, the emphasis is on
looking cool, perhaps by giving the pastor a metrosexual makeover, with
skinny jeans and an $80 haircut, or by insisting on trendy eco-friendly
paper and helvetica-only fonts on all printed materials. Then there is
the option of holding a worship service in a bar or nightclub (as is the
case for L.A.'s Mosaic church, whose downtown location meets at a
nightspot called Club Mayan).
