Recently I came across the twitter feed of Erwin McManus, pastor of Mosaic Church in LA. He was lucky enough to attend the annual TED conference (Technology, Education, and Design) which I follow closely through their videos (Highly Recommended). TED is a conference of the best and brightest sharing the latest and greatest from their fields. This leads to many inspiring and challenging talks.

Erwin captures that excitement in the first of these two tweets. Which were given in succession to one another.

Sitting at TED So inspiring. So I thought I would invite you into my TED experience. Today has wonderfully reaffirmed my passion to awaken humanity. February 5

Then the following day this he posted this.

Phrase “evangelical pessimism” stood out at TED. Everyone understood what speaker meant. This is why we need to change our narrative… February 6

I’m not making any comment about Erwin, simply reaffirming his statement about ‘Evangelical Pessimism’. In an earlier post we touched on this subject. Again I want to ask what brings about this pessimism that is understood beyond the walls of the church, and maybe not recognized within its own walls (or even worse, promoted from within the walls).

Why does this observation matter?

It matters because if we hope to influence the culture around us, and be a tool for God to use to draw people into the church we need to understand those who live around us. So it does go beyond just understanding that  evangelical pessimism exists (and likely extends to christian groups beyond just evangelicalism since many Americans couldn’t tell you the difference).

Then, how do we go about addressing the idea of this pessimism. Should it exist? Erwin is quite explicit that we need to change our message. So if the message needs adjustment, what needs adjusting and into what? I’ll share my thoughts in the weeks to come.

Image: A view from above by whiteafrican

This means that there is a cynical attitude forming in the hearts of American Christendom towards those around us. To further prove this point, the Barna Group reported on the people responsible for the lower demographic as:

Two-thirds of evangelical Christians (64%) and three out of every five Hispanics (60%) embraced that position, making them the groups most convinced of the shift in America’s default faith… People who said they are politically conservative, however, saw things differently than did the rest of the country: a slight majority of conservatives claimed that Christianity remains the natural choice of most Americans.

My question is simply why?

What has changed? Christians still make up three fourths of the American population and yet a vast majority of evangelical Christians don’t seem to believe that offspring born in this country are naturally inclined to be Christian?

It could be due to the emphasis that the evangelical arm of the faith has placed on a personal decision to become a christian. Yet I don’t think that is accurate, I wonder how much of it stems from the preaching and message we hear? Yes there are a lot of non-Christians in America (25% or roughly 75 million people).

What do you think? Are Americans likely to become Christians?

Source: Barna Group Report
Image St. Patrick’s Cathedral by Saquan Stimpson/monstershaq2000

I have been spending far to many nights lately working that I missed Louis CK (personal – wiki) on Conan O’Brien last week. I want to hear your thoughts.

Louis hit right on the head the entitlement mentality of the majority of Americans under the age of 30. Not only have we never faced any major struggles (as a society), our parents grew up in a similar circumstance except that they had their parents harping on them about the war (WWII). Yes Vietnam was a tragedy for our nation, but it is drastically different than Iraq/Afghanistan in terms of social/cultural impact.

Not only are some of his lines great (“You’re sitting in a chair, in the SKY!”) and potential illustration material, he has address what I believe to be one of the underlying things the current recession has touched on. That we believe we should never have to cut back, or to choose between several ‘good’ things, and that paired with a lack of appreciation spells a recipe for hard times ahead.

This video has been making its rounds on the web, and I’m interested to hear what you feel Louis is touching on during his interview.

(hat nod - swissmiss & DEtF )