... the heart-cry of the emerging church—or what many call postmodern Christianity—appears to be not a finicky demand for perfection but an authentic search for the real deal, the no-frills, non-packaged, stripped-down version of Christianity that Jesus walked and talked. After being fed a spiritual diet of glam-gospel and grandstanding for so long, many believers can’t stomach another bite. They hunger for the meat-and-potatoes of authentic community coupled with meaningful teaching.

... At a recent retail seminar about reaching the twentysomething crowd, author Margaret Feinberg (Twentysomething, Nelson) told the audience of boomer Christian bookstore owners if they don’t change their stores to appeal to younger generations, they will lose them forever—to Barnes & Noble, Borders and the youth-culture-savvy Target. The same can be said for the Western church as we know it.

Unless it finds a way to be relevant to the changing culture, authentic spiritual seekers will go elsewhere. “A growing number of Christians are simply no longer willing to support expensive marketing campaigns, multimedia Bible studies and Sunday services with the choreographic demands of a Broadway musical,” said New York Times writer Laurie Goodstein in an article about the proliferation of house churches and other forms of do-it-yourself congregations. Professor Nancy T. Ammerman, a sociologist for Hartford Seminary in Connecticut, concurred, adding, “This development shows people looking for faith’s essence. They are no longer willing to finance huge buildings, a large staff, insurance policies, advertising campaigns and the leaking church roof, because it all seems simply irrelevant.”

... Perhaps postmodern believers do practice a type of consumerism—but let it be said of us that what we long to consume is the “essence of faith,” the pure and simple gospel of Jesus Christ, without the fries, please.

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