By Michael Clingenpeel
Q: Our church just hired a pastor who is young enough to be the child of many members. His language about “the emerging church,” “postmodernism” and “interfaith dialogue” distresses older members. Communication and context seem to be the issues in conflict here. So, how can we handle the distress that is developing?
A: Baptist churches with aging memberships are legion. One could wish pastors young enough to be the child of their members also were legion. When, by the call of God, the two come together, issues of communication and context emerge. The radical discontinuity between generations makes generational conflict inevitable. Rub them together, and sparks fly.
The older members and the younger pastor need to keep facing each other and talking. If they turn their backs to each other, an unhappy parting is not distant. Older members can make a genuine effort to understand why “the emerging church,” “postmodernism” and “interfaith dialogue” make them so anxious.
The Emergent church movement attempts to recapture the practice of authentic Christianity for a new generation of believers. It doesn’t look like your parents’/grandparents’ church, but is an effort to look like Paul’s and Luke’s church.
At some point in recent decades, postmodernism became the prevailing worldview in the industrialized nations. Even if some of its traits should not be accepted, it must be understood.
Interfaith dialogue is not capitulation of our Christian or Baptist principles to another ideology or religion, any more than talking with someone who cheers for the Cowboys means I forfeit my devotion to the Redskins. It does represent a reasoned conversation with people who differ in the way we understand God’s ways in order to expand our understanding of them and God. Paul was a Pharisee, but he did not shy away from a conversation with Greek philosophers.
The young pastor needs to measure the pace at which he is trying to achieve change and the effects of his use of “code” words. It is not easy to move a congregation from an outdated understanding of its mission and effectiveness in communicating the gospel. What seems obvious to him may seem outlandish to his members. He is as responsible for the words he uses to encourage change as his members are to understand his meaning.
Can some generational conflict be avoided? Certainly. The search process was the place for this conflict to present itself. A prospective pastor needs to be candid in responses to questions, and search committees need to ask better questions. Once the marriage has taken place, however, the goal is for both sides to talk and, even better, to listen. God created us with two ears and one mouth.