I think most evangelical churches, including my own (Seventh-day Adventist), is due for a crisis. It may not happen in 10 years. It may not even happen in 20 years. But I believe that every year that passes, in which the culture becomes increasingly more secular, will be one year closer to this happening.

Allow me to share an extended quote that makes me suspect this:

“In the face of the postmodern shift, the effectiveness of our traditional methods of evangelicalism will wane because they are (mostly) grounded in modern assumptions whose perceived value and formerly prevalent influence in culture are also waning. To understand how and why this is so, let us examine two examples: evidentiary apologetics and ‘seeker services.’

The first practice of evidentiary apologetics uses modern science to defend Christianity. Authors using this strategy typically build a scientific case for the veracity of Scripture and the resurrection using historical and scientific evidence. The popular “New Evidence That Demands A Verdict” by Josh McDowell and “The Case for Christ” by Lee Strobel are just two prominent examples of this strategy. Creationist science and the ‘inerrancy’ defense of Scripture are other examples. All such authors and their strategies depend upon the hearer believing in the authority and objectivity of modern science. But that belief has waned within postmodernity. But that belief has waned within postmodernity. Hence, in postmodernity, evidentiary apologetics comes off sounding like an agenda-ridden manipulation of scientific methods. Scientific defenses of the Bible fail to carry weight because the ‘inerrancy’ defense assumes that there is an objective scientific basis for ‘what is an error.’”-David E. Fitch, The Great Giveaway

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I had an interesting experience recently.

My son’s pre-k class was having a “family night.” These are times in which parents are invited to come and see the kids sing a few songs, as well as see some activities that the class has been working on. I honestly wasn’t super excited about going, but I put on some khakis, threw on a polo, and off we went.

The first thing I noticed is that there were only four kids there out of a total of sixteen in his class. Evidently, most of the parents didn’t think this was an important event to attend. The second thing I noticed is that I was the best-dressed person in the room. I was a little surprised by this at first because I thought I was dressed fairly normal for an event at a school. I wasn’t wearing a tie. The polo-type shirt was actually untucked. But, yet, as I made my way to a table where two parents were sitting, I immediately noticed that they were dressed much more “casually.” At the table was the father of one of the boys and the mother of another student, a girl. The father was dressed in a somewhat ragged t-shirt and shorts. Across the table the mother of the girl was also dressed in a–how should I frame this?–a well-worn t-shirt and also some shorts.

After briefly saying hi to both of them, I noticed what my problem was.

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Today I’m beginning a series on “Getting To Know Your Community.” In this first post, I’ll share what I learned about my community by spending some time with the principal of my local elementary school.

School name: Mars Elementary

Principal: Mike Shembarger

First of all, I’ll share that principals are somewhat hard to get a hold of. I had previously tried to see him twice, but each time the appointment was cancelled because some unforeseen event made him unavailable. Clearly, they are very busy people. The day that I walked in for our appointment, he was actually stationed at the front desk where the secretary usually is. He invited me to come behind the desk and pull up a chair where we began chatting and our journey really began.

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