Lisa is in her late teens and exploring Christian faith. She goes to church every three weeks or so, depending on what’s happening in her busy life. The gap between the music she listens to on Saturday night and what they sing in church on Sunday morning is, like, unbelievable. Some of the people at church are “as cool as”, but some of the sermons are “as boring as”.

Most of her spare time is spent hanging out with friends. Lisa doesn’t go for meetings much, and hates how the church pews all face the front. She goes to a Buddhist meditation class and gets a real buzz out of it. She loves dancing and dresses colourfully. Lisa would say that the universe blows her away regularly. A strong environmentalist, she has checked out a variety of groups which offer alternative ways of living. “We’re all connected”, she says.

Lisa lives in a world of both choice and confusion. She’s not into careers, institutions and doing things you don’t like. She lives in the present, and long-term planning means deciding what to do tomorrow. She thinks broadly and doesn’t like the way religions and philosophies compete for the whole landscape.

How would such a person find your church? Does your church have good news for Lisa? In what ways could it learn from her?

Some churches operate in a pre-modern framework, as if science and the European Enlightenment have not arrived. Its members are torn in two, living in a medieval universe in worship and another world during the week.

Most churches, however, operate on modern assumptions, fitting comfortably into a fairly rational world of planning and technology. Willow Creek Community Church in Chicago is an extreme example. It has many strengths, but when I worshipped there I could have been in a TV studio. With five thousand others I watched the service on huge screens. There was a huge counter in the foyer staffed by representatives of each ministry of the church, like a check-in counter at the airport. You could choose, as in a supermarket. The short drama showing human conflict was professionally done and was like a cameo from a soapie. The congregation were spectators, like an invited television audience. No-one spoke to me. I think I’ll change channels.

Churches in the grip of modernity use finely honed techniques for evangelism. We manage budgets, set goals and try to build the kingdom. Most modern of all, we live caught up in the web of materialism like most of those around us. We are counter-cultural in some ways, but often not in the ways that count.

Few churches seem to be seriously exploring ministry in a postmodern society.

There are many aspects of postmodern society which resonate with the gospel as Jesus embodied it. What would it mean for relationships to be central and programs secondary? What would it mean to proclaim the kingdom of God as a feast and to recover our sense of taste, colour, sound and movement? Could we learn gospel truths through story, mime and drama? Could we ever be God’s playful, ironic and creative people? Could the church look more like community than institution? Could our way of travelling ever matter as much as the doctrines we affirm?

Of course, there are postmodern trends which followers of Jesus need to challenge. We might agree that all versions of the truth are “situated” and contextual, and therefore partial. But the Good News is irreducibly a grand narrative. It claims to integrate the fragmented world we live in. It challenges the image-making of the media and the superficiality of celebrity. It calls us into a space which allows healing in a world of crazy pace and divided self.

Just in case we forget (and we do regularly), the pace of change has grown exponentially in the West since the Enlightenment. Churches seem to like stability and tradition, but meanwhile there are rapidly changing cultures swirling about on our doorstep.

Never has Christian mission demanded so urgently that we understand what is going on around us. We need to do it through cultural analysis, yes. But more importantly, we need to listen to people like Lisa. The church of tomorrow will look very different from the church of today.

Mission studies are in an exciting era!

Ross Langmead.