Trends in Christianity

NOTE: I originally named this column "Fads in Christianity" but have decided to rename it "Trends in Christianity". Fads are typically very short lived (less than 2 years) and each of the things I mention below lasted longer than 2 years. So I feel trend is a better term after all.

One of the more interesting phenomena of church life in the past 40 years or so have been a number of trends that have come, gone, come back, gone back, stayed around, etc. in the life of the church. Here's a sampling of these trends.

The Bus Ministry Trend: Running bus routes to pick up children for church. Most popular in the 60's and 70's.

The Evangelism Explosion Trend: Dr. D. James Kennedy's witnessing course. Most popular in the 70's into the early 80's.

The Seeker Sensitive Trend: Based on Willow Creek's weekend evangelistic services. Began to catch on in the late 80's on into the 90's.

The Experiencing God Trend: Based on studying the popular curriculum by author Henry Blackaby. Trendy during the 90's.

The Promise Keepers Trend: Going to the stadium events. Most popular in the middle and late 90's.

The Purpose-Driven Trend: Based on Rick Warrens' two bestselling books. Most popular in the late 90's and early 2000's.

The Prayer of Jabez Trend: Bruce Wilkinson's book. Most popular in the early 2000's.

The Worship Renaissance Trend: We're still basically traditional but we have added power point screens, contemporary music and praise teams. Began catching steam in the late 90's and still going strong at this point.

The Calvinism Trend: Who would have thought Calvinist theology would make a big comeback? Began in the mid 90's and is still going strong at this point.

The "Beth Moore Study" Trend: Women's Bible studies that have been popular in all of the 2000's. Still going strong at this point.

The Emerging Church Trend: A post-modern attempt at doing church with both liberal and conservative theological streams. Most popular in the mid-2000's and I think just now starting to wane somewhat (though it's hard to tell for sure).

The Joel Osteen Trend: A man who is a trend all to himself. Began in the mid-2000's and still going strong at this point.

Now there have been two basic responses of Christians to all these trends. They have been to either:
a) Latch on to them and ride them as far as we can until the next big thing comes along.

or

b) Rail against some or all of them and (via default) defend the way we've always done things.

Can I suggest a third alternative that should be obvious but doesn't seem to be crashing through the thick skulls of American church men.

c) Judge each trend on it's own merits. See if it is theologically accurate. Find out if God is using it. See what God wants you to do with it.

Some of the trends reflect ways of doing church. Just because it may be new to you does not make it automatically bad. Just because you have a preference that is different does not make the other preference heresy. Great care needs to be taken to make sure these ways of doing church do not contradict Biblical truth in any way, but once this test is passed, and God is leading you to do so, feel free to use new methods.

Most of the books I mentioned are excellent. You need to read them before you judge them. There are great misconceptions about them that are bandied about that just are not true. For instance, Prayer of Jabez has been accused of being a health and wealth Gospel book. A closer examination of the content does not bear this out.

In closing, the two trends I would exercise great caution with are the last two. I have great problems with the liberal wing of the Emerging church (and I disagree on some points with the more conservative wing). There is some value to studying this movement but you need to be theologically grounded to do so. And as for Joel Osteen: well, I don't want to say anything negative about a person, but Osteen's theology has proven quite shaky. While some of the things he says may have some value, Osteen is committed to a health and wealth theology that is very shaky and just not Biblical on many levels.

Which brings up a caution about all trends: run them through the Word of God before embracing them.