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South Atlantic District Convention
Holiday Inn Resort
Indian Rocks Beach, Florida
Tuesday, June 11, 2002 930-1030
AM
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(No Transcript)
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My Sheep Hear My Voice Identifying the
Generational and Cultural Shifts in a Postmodern
Society
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The Five Living Generations

• The Seniors (born 1926 or earlier)
• The Builders (born 1927-1945)
• The Boomers (born 1946-1964)
• The Baby Busters (born 1965-1983)
• The Mosaics (born 1984-2002)

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Trends of a Postmodern Society

• Moral relativism

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Moral Relativism

• POPE ALLOWS WEAKLAND TO RETIRE
• (Headline of Milwaukee Journal Sentinel,
  Saturday, May 25, 2002)

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Moral Relativism

• "Does she think that she has a monopoly on the
  truth? Is seems so, and anyone who is that sure
  of themselves is potentially dangerous."
• (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, June 20, 2000)

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Moral Relativism

• While people have always committed sins,
  they at least acknowledged these were sins. A
  century ago a person may have committed adultery
  flagrantly and in defiance of God and man, but he
  would have admitted that what he was doing was a
  sin. What we have today is not only immoral
  behavior, but a loss of moral

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Moral Relativism

• criteria. This is true even in the church. We
  face not only a moral collapse, but a collapse of
  meaning. There are no absolutes. (Veith,
  page 18)

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Moral Relativism

• "Over the years we have researched people's views
  on relativism and moral truth in various ways.
  Most recently we asked teenagers a series of
  questions designed to determine not only their
  stand on truth but also the intensity of their
  position and how they arrived at that view. What
  we discovered is both alarming and hopeful
  alarming because of the current stand of most
  young people, but hopeful because few teenagers
  have solidified their position." (p. 91)

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Moral Relativism

• "In some ways, then, the moral foundation of
  teenagers is still up for grabs. Only one out of
  every six youths has a firm opinion on moral
  truth. Given the importance of this issue, the
  tentative nature of most teens' views should
  sound the starter's pistol for a focused scramble
  to influence teen thinking on this pivotal
  matter." (p. 92)

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"When it comes to matters of morals and ethics,
truth means different things to different people
no one can be absolutely positive that he or she
knows the truth." (Barna Research)
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"You can tell if something is morally/ethically
right for you by whether or not it works in your
life." (Barna Research)
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"The Bible provides a clear and totally accurate
description of moral truth." (Barna Research)
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Trends of a Postmodern Society

• Moral relativism
• Religious pluralism

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Religious Pluralism

• Not long ago, the Dear Abby column tackled the
  issue of family quarrels over religion. A reader
  told Abby, Your answer to the woman who
  complained that her relatives were always arguing
  with her about religion was ridiculous. You
  advised her to simply declare the subject
  off-limits. Are you suggesting that people talk
  only about trivial, meaningless subjects to

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Religious Pluralism

• avoid a potential controversy? . . . It is
  arrogant to tell people there are subjects they
  may not mention in your presence. You could have
  suggested she learn enough about her relatives
  cult to show them the errors contained in its
  teachings. In response Abby wrote this In my
  view, the height of arrogance is to attempt to
  show people the errors in the religion of their
  choice.

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Religious Pluralism

• Abbys reply captures a growing sentiment about
  spirituality today. The grossest possible sins
  one could commit in the religious arena are
  showing intolerance and claiming objectivity.
  You dont have to think long to recognize these
  as the cardinal sins reviled by postmodernism in
  general. Those who differ with others based on

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Religious Pluralism

• reason are using truth claims to exclude other
  cultural groupings. Those who think they are
  objective are naïve, and dangerous. (McCallum,
  page 199-200)

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(No Transcript)
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Religious Pluralism

• "She had planned, long before Sept. 11, to have
  the Qur'an present when she took her final vows.
  After Sept. 11, she wondered whether people might
  be offended by its presence at the ceremony. But
  other sisters convinced her she should not
  forsake her heritage and should celebrate Islam
  for the peaceful religion it truly is.

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Religious Pluralism

• 'I feel so fortunate in many ways that I've had
  the experience of religious diversity within my
  own family, that I've had the support of my
  parents through my faith journey'

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Religious Pluralism

• So, on Sunday, Chuston knelt before the altar on
  the chapel's marble steps, and prayed in the
  shadow of the Qur'an, two white roses
  representing her deceased parents and the
  Franciscan San Damiano Cross, all as symbols of
  her past, present and future." (Milwaukee
  Journal Sentinel, Monday, October 29, 2001)

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"Although there are many religions in the world,
most of them lead to the same God." (Luth.
Brotherhood, 1998)
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"How often do your read your Bible on your own?"
(Luth. Brotherhood, 1998)
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"How often do your read or discuss the Bible or
other devotional material in your home with
friends or family?" (Luth. Brotherhood, 1998)
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A Truth Vacuum

• "How did our young people become so confused - or
  complacent - about truth? It seems from a
  variety of errant inputs. First, their role
  models have consistently denied the existence of
  such truth and have lived accordingly. Second,
  our culture upholds relativism and encourages
  people to be open minded' on all things. The
  mass media, public policy makers and even our
  schools have facilitated the acceptance of
  relativism. Third, the Church is guilty of not
  providing people

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A Truth Vacuum

• with substance that clarifies truth. We teach
  about many topics and exegete many passages of
  Scripture, but rarely do congregants hear a
  cohesive argument for the existence and practical
  application of truth Fourth, people are
  ill-equipped to dissect Scripture on their own to
  get at the issues. Fifth, people's priorities do
  not include a deeper understanding of the core
  issues of life. Millions of Americans are
  concerned about increasing their salary or buying
  a new car or new home few are

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A Truth Vacuum

• actively wrestling with the deeper purpose of
  life and how the raise, the car of the house fit
  into a framework of ultimate meaning. What are
  you doing - in your family, in your church, in
  your youth ministry - to enable young people to
  understandthe idea of absolutism in a culture of
  relativism, and to commit to developing a
  biblical worldview that is founded on God's
  unchanging and non-negotiable truths?" (p. 91)

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Learning Task 1 Implications of Moral
Relativism and Religious Pluralism for Our
Educational Ministry

• Form a group of four or five. Appoint a
  reporter. Spend five minutes listing as many
  challenges and opportunities for our educational
  ministry with which society's moral relativism
  and religious pluralism present us.
• We will share ideas with the whole group.

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Learning Task 1

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Learning Task 1

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Learning Task 1

• Time Is Up!

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Learning Task 1 Implications of Moral
Relativism and Religious Pluralism for Our
Educational Ministry

• What are the challenges or opportunities with
  which society's moral relativism and religious
  pluralism present us as we seek to carry out our
  educational ministry?

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Trends of a Postmodern Society

• Moral relativism
• Religious pluralism
• Fragmentation of society into (warring)
  sub-cultures

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Fragmentation of Society

• Only those within our own community or tribe
  have the right to comment or criticize our truth.
  Postmodernist thought divides people into
  conflicting groups wherein the individual can
  become lost and power can become the controlling
  factor. From Rwanda to Bosnia to the Middle
  East, we see the formation of a new tribalism.
  In our own country we see this fragmentation as
  issue after issue

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Fragmentation of Society

• causes us to split into our different groups.
  Whether it was Vietnam or Watergate in the past
  or abortion or the environment today, we have
  become fragmented. We now live in many different
  Americas, eating at different restaurants,
  shopping at different malls, watching different
  cable channels. (Long, p. 71)

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Fragmentation of Society

• I believe there are at least 20 different
  teenage subcultures existing in the United States
  today. Teenagers often belong to multiple
  subcultures - sometimes because they are
  transitioning from one to another, sometimes
  because they have multiple interests that require
  variety in their tribal loyalties, sometimes
  because they are searching for their place in the
  larger culture. Here are a few of the more
  common subcultures, most of which probably exist
  in your vicinity. The

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Fragmentation of Society

• names undoubtedly vary from locale to locale, and
  in some regions of the country these particular
  labels may be viewed as offensive - my advice is
  that you focus on understanding these subcultures
  and embrace the name that the youths in your area
  choose for themselves boarders, gothics, gays,
  skinheads, greenies, geeks, jocks, rappers,
  metalheads, preps, Jesus freaks, gearheads."
  (Barna, p. 41-42)

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Fragmentation of Society

• While modern innovations created a certain unity
  at the expense of local identity, postmodern
  innovations are reversing the process.
  Technology once promoted unity, but now
  technology is being pushed so far that it
  promotes diversity. Network television
  homogenized society by making the whole country
  depend upon three centrally controlled networks
  for their information and

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Fragmentation of Society

• entertainment. Cable television, on the other
  hand, allows the viewer to choose among an
  enormous number of channels. Broadcasting is
  giving way to narrowcasting in which channels are
  aimed at particular interests and particular
  segments of the audience." (p. 145)

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Fragmentation of Society

• "There is a problem, however, with the
  segmentation of politics. It destroys a common
  ground for the argument of persuasion.
  Environmentalists and loggers, the American Civil
  Liberties Union and anti-pornographers have
  almost no common frames of reference. Pro-lifers
  know how difficult it is to discuss abortion with
  a militant pro-choicer. Appeals to biblical
  morality, to the constitutional right to life, to
  scientific facts about the development of life

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Fragmentation of Society

• in the womb, to the brutality of abortion
  techniques - these objective issues carry no
  weight with people whose worldview allows for no
  external absolutes, who accept no moral criteria
  beyond a woman's arbitrary choice, or who
  uncritically accept the orthodox feminist line.
• Because they lack common philosophy and a common
  language, these special interest groups cannot
  persuade each other or even forge a compromise.
  They can only exert

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Fragmentation of Society

• power over each other. One wins, the other
  loses, and the battles are often ugly and
  ruthless. The segmentation of society turns the
  different groups into hostile camps - pitting
  the old against the young, blacks against Koreans
  and Hispanics. In a return of class warfare the
  poor, the middle class, and the rich all blame
  each other for their economic problems. (p. 147)

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Trends of a Postmodern Society

• Moral relativism
• Religious pluralism
• Fragmentation of society into (warring)
  sub-cultures
• Reason gives way to appeals to emotion through
  multi-sensory experiences

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Reason Gives Way to Emotion

• In accord with the tenets of postmodernism, the
  TV culture includes a diversity of styles and a
  jumble of histories. The postmodernist rejection
  of words in favor of images, the replacement of
  reason with emotional gratification, the
  abdication of meaning in favor of entertainment
  are all inherent of the genre. The TV watcher
  submits to a collage of unconnected images,

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Reason Gives Way to Emotion

• to appearances, to surfaces - in short, to all
  the characteristics of postmodernism.
  Postmodernist philosophers argue that all truth
  is a kind of fiction postmodernist artists
  attempt to blur the distinction between art and
  reality. Such theories may seem esoteric, but
  they are the bread and butter of television.
  (Veith, p. 122)

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Reason Gives Way to Emotion

• "Since the very existence of television depends
  on delivering eyeballs to advertisers, you can be
  the networks have mastered the science of doing
  this. They know that the best way to get and
  hold your attention is to cause an emotional
  jolt. Psychologists have studied this phenomenon
  in depth. At the most basic level, the ability
  to respond emotionally is an innate part of the
  human survival mechanism.

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Reason Gives Way to Emotion

• We are set up to react. Our emotions allow us to
  respond in a variety of ways - to feel sorrow or
  joy, fear, anger, desire, belonging, and so on.
  Television uses this to its advantage,
  stimulating our emotions in order to grab and
  hold our attention. The more powerful the
  emotional jolt, the more likely we are to keep
  watching. There are many ways to stimulate
  emotions in the viewers, but the

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Reason Gives Way to Emotion

• business model favors those that are reliable and
  inexpensive. Three themes that fit that bill are
  violence, sex, and humor. It's not surprising
  that TV (and other media) are packed with this
  trioThe effect of a given emotional jolt does
  have its limit, however. Once you've been
  exposed long enough to a particular jolt, you
  become desensitized to it. Desensitization leads
  to disinterest,

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Reason Gives Way to Emotion

• which spells doom for advertisers. Of course,
  program producers can't let that happen.
  Instead, to keep your eyeballs aimed at the
  screen, programming increases the frequency as
  well as the intensity of the jolts. I call this
  the jolts-per-show, or JPS, factor. The higher
  the JPS factor, the better the chances of keeping
  you hooked until the inevitable commercial break
  when the ad itself can work on your emotions."
  (p. 58-59)

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"Here's How the Average School-Age Child Spends
Time Each Week" (Dr. Dave's, p. 43)
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Reason Gives Way to Emotion

• "Although few teenagers expect to abandon the
  physical church in favor of a cyberchurch or
  solely online faith commitment, their openness to
  having faith related experiences online is
  extraordinary. Large percentages of teenagers
  expect to use the Internet in the near future to
  have faith chats, read motivational or devotional
  writings, submit online prayer requests to a
  cybercommunity, listen to religious teaching that
  can be downloaded or audio-streamed, and buy
  religious music." (p. 108)

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Reason Gives Way to Emotion

• "In a fast-paced, relativistic,
  information-drenched culture, with fluid
  relationships and ever-changing faith views, the
  constant that keeps life meaningful and
  invigorating is the latest and most satisfying
  experience. Events, adventures and unexpected
  encounters make each day a new and satisfying
  episode in their unfolding story. That which
  does not provide a fresh experience is deemed to
  be of lesser or no value.

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Reason Gives Way to Emotion

• This drive for experiential reality is altering
  everything in Americato build a following and
  have influence in our culture today, one must
  develop memorable and personally engaging events
  or experiences. It is the event that attracts
  attention, creates value and satisfies the
  individual's longing for more than the mundane
  routine of life. Teenagers, raised in the
  fast-paced world of videos and the interactive,
  personalized and boundary-less world of the
  Internet, are leading this foray.

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Reason Gives Way to Emotion

• There is a key implication in this for those who
  wish to make the faith journey a core element of
  the lives of teens. Looking at that journey
  through the lens of experience-driven reality
  raises questions about how we make their
  spiritual path one of creative, inspiring,
  rewarding and challenging opportunities to grow.
  Young people recognize that they are in a life
  stage that demands personal change and
  definition. They are willing to undergo the
  difficulties

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Reason Gives Way to Emotion

• associated with personal maturation - as long as
  the quality of the journey holds the promise of
  justifying the depth of the challenges. They
  want to enjoy the journey. To enjoy it, they
  want pleasant, revealing and surprising
  experiences. They will resist rote, predictable
  exercises in favor of that which makes the effort
  extraordinary. Those who wish to see true
  spiritual and personal transformation occur in
  the lives of young people cannot afford to ignore
  the implications of the experience-driven
  lifestyle.

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Reason Gives Way to Emotion

• Like so much that we face in our culture today,
  you may not feel comfortable with that mind-set
  or like that approach to spiritual development.
  My advice is simple and not meant to be
  sarcastic Get over it. You don't have to like
  how they learn or what they demand in order to
  grow - you just have to deal with it. They live
  in an experience-based world and crave unique and
  fun experiences. The Christian faith ought to be
  capable of delivering transformation - the
  ultimate experience - in the context of
  creativity and exuberance. We may all be better
  off for the effort to do so." (pages 42-44)

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Reason Gives Way to Emotion

• "I am convinced that we sometimes blur the
  distinction between what we have to do to attract
  teens to the church (i.e., marketing) and what we
  must do to impact them for Christ (i.e.,
  ministry). Too often, it seems, we surrender
  ministry value for marketing impact - that is, we
  give up the responsibility to facilitate life
  change in order to succeed at attracting a crowd.
• How do we do this? By performing music, dramas
  and offering amusing teaching

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Reason Gives Way to Emotion

• rather than engaging them in authentic worship
  and serious discipleshipWe have mastered the art
  of drawing a crowd, but at the expense of
  drilling deep into lives of teenagers with
  spiritual truths. Games, loud music, interactive
  discussions, silly skits - all those means have a
  place in youth ministry, but they must have a
  meaningful connection to the ultimate purpose of
  the ministry. If those approaches are justified

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Reason Gives Way to Emotion

• solely because they help us recruit a larger
  number of young people, then we will win the
  battle but lose the war. We must remain focused
  on the larger mission and vision that God
  entrusts to his leaders for why we strive to
  influence the lives of young people." (p.
  155-156)

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Learning Task 2 Implications of Cultural
Fragmentation and Desire for Emotional
Experiences for Our Educational Ministry

• In your group of four or five spend five minutes
  listing as many challenges and opportunities for
  ministry with which society's fragmentation into
  cultural subgroups and desire for emotional
  experiences presents us.
• We will share ideas with the whole group.

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Learning Task 2

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Learning Task 2

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Learning Task 2

• Time Is Up!

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Learning Task 2 Implications of Cultural
Fragmentation and Desire for Emotional
Experiences for Our Educational Ministry

• What are the challenges or opportunities with
  which society's fragmentation and desire for
  emotional experiences present us as we seek to
  carry out our educational ministry?

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Trends of a Postmodern Society

• Moral relativism
• Religious pluralism
• Fragmentation of society into (warring)
  sub-cultures
• Reason gives way to appeals to emotion through
  multi-sensory experiences
• Other trends?

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The Common Need Across Generations and Cultural
Shifts