Three Trends to Love

So the news is bad and for the Christians of the Middle East, their world is becoming a new Dark Age. American culture seems determined to test whether one nation can amuse itself to death. Russia, China, India, and other rivals wait to see what comes of the massive social experiments we have undertaken. Will Vegas morality leave us with a Vegas mentality?

So there is much to make us sad and yet not all the trends are bad. Here are three bits of good news to provide some jollification in hard times . . . recalling the times are always hard, we sometimes just do not notice. As for hope, hope is with us always because Jesus is Lord. Here are three outer signs of that inner reality.

Christianity is booming globally.

We look like the world. Unlike secularism, Christians are younger, more diverse, and having children. The future is in nations like China, India, and Nigeria not in Sweden or Norway. Always amusing, if it were not so sad,  is to point this out to a secularist and watch them fall into the racism or ethnocentrism that comes from being part of a movement that is not diverse at all.

You can anticipate stagnation in the parts of the world becoming secular, due in part to the declining birth rates that come with hedonism, and a rise in the newly Christian areas. Look to China to move from the aging communist tyranny toward a republic shaped by Christian values. Sub-Saharan Africa has a chance to create a cultural life independent from former colonial masters if she will ignore the bribery that leads to decadence. If a great Christian movie is to be made, I would look toward Nigeria or Kenya, not Hollywood.

Christianity in America is shedding its consumerism.

You may not notice, but spend some time with younger adults. They hate product driven Christianity. They are not going to the cheesy movies, buying the fatuous books, or listening to the Nashville controlled music. Instead, they are demanding quality. Sheldon Vanauken was right: “what is up-to-date is forever dated” and all things proclaimed contemporary in my generation are now for oldsters. Since not all of us oldsters rejected the timeless for the trendy (my parents certainly did not), traditional services are full of the older and the very young. We will survive without the forty and fifty somethings until my generation sees the light!

We know God loves the poor and hates oppression. More young people are faithful to Christian practice, but also reject double standards slapped on women by a vile “purity” culture. Instead, of “purity” they long for chastity and charity. They know that chastity is defined by what a man does, not what he does not do and that charity is the mark of a Christian. There is a growing emphasis on justice issues, such as the new abolitionism. Conservation is a good word.

Media is improving.

The worst of Christian media is still bad. There is still too much schlock, but even our schlock is better than the stuff we made a decade ago.  Fortunately, television evangelism is dying. Christian marketers are hard to shame, but even they are becoming embarrassed by the fact that “product” is reaching an older and older market. You can’t sell a film as “evangelistic” if nobody who is not a Christian and over forty goes to see the picture.

This generation is too Internet savvy to fall for “leaders” with fake credentials, lavish lifestyles that can no longer be hidden, and Biblical illiteracy disguised by honorary or bogus doctorates. Instead, Christian leaders, such as Nancy Pearcey and MJ Sharp, know the subjects about which they write and speak. Reformed leaders are rising in the rest of the world that are not dependent on the missionary mentality of previous generations. Instead, they are reclaiming the Gospel and ethics from the decadent West and making media true to their experiences, region, and language. Orthodox leaders are bringing the Church to nations such as Kenya where growth is explosive.

We have abandoned “Christian” media for media made by Christians. Films like War Room demonstrate the point: go to a theater and look around. You will not see the future, but the past. Then attend a poetry reading or an independent film festival and you will find real Christians producing good art in the mainstream. They are compassionate, but not compromised.

Thank God.

So hope springs eternal! We are global, less interested in “product,” and getting better at telling our story.