July 9, 2001
Culture has changed while church
was sleeping, Bandy tells Baptists
___By Mark Wingfield
___Managing Editor
___ATLANTA--Years ago, Tom Bandy was working as a campground chaplain in Michigan, bringing vacationers together for campfire songs and Bible lessons.
___During that time, he had an experience that changed his perspective and now guides him as a church consultant.
___After working the campground one evening, meeting families and passing outinformation about his spiritual program for the next day, he went to bed happy. But when he awoke the next morning, the entire campground looked different.
A CROWD estimated at 8,100 attended the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship annual meeting in Atlanta, Ga.
___A Detroit bike gang had rolled into the campground overnight. As they arrived, all the other campers packed up and left.
___Suddenly, the campground chaplain found no one eager to gather around the campfire and sing "Kumbaya."
___This is a metaphor for the church today, Bandy told participants in a Congregational Leadership Institute held June 28 in conjunction with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship general assembly. He is a consultant in Easum, Bandy & Associates, based in Aransas Pass.
___As Bandy walked among the newly arrived campers that morning, one of the bikers confronted him with a question: "What the hell are you doing here?"
___Although the question might sound crude and profane to church-going people, it illustrates the kind of attitude churches must face today if they want to be effective in ministry, Bandy suggested. And it changed his perspective.
___What, indeed, was he doing in that campground that would make a difference among people who were indifferent to the gospel, he thought.
___Like the campground that changed overnight, American culture has changed seemingly overnight, leaving many traditional churches wondering where all the people went, Bandy implied.
___This is seen in the spiritual context of the day, he said. "As we move into the post-modern world, we are crossing a boundary from an age of spiritual uniformity to one of spiritual ferment."
___Characteristics that previously defined the culture of the church in America may be seen as bad news rather than good news to the emerging culture, he warned.
___"Most people in America don't see Christians as being bearers of good news," he said. "To most of the public, church worship, church witness is received as bad news. ... We are talking a language that is like a riddle.
___"Never before has the American public been so spiritually hungry; and never before have they been so alienated."
___What's out of fashion, Bandy said, is the one-size-fits-all church that seeks uniformity to a clergy-led agenda that is dogmatic and judgmental.
___What's needed instead, he said, is indigenous worship designed to intersect with a local culture, experiential worship that helps people "feel the impact of the holy" and worship that helps people discover grace and relief rather than only judgment.
___In the old model, clergy "measured out safe doses of God" to the people, Bandy explained. But people today "are not longing for a mediated experience of grace but one that overflows."
___Churches that awaken to the new realities of the day will discover that the old emphasis on belonging doesn't work anymore, Bandy warned. What does work, he added, is emphasizing mission.
___"It's all about change, not about belonging to an institution," he said. "And it all begins with mission. People come to church because they have an itch they cannot scratch.
___"Healthy, thriving churches are all about changing individuals and society, and the clergy leaders are intent on reaching the lost," he explained in a handout. "It is a growth process that empowers individuals to expand a mission. People are changed, gifted, called, equipped and sent out in teams."
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