I will be back to Boobs for Jesus part II as soon as I have more than 10 minutes to think and type.
I was recently part of a FB group and was impressed by the dynamics. It, as you can imagine, was much different than a blog. It is a conversation that moves rapidly and not one person like me posting long articles.
I'm not very savoy when it comes to FB. I think if you do a search for the title (listed above) you can find it, send me a request to join and I will add you.
I want people to feel free to come incognito if that would help them feel safe enough to be extremely candid.
The purpose of the group will not be to persuade people to rejoin the church or anything like that. If anything, I want to help people to understand that there is good Christian life outside the subculture of evangelicalism.
So here is a brief description. Please pass the word to anyone you know that may have questions, doubts or interested in this topic. Thanks, Mike.
As many as 88% of kids raised in evangelical homes, leave the Church altogether by their twenties. The evangelical church has often used a strategy of retention composed of a) trying to entice them to stay via entertainment, b) frank guilt manipulation ("Jesus is sad when you aren't at church") and keeping them from thinking (as I've heard at churches, "don't let your kids go to college because they will be brainwashed by the atheists"). These tactics are a little more effective than rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. I grieve that those that leave were never engaged honestly or given the chance to have a meaningful conversation. They were never given options. Either they had to drink the Kool-Aid and accept the entire American-Christian subculture, or leave entirely. But there is life outside evangelicalism . . . even Christian life. We are creating a FB group were people can come and honestly talk, question, vent and seek a very candid conversation (and they are welcome to come incognito if it helps them feel safe). It will take weeks for such a group to reach critical mass, if it ever does. You are welcome to come and to pass the word to people of any age who have been disillusioned with evangelicalism and who may be wondering, "What's left? Where do you go from here?" The group is called "Headlamp (in the post-evangelical wilderness).https://www.facebook.com/groups/378582952258564/
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4 comments:
Michael,
I recently came across your blog when I was looking for other Christians who are interested in terrence malick's films. I have really enjoyed working my way through your posts and have read about half your manuscript. I plan to write again, but i was trying to find the facebook group you mentioned. I am prob even less FB savvy than you! Do you have a link (i tried seaching but kept finding automobile headlight groups)? thanks, h
I didn't know that there that many Christians who are Terrence Malick fans (or understood him) but glad you are.
I'm really bad at Facebook and I don't understand it. I think if you go on your home page and do a search for "Headlamp (in the Post Evangelical Wilderness)" the group would appear and then you just ask to join. I wanted to make it a closed group so the crazed-Jesus people (hyper-evangelicals) won't show up and start condemning people for honest questions. I think you get my drift. I've tried to teach a Sunday school on doubt . . . looking at it honestly. One person came thinking it was "how to help others deal with the sin of doubt." When people in the class expressed honest doubts he said they made him sick to his stomach. I want to create a safe and honest place.
Thanks, I'll look again. I'm looking forward to reading more of your blog. We seem to have had a lot of similar experiences. I went to Univ of Tenn, Knoxville, and was influenced by the Navigators, although even as a young Christian I was put off by their Phariseeism. I was also a Francis Schaeffer fan (and enjoy reading Franky Schaeffer now), am in the medical profession (general internist), and have been discouraged by the anti-intellectualism of the evangelical church. I hope to join your FB group and communicate with others with similar views. Thanks,
h
I will be back to Boobs for Jesus part II as soon as I have more than 10 minutes to think and type.
Looking forward to it, JMJ.
An eye-catching "Say What?" title like "Boobs for Jesus" should not be kept hanging incomplete.
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