By Dr. Clyde Dupin
In the past 25 years many evangelical pastors, in order to remain relevant, have tried
many new things. They have redesigned the church to not look like a traditional church. It
may look like an abandoned warehouse or outdated mall. Inside jumbo screens display what
appears to be music videos. There is mood lighting, music with throbbing bass and young
people wearing skinny jeans and tank tops. When these new things win the lost, then I am
grateful.
Among this change we have the emerging church, mega-church, hipster church and no
name church. Hipster Christianity is a rebellion against the subculture that bore it.
The emerging church writes its own theology and embraces universalism. These new
churches have little in common with groups like Focus on the Family, Campus Crusade or a
Billy Graham type Crusade. They have little interest in soul winning and prefer to be called
“Christ Followers” rather than Christians. They cringe at the thought of an altar call and the
thought of passing out a Gospel tract gives them nightmares.
Cool faith started in the 60s. It was embraced by the exploding war youth culture. Cool
Christianity started with the hippie movement. Young pastors soon learned it would draw a
crowd. With these new cool churches, Christian rock music was born. Today’s Christian
hipsters want to retain their faith but fit in with the secular hipster culture.
The majority of people who attend these churches are from traditional churches. While
thousands may attend these mega-churches, church attendance is at an all-time low. It’s just
moving people from one place to another. In the midst of all the change and confusion, let us
pray that the Holy Spirit will lead people back to the full Gospel and unchanging Word of God.
