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brett
crimmel
teaching
pastor of the church at the crossing
1.
we ask this of everyone - how do you define the postmodern movement?
This
is the best question – and the worst question that can be asked.
It’s the best question because we have to know what we are up against.
However, it’s the worst question because the postmodern movement is
still defining itself.
Right
now, we are in the midst of one of the most significant paradigm shifts in the
history of the world. But this
time, it isn’t necessarily because of the industrial revolution – or the
invention of the car. The
motivation behind this movement is a weariness for a search into objectivity and
a fervor to discover something real.
When
people ask me what the postmodern movement is doing – my simplest response is
“it is the rejection of the motivations of the enlightenment.”
Many people condemn postmoderns because they won’t believe in objective
truth – but that’s simply not the case . . . the postmodern is looking for authentic
truth.
2.
building and maintaining community is central to a postmodern community
of faith. what is the crossing
doing to help develop that community?
The
difference between our church and the surrounding churchscape (other churches in our area) is that we do not simply
have small groups, but we are a church comprised of small groups.
In our small groups – life development happens.
Our
extrinsic motivation is to create an environment where people would feel
comfortable exploring their faith. It
is not a Bible study group – but we always look to the scriptures for answers.
It is more of a discussion forum where everyone’s input is valued.
Many times, Christians enter into a conversation to convince the other
person they are wrong if they live without a relationship with Christ.
While this is true, we must be willing to stretch ourselves – be
improved and expanded in these conversations.
We must be open to a two way street of discussion.
In
the end, our intrinsic anticipated result is people entering into a relationship
with God through His Son. However,
this is not done through a program, but through the natural process of people
struggling through their faith together.
3.
how, and to what extent, does tech play a roll in worship?
Each
of our worship gatherings fits into a series.
Each series is different. While
our current series is heavily dominated by technology – we make extensive use
of projectors through contemplative imagery and scriptural quotes, documentaries
on the VCR, movie clips from Monty Python
from the DVD, and audience participation questions from power point – the
following series will be a complete rejection of technology and will go almost
completely “unplugged” (turning off the MIDI, techno & keyboard for the
acoustic grand piano, using ancient percussion and putting the drum set in the
closet, and taking all the effects and electric guitars and simply grabbing the
raw acoustic guitars). While each
series uses technology differently, we intentionally make sure that it is not
the central part of the worship gathering.
We
also have a significant lighting system that allows us to control all the
lighting in the facility. This way
the room is lit in the places where it facilitates worship – and is dark in
areas where people may need isolation.
4.
music, drama, comedy, video and so much more, can be brought into a
community of faith to aid worship. which
of the above - and others - do you use to ad in worship - if any at all?
We
definitely use a higher percentage of music in our worship than most churches I
have participated in worship at. Recently
on FoodTV, the Roadie Chef’s II
episode featured the comment, “food may feed the body, but music feeds the
soul”. The most obvious way for
most people to express worship to their Creator is through musical expression
– just look at the arguments concentrating on the musical style in many
American churches today.
We
also use a great deal of video in our gatherings. It is easier to ensure quality when video is used as opposed
to live drama. This also allows us
to connect with people on another level – a more impersonal level, but a level
people frequently spend more of their time involved in during the week.
5.
what do you see as the "market" you are striving to reach, and
how are you doing it?
We
decided to play the “emerging generations” card this fall to show people our
target. Unfortunately, however,
people have assumed that this means that middle & older generations aren’t
welcome. This couldn’t be further
from the truth. Our goal is to
provide the atmosphere for anyone that finds themselves disconnected from God a
place of safe haven to journey toward faith.
Many
people have defined this as reaching the postmodern, but see the answer to
question #1 and you can see that the postmodern market is very difficult to
define . . .
6.
given the current world tensions, how do we preach a message of
forgiveness in an environment of revenge?
This
question has come up more than any other in recent weeks in small groups.
This is where having an environment of open communication and sharing are
of up most importance. Many times, we have all agreed that we want revenge.
But, being in an environment where we always look to the scriptures for
answers – it is easy to walk to passages that show God’s justice.
And that’s where we focus.
We
don’t focus on the turn the other cheek episodes as much as we focus on the
final judge. In the current
context, most people cannot rationalize and think clearly through loving our
enemies without first realizing that God is ultimately in control.
7.
what do you see are the most important qualities of a postmodern
community of faith?
Authenticity,
authenticity, authenticity. Sorry,
no pragmatic solutions or systems to follow. People need to see that the God of Abraham, Jacob, Isaac,
Moses is real not because we say He is – but because He is.
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