Monday, May 14, 2007

God has my mind spinning

I am currently reading a number of books all at the same time. I don't know how it happened other than I was given two, one by a friend and another at a conference, one I had ordered finally arrived, one I loaned out came back, and the one I was already reading. All in all it is a bit confusing, but my mind is spinning. I am so aware that God is doing something exciting at Cornerstone. He is really at work in my heart in the area of church planting and Four Corners. Alan Hirsch gives this quote in The Forgotten Ways. "on one occasion some youth ministry specialists I work with identified in an hour 50 easily discernible youth subcultures." (jocks, nerds, grease heads, goths, skaters, surfers, preps, geeks, good Ol boys, punks, etc.)
Wow! As I look at our area of Four Corners, I see the same thing. This really is a metropolitan suburb. What normally exists in the inner city, we, because of Disney, have in our subdivision. What does a church look like that is made up of so many discernible subcultures. Can they co-exist in one church? What about blending them into one service, is it possible? If it is possible would it be effective or too schizophrenic? What then are our options, what must we do to reach each of these cultures? I know that if I started a church to the jocks, that the nerds would not come, and vice-versa. The goths and the preps are the same. In fact, I can't see effectively reaching them all corporately, unless we strive to reach them all individually. On their cultural playing field. Let me give you some of the subcultures that I see in Four Corners. 1. Young families 2. Retired Seniors from the North 3. Single Adults 4. Southern Gospelers 4. Spanish 5. Islanders 6. Black American 7. Haitian 8. Asian 9. Arabic 10. British. Now I don't know that they cannot co-exist, but I do know that for the most part they don't. If you take EPCOT as our consummate example. There is one park, centered around one lake. There are many countries, but each one has borders, They have their own food, their own architecture, their own music. Is it possible that this is what our church should look like, One church, one Savior, but various services to each subculture? It is my prayer that God will give me insight into how to reach His people here in Four Corners, no matter what side of the lake they are on.