Postmodernism: Rethinking How I do Ministry

In this blog entry, I will not try to debate if postmodernism is right or not. For me it is just vain to do that. This post will be about my humble attempt to respond logically and intellectually to this kind of worldview and thus improve my approach in ministry for better effectiveness.

I often hear of postmodernism being discussed in many circles. It is being talked about in universities and other academic cliques. I sometimes hear about well meaning Christians debating about this issue and condemning it as evil. I first heard of this topic a few years ago from a pastor in our denomination during a youth leaders conference. He explained, in the most simplest way, that it is a paradigm where there are no more absolutes and truth becomes relative. It wasn't that clear to me at that time what it really meant until I was confronted by the same issue in seminary. The understanding of such a new concept, at least in my experience, would require me a response. I sat down and pondered how this new way of thinking and seeing things would affect me as a young minister? How would it impact the way I do ministry with the kind of people I am involved with?

Before I answer these questions, let me first try to define or in a way get a grip of the idea of postmodernism. I will be talking about the concept itself and not the era and its underlying reasons of surge for it will be a broader spectrum to tackle with. It will be a challenge to explain this paradigm, after all "how does one define the indefinite?", asked James W. Sire in his book The Universe Next Door. This is with the the notion that the postmodernist looks at things through an "indefinite lens." For an astronaut in space this is the absence of a local vertical, for a traveler the disappearance of the true north, and for a pilot the invisible horizon. We then ask, how can one wrestle with such when there are no standards on which we base our decisions. Postmodernism is the rejection of such standards. "What may be true to you may not be true to others" is a common statement among the postmodernist. They believe that everything is true yet nothing is totally true.Relativism and Pluralism are accepted as normative in a universe that has no absolutes. The latter highlighting that there is no such thing as absolute right and wrong and the former suggests that there is no such thing as superior belief that tells a grand story or absolute truth (Cariño, Class Notes, Modern Movements, p. 6). This is the main gist of postmodernism.

Now that I have laid the platform on where I will examine my response, let me then aim to present the product of my reflection and examination to the the questions I asked at the start.

How will it affect me as a young minister (of the gospel), was the first question that crossed my limited cognizance. In a way the postmodernist view, for me, has a slight agreement with my (personal) faith and Christian walk in the case that it gives significance to experience. One of my basis for believing that there is a God is because of my personal experience and relationship with Him. Like the Psalmist who declared, "taste and see that the Lord is good...", my Christianity is in a sense, experiential. I am not saying that postmodernism is right in focusing too much on experience nor is my faith solely based on what I feel. I agree with one of our professors when he said that orthodoxy (right doctrine), orthopraxy (right action), and orthopathy (right experience) come together. As I come to experience God, it should be founded in the right doctrine of biblical truth, and produce right actions and good works. I will strive to consider my faith seriously and back it up with valid reasoning, right experience, and a consistent lifestyle which I think, at the end of the day, sums up all of my beliefs.

Right now, I am mainly involved in youth ministry. We all know that the youth today are the ones heavily influenced by postmodernism. In the age of internet, media, microwaves, and Ipods everything becomes instant and accessible to everyone. How do we as ministers and heralds of the Gospel respond to the changing need of this generation? How would the worldview of postmodernism affect how we do ministry? Proffessor Mike Cariño in his paper Evangelizing the Emerging PostModern Generation quoted Rick Richardson, in his book Evangelism Outside the Box when he said:

"Our culture is traveling through a shift in mindset that is epochal, a major earthquake in the mental landscape of our generation. Unfortunately, most of our approaches of proclaiming the gospel are still aimed at the modern scientific, analytical, individualistic mindset. We are ineffective in part because we are building our communication bridge to a mindset and an age that are passing away, or at least being radically transformed. We need to understand and address a new mindset if our proclamation and demonstration of the gospel are to remain relevant and influence the hearts and minds of the next generation."

I agree that we should make our approach relevant to this generation. Not that we alter or deviate from the real message of the Gospel. It may just be in overhauling the ways we present it, and this comes with a proper understanding of the needs and mindset of our audiences. In evangelism, I strongly suggest that we depart from the "shotgun" approach that manipulates the one being shared to-this doesn't work anymore. The generation today has a lower tolerance for listening but has an appetite to being heard. Instead, let us think of methods in evangelism that cater to discussion and contest. Of course, we should be ready to answer them with spiritual truths, logic and sometimes with philosophy when they ask us about issues that pertain to the Christian faith. This is what the Bible commanded us through Peter's letter to be "always ready to give an answer to everyone who ask you to give reason for the hope that we have" he then adds "but do this with gentleness and respect." For me this is how I would respond to the would-be impact of postmodernism in my ministry.


Discussion:

1. Give your thoughts on the topic?

2. How you react to the effect of postmodernism in your ministry/faith?

3. How would you make the message of the Gospel relevant to the younger generation?

Sources:

James W. Sire, The Universe Next Door.

Class notes from Modern Movements and the Asian Church, p. 6.

Michael Cariño, a paper on Evangleizing the Emerging Postmodern Generation.


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