The 21st century presents the churches that remain with a terrific opportunity to see a renewal that would equal any previous time when God demonstrated His mighty power. It is a situation that is difficult to understand unless we try to accept that God has the answers for this age, as much as any other time; it is just us who have to adjust our thinking to see the need, so that the gospel can be presented in an appropriate manner for the time, yes, it has to be new bottles for new wine, Matt 9v17.

Many of the older generation today struggle to see the issues that lay deep in the psyche of the Post-modern generation, Generation X as our American cousins like to call them. There has been an almost monumental shift in the mind set of this generation that is mainly defined by the under 30 year olds, but also sometimes goes beyond that. Before we can understand the Post-modern generation we have to see what characterised the Modernist mind set that preceded them. For a long time, nearly 300 years, Modernism had conditioned western society with a rapidly developing scientific and technological world that suggested, more strongly as time went on, that it had all the answers that man could ever seek. Science thought it could explain everything, it could give us the keys to where we came from and where we were going, scientists even thought that they could make us live for ever. Along with this was the technology race that put more and more gadgets at our disposal to make our lives so wonderfully easy and stress free. The computer in some ways, makes life much easier, but it has not taken the stress out of living, our doctors are realising that never before has there been so much stress to daily living, they find this in themselves as well as other people.

So, the Modernist was a person who thought that science would be able to provide all the life answers and was also blinded by materialism, ‘things’ filled the vision and the mad scramble was on to be the guy, or girl, with it all! Of course it never happened! And so the Post-moderns were born. The Post-modern generation saw that science did not have all the answers; in fact they saw that science made many more problems and Dr Death was created instead. WW1 should have woken them up to this, but it took WW2 as well to see that science was killing more people than making them well.

Some in science today still hang on to the outmoded idea that evolution has all the answers but many more realise that after 170 years it is even less likely to be proved than in Darwin’s day. Current proponents still have to change their theories to agree with the latest finds, just like every generation of scientists who have struggled hopelessly to find the missing links. They will not find them, for they are not there to be found, it was all a red herring. Today, many more scientists and physicists believe that there was an orderly creation by a creator who was able to breathe life into the things made; just because it is the only reasonable answer to the question. So, the Post-moderns are quite happy about the concept of creator God who can be worshipped, nor are they fazed by a Jesus who could perform mighty miracles, they know there is a spiritual dimension to life and are looking for the reality that they are sure that it will give them.

More, the Post-modern generation have seen through Materialism, the saw that it did not make their parents happy, all they saw was more and more stress as ‘things’ were chased after, a chase which finally ended up in the divorce courts. So Post-modernism is a direct result of the failure of the establishment to live up to its claims. That ‘establishment’ is the whole of society as represented by the older generation and once again, the youth have kicked over the traces and gone for bust, looking for its own answers.

Unfortunately, the church is seen by the Post-moderns as part of the establishment and the thousands of decaying and dying churches has reinforced the fact that they are just another aspect of a failed system that is totally irrelevant to them and their needs. The rise of the New Age religion and occult practices show that the Post-moderns have been seeking answers to their spiritual vacuum, a vacuum that the churches have been unable to fill because most of them have not been relevant to the youth.

Post-modernism has bred the kind of Pluralism that many today try desperately to show to be the answer to the multi-faith global village that is now ours. Some churches have bent over backwards to be politically correct by saying that there are many roads up the mountain to God and all get there, in their different ways, at the top. This is a far from satisfactory conclusion for while it produces a veneer of acceptance and inclusion for everyone, it does not give the deep seated satisfaction that will produce long term peace. What is needed is a genuine tolerance for others, and only the gospel can give that. The 20th century saw the rapid rise of fundamentalism in what were previously, very peace loving religions and it seems as if the world and his wife are now fundamentalists, despite the claims of tolerance; let be and let live, that is a very superficial claim that is easily dissipated when real issues are aired.
Sadly many Christians too, take a fundamental stand on the wrong fundamentals, things, which in fact, are not fundamentals. Jesus clearly taught us to love our enemies, so it is important that Christians demonstrate this attitude so that the gospel will not be devalued in a world where there are no standards or definitive values, everything is minimalised, relativised, even trivialised. For the Postmodern there are no distinctives, there is no black or white, everything is in tones of grey. The Postmodern says – as long as I do no harm to anyone else I can do as I please. They say, when confronted with the gospel – fine, if it works for you, go for it, but I will do my own thing. This is an impossible stand to get past unless the Post-modern can see that what you as a Christian have, is far better than what they have. No amount of preaching will convince them, or make them change their mind, the only way is forward is to present a holistic gospel. The holistic gospel is a complete life style that truly represents Christ. The holistic gospel is words and deeds. Therefore, let your light so shine before men, that they, seeing your good deeds, will glorify your Father in heaven; Matthew 5v16. Preaching the gospel from a pulpit and expecting that to suffice is not enough because the Post-moderns regard it as just another part of the failed system of the establishment. Thousands of closed churches are the proof of their argument, in fact, they’re right.

Some churches have got past the road block of conventions and traditions and sent out a holistic gospel and have filled their buildings to capacity and planted new churches, they have shown that the Post-moderns are ready to accept the true gospel. The Post-modern generation is a tremendous opportunity to the church to really show that Christ is the answer to the needs of society today, it has all the answers. Christians need to demonstrate, in the home, the office, the workplace, the school, the college and in every part of their lives that Christ is everything and His love will be seen to be the answer that the Post-modern generation is looking for.