Tradition, Tolerance and Truth: How Cultural Trends Impact

Missions Today

By Dr. Jolene Erlacherwww.leadingtomorrow.org

jolene@leadingtomorrow.org

Generations Today

•Silent: Born 1928-1945 (Age 69-86)

•Boomer: Born 1946-1964 (Age 50-70)

•Gen X: Born 1965-1980 (Age 34-49)

•Millennials/Gen Y: Born 1980-1995 (Age

19-33)

•Gen Z/Digital Natives: Born 1995-2010

(Age 4-18)

•Generation Alpha: Born after 2010

European Renaissance (1300s-1500s)

Protestant Reformation(1500s)

Age of Enlightenment or Reason (1700s)

Industrial Revolution (1750-early 1800s)

Post-Modernism (1900s)*Deconstruction, relativism,

post-structuralism

David Harvey explained the modern era centered on the enlightenment project of the mid-18th century. “The idea was to use the accumulation of knowledge generated by

many individuals working freely and creatively for the pursuit of human emancipation and the enrichment of

daily life.” The promise of scientific domination of nature included freedom from scarcity and want.

Postmodern philosophers applied theories of deconstruction to the world as a whole, attacking the

concepts of universal meaning that existed under modernism. The beliefs in a timeless, absolute truth

collapsed under postmodern thought. Significant changes emerging from postmodernism are the values of

all truth as absolute or valid, community over individualism, and truth being determined in the contexts

of specific communities.

Peter Drucker indicated this period we are now experiencing is but a transition, and will not be

permanent. “What will emerge next, we cannot know: we can only hope and pray. Perhaps nothing beyond

stoic resignation? Perhaps a rebirth of traditional religion, addressing itself to the needs and challenges of

the person in the knowledge society?”

Modern framework of “truth” Postmodern framework of “truth”

Confidence in reason to reveal truth Acceptance of self-determined, pluralistic truths

Reliance on reason Reliance on experienceStructured and hierarchical Organic and openCreation DeconstructionObjectivity (black/white) Subjectivity (gray)Individual Community

Current cultural shift is often marked by the collision of tradition and tolerance.

Understanding and respect are different than acceptance and affirmation.

Tolerancea : sympathy or indulgence for beliefs or practices differing from or conflicting with one's ownb : the act of allowing something : toleration

Merriam-Webster Dictionary

Traditiona : an inherited, established, or customary pattern of thought, action, or behavior (as a religious practice or a social custom)b : a belief or story or a body of beliefs or stories relating to the past that are commonly accepted as historical though not verifiable

Merriam-Webster Dictionary

“You have your way. I have my way. As for the right way, the correct way, and the only way, it

does not exist.”

--Friedrich Nietzsche

“[This postmodern view] is that every individual’s beliefs, values, lifestyle and perception of truth……claims are equal…there is no hierarchy of truth.

Your beliefs and my beliefs are equal and all truth is relative.”

-Thomas A. Helmbock

“Truth is produced, not found.” -Hayden White

Professor at the University of California at Santa Cruz

“No right or wrong answer exists when values are at stake.”

Economics Today and Tomorrow High School text book

“Tolerance is the virtue of the man without convictions.”

--G. K. Chesterton

“Truth has ceased to be a relationship between a statement and reality and has become a judgment”

–Josh McDowell

"Compared to two years ago, just half as many Americans

believe that absolute moral truth exists, dropping from 38% in January 2000 to only 22% in November 2001."

--George Barna

“Only 9% of all American adults have a biblical worldview.”

“Among born again Christians, less than one out of every five (19%) possesses a biblical worldview.”

(Biblical worldview: believe in an absolute moral truth, Bible is accurate, salvation is by grace not works, Satan is

real, Jesus lived sinless life, God is all-knowing creator and ruler of the universe)

--Barna Group (2009 survey)

“One-third of all adults (34%) believe that moral truth is absolute and unaffected by the circumstances. Slightly less than half of the born again adults (46%) believe in

absolute moral truth…less than one-half of one percent of adults aged 18 to 23 have a biblical worldview, compared

to about one out of every nine older adults.”--Barna Group (2009 survey)

--Pew Research Center, 2014 Religious Landscape Study

Released Tuesday (a new landmark study conducted by the Pew Research Center), the survey of 35,000 American adults shows the Christian percentage of the population dropping precipitously, to 70.6%. In 2007, the last time Pew conducted a similar survey, 78.4% of American adults called themselves Christian.

In the meantime, almost every major branch of Christianity in the United States has lost a significant number of members, Pew found, mainly because millennials are leaving the fold. More than one-third of millennials now say they are unaffiliated with any faith, up 10 percentage points since 2007.

CNN Article: Millennials leaving the church in droves, study finds. May 13, 2015.

Is the Bible an Intolerant Gospel?

“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.“ Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of

your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you

will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.Matthew 7:1-5

“So... a couple years ago I went through what I like to call ‘judgment boot camp’... where I went through/experienced just about everything I'd ever judged anyone for, from big to little.... it was extremely painful... but really good because it purged me from the desire to ever judge anyone again for anything...ever.... so while I have strong opinions about life

and truth...It's possible to believe in truth and standards without judging someone else's heart.”--Facebook post by Millennial believer

“I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

--Jesus in John 14:6 (ESV)

“At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, ‘Yet once more I will shake not only the earth

but also the heavens.’ This phrase, ‘Yet once more,’ indicates the removal of things that are shaken—that is,

things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, let us be

grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken.” --Hebrews 12:26-28

Implications for Missions

• Difficulty for Millennials to validate decision to become missionary or raise funds with peers

• Need to consider different ways to help fund missions if agencies lose non-profit status

In the Daily Signal, Ryan Anderson highlighted a portion of Tuesday’s (April 28, 2015) oral arguments at the Supreme Court in which the Obama administration’s top lawyer admitted religious schools’ non-

profit status could be in jeopardy:

One of the the more startling portions of oral arguments today at the Supreme Court was the willingness of the Obama administration’s Solicitor General Donald Verrilli, to admit that religious schools that affirm marriage as the union of a man and a woman may lose their non-profit tax-exempt status if marriage is redefined.Justice Samuel Alito asked Verrilli whether a religious school that believed marriage was the union of husband and wife would lose their non-profit tax status.The solicitor general answered: “It’s certainly going to be an issue. I don’t deny that. I don’t deny that, Justice Alito. It is it is (sic) going to be an issue.”

Implications for Missions

• Carrying of American cultural perspectives/trends into foreign ministry context (often confusing to long-term missionaries)

• Focus on relationships (spiritual conversations) vs. evangelism (conversions)

“I think it was pretty common for us to get trapped into spending time with someone, we may have a lot of

spiritual conversations with them and talk about the gospel and things like that, but there is no interest in there and it was always kind of like, “here is what I believe and what you believe and lets just talk about it and debate”.

Which sometimes can be good, but when that’s all it is, it is hard…”

“…I think that became really obvious this summer because we had a summer team come, that came for 5 weeks, and the last couple weeks that they were here… in the full two

years, up until then, nobody that we had been meeting with had come to Christ… but in the last couple weeks

when the students from the summer team was there, 5 girls came to Christ. That kind of spoke to me that people are there who are ready to receive Christ, the fact that it happened that quickly… we just need to find them. I think

that we could have done a better job.” --Andrew

Implications for Missions

• Prioritization of social justice (practical, tangible) projects vs. preaching

• Disregard for strategies, methods and approaches (traditions) that veteran missionaries, agencies or leaders may espouse

• Appreciation for different cultural backgrounds and values