A Good Intro Into Generation X Spirituality

This article from Christianity Today, The Good News About Generations X & Y, really struck at the heart of what I have believed for a while. The major pieces are young adults have an "orthodox" faith. They believe Jesus was the Son of God, died for their sins, resurrected on the third day. But they are losing the battle against culture. Here is an excerpt:

For one thing, this may be one of the first generations where faith is such a conscious choice. It's not something embedded in their family anymore. I searched far and wide, and I didn't find too many people—even among the ones who had been raised in strict Catholicism or in the evangelical subculture who had never questioned their faith. They just don't have that luxury anymore. The culture questions them every day. I quote Os Guinness saying that on the one hand this situation is great because faith is a conscious choice, and on the other hand that can lead to problems, because if something can be consciously chosen it can be consciously rejected when it becomes inconvenient.

We have two choices: A) Become Amish. B) As a Church, become involved in engaging the culture.

A tip to pastors trying to engage the culture is "Don't act like everybody else is an idiot."

Preachers who bad mouth Oprah Winfrey are shooting themselves in the foot. Oprah has a keen understanding of people and their needs. She approaches many things well, but spiritually she approaches from a very different direction that Christianity. But the lesson there is Oprah is hungry for spiritual things, just like most of the nation. Instead of starting with an Oprah bash, we can start with her on her search for spirituality and bring the path to Christ. Strangely enough she also is the one who has brought Dr Phil to the forefront. Dr Phil really hits morality issues, often stepping on Oprah's toes, funny enough.

Jesus and the early apostle engaged Pagan culture with a good amount of respect. They approached religious culture with almost no respect ("Brood of Vipers" ring a bell.)