Postmodern Church

The church needs to relate to contemporary society. Thus, it needs to engage with postmodernism. Some see that as scary, others as exciting. Postmodernism recognises the diversity of society and seeks to embrace it. So should the church. The challenge in engaging with postmodernism is that it "claims that nothing has meaning any more - it's a cultural anything goes" (Charlene Croft, article on www.helium.com). It is difficult to engage with something that cannot be pinned down - yet that is precisely what we must do when we live in a society that certainly refuses to be pinned down. I agree that "I think it is imperative that postmodern Christians remain as open and gracious as possible .... Postmodern Christians understand that different interpretations of our faith will naturally evolve to fit different cultural and social contexts. These different streams of faith are neither more or less right, just different .. " (Jared Ott, article on www.helium.com). The point is that we need to engage with difference, accepting it, not always trying to roll it towards conformity. Is that not what Paul's image of the body means? We struggle with a postmodern church because we want everyone to be a nose, a hand, a foot, or whatever it is that we are. We need to see the possibilities instead of worrying about the threats. "I saw the collapse of modernity as opening the door for fresh spiritual explorations. True .. the spiritual resurgence that I see brewing is unconventional and even irreverent at times, largely developing outside the boundaries of our institutional religion. But that to me says more about the rigidity of our institutions than the darkness of the current spiritual resurgence; it says more about our old wineskins than about the quality of the new wine fermenting around us" (Brian McLaren, A New Kind of Christian, p. 25).