Fiddling while Rome burns

It is a rumor and probably a myth that Nero "fiddled" while Rome burned as a result of a fire that he set. No matter where the phrase comes from it has come to mean: "To occupy oneself with unimportant matters and neglect priorities during a crisis." Is this the story of the life of the church in America today, or what?

There has been a lot of conversation in the last year or so about "heresy." I suppose we can partially blame that on my friend, Spencer Burke, who titled his latest book, "A Heretic’s Guide to Eternity." Or perhaps we can thank those folks like D.A. Carson and the Pyromaniacs or Slice of Laodicea for occupying their time with hunting down those who do not adhere to their standards of orthodoxy.

On the eve of the start of the tenth year of publication for Next-Wave I wonder if most of us are not occupying ourselves with unimportant matters. But Charlie, you might say, what is the big crisis?

First of all, I will have to ask my younger friends to forgive me in advance for a couple of things. I am probably a "modern" thinker. I am a baby boomer. I think in terms of cause and effect. I don’t think you can build a building by picking out the color of the wallpaper first. I think sequentially. I believe that movements need to move. I have personally witnessed the rapid decline of a movement in the aftermath of the death of its founder. I was raised in the era of Billy Graham and the Four Spiritual Laws and just can’t shake the feeling that the world and its inhabitants are "going to hell in a handbasket" at a rapid pace.

I have to admit that I have been somewhat comforted by the ideas put forth by some of my friends that "hell" may not be all we thought it was cracked up to be, or that making a decision is not the same as making a disciple, but can we really be satisfied with the results of our "church" methodologies?

I was personally quite motivated to evangelize young people because my oldest son, who had been raised as a church goer and attendee of Christian school, was quite willing to tell me as he approached the age of 16 that he didn’t believe in God or, for that matter, the church he was raised in. I tried everything I knew to cause him to change his mind. I took him to evangelistic meetings. I reasoned with him. I gave him books. Nothing worked. Eventually he got married, had his firstborn son, and attended a Promise Keepers conference and went forward for the altar call on Friday night. "Whew," that was a close one, I thought.

As a teenager in the 60s, the era of sex, drugs and rock and roll, I was a poster child for the idea, "Don’t trust anyone over 30." And in fact, when I reached the age of 30, I didn’t trust myself very much. Certainly the church of my youth had nearly completely missed my generational cohort by refusing to usher our music and our desire to lead into their sanctuaries of worship. If this were not so, every church in America would be bursting to overflowing. We know that the megachurch success stories are the exception, not the rule.

If the parents and elders of my youth missed evangelizing my generation, what will happen as the "new" baby boomer elders make the same mistakes? What of the millions of young people who have been raised without any exposure to the Bible or church except what they can see as they whisk by Robert Schuller, Joel Osteen and Benny Hinn while on their way to MTV? I am sorry that I can’t abdicate my own role in the process of evangelization of the next generation by becoming "transformational," "missional," "incarnational," and leaving it up to the Holy Spirit to preach the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the next generation.

Perhaps I can join with so many others of my generation and proclaim that the younger leaders are "not ready" to assume leadership and responsibility. Bill Clinton was the first baby boomer president, and George Bush has been the second. Let’s be honest. Did they do that bad a job compared to their predecessors?

Today there are those who are praising Nobel Laureate Al Gore for his role in highlighting the global warming crisis. No matter what your politics, it is clear that Mr. Gore made a valiant effort to stop the "fiddling." I am wishing that church leaders of every age and every stripe would face an inconvenient truth. We are failing our children! Whatever we thought worked, no longer does. We have to do something more than just talk about it if we are going to change the outcome.

Just a quick side note in conclusion. My son has followed through on his Promise Keepers’ commitment and is an active part of his local church community. As I prayed with my daughter-in-law over the phone yesterday before she underwent surgery I realized that our faith in God is alive and well and continuing into the next generation. I am grateful for God for his intervention in our lives and for the hope that our faith provides as we face the challenges of daily life.