The Radical Remnant

I can't live like this anymore. This way of life, this set of cultural expectations. I refuse to be known by the standard of my generation. 

Every generation has a personality. It becomes readily apparent when they move into their teenage years and adulthood - making decisions for themselves, acting on their values and worldviews; and my generation is coming of age. Generation Y, Generation Next, the Net Generation, Millennnials. No matter what we are called, our character is coming to light, and it is not a pretty picture. 

Back in 2009, Pew Research put out a study that attempted to characterize and describe our new millennial generation. Here a few of their observations: 

- They are starting out as the most politically progressive age group in modern history. In the 2008 election, Millennials voted for Barack Obama over John McCain by 66%-32%, while adults ages 30 and over split their votes 50%-49%. In the four decades since the development of Election Day exit polling, this is the largest gap ever seen in a presidential election between the votes of those under and over age 30.

- They are the first generation in human history who regard behaviors like tweeting and texting, along with websites like Facebook, YouTube, Google and Wikipedia, not as astonishing innovations of the digital era, but as everyday parts of their social lives and their search for understanding.

- They are the least religiously observant youths since survey research began charting religious behavior.

A reading of history shows that these characterizations are not that surprising. Social behavior is cyclical. The generation before ours lived in fear of institutions - living through Watergate, sex scandals, and other "dirty laundry" being brought to light. Today, governmental institutions are explicitly trusted with everything - from nation defense to health care. The generation before ours were on the edge of technological advance. Today, technology rules our lives. Every resource that could be imagined, wanted, or needed can be found with a few key strokes. The generation before ours had the likes of Billy Graham and the spiritual revile his form of evangelism brought. Today, there is a vacuum of religion. 

While not surprising, these characterizations are disturbing. The observations given here grant some concrete and definable aspects of my generation, but our character cannot be captured in statistics or research institutions. We are sick. Our character is fundamentally flawed. Apathy, lethargy, inaction, disinterest have become the norm. In fact it has become expected that we are shallow, that we do not care, and are only out for what is best for us. Unfortunately this is true. Look at the Pew characterizations again: A politically progressive attitude lends itself to a system of entitlement - is easier to let the government deal with our problems for us. Finding our identity in the minimal characters of a Tweet of Facebook post or finding our understanding by staring at a computer screen leads to shallow purposelessness - is easier to let the technology think for us. Allowing a religious vacuum to exist creates a moral and responsibility vacuum - its easier to decide my own good than having to buy into something bigger than ourselves. 

It would be easy as Christians to paint the culture with this brush, but remove ourselves from the picture. Unfortunately, these characterizations have become all too present in the church today. Our new generation has become apathetic, lazy, and inactive in our faith. But that must stop! We are in a scary spot. The older generation is about to pass the torch to us, but we are not ready. When the average age of a video game user is thirty-five, something is wrong. When more teenagers and twenty-somethings can easily quote television shows but are practically biblically illiterate, something must be done. We are about to be handed the responsibility of heading, leading, and guiding the church but we are not ready. God has called us to radical abandonment in pursuit of HIm and His heart on the earth, but we have settled for a Christianity that revolves around catering to ourselves. 

What we need is a radical remnant. 

God has called us to be radical. Remember the story of the rich young ruler? He came to Jesus and asked what he must do to follow Him. Jesus responded, "Go sell all you possess and give to the poor" (Mark 10:21). Talk about a call to radical action! This guy had it all - power, money, intellect, influence - but Jesus tells him to go give up everything and follow Him. We see this message throughout the Gospels. On another occasion, Jesus said, "If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. Whoever does not carry his own cross and comma after Me cannot be My disciple" (Luke 14: 26-27). Hate your family? Embrace the torture of the cross? Now that is radical! That is what we are called to as Christians; not the alter-calling, self-helping, "Admit, confess, and pray this prayer after me" Christianity that has become the American church. 

I believe that there is a remnant of people in my generation that get this. They get what it means to be in desperate pursuit of God and seeking out His heart for the world. We need people to stand up and say no more, to break open their Bibles and seek the heart of God, to get on their knees and pray for a move of God, to get their hands dirty going after the things of God through missions. We are called to be the Radical Remnant. We must be the Radical Remnant. 

For the Lamb's Reward.