Tailor-Made Christianity

Over the past few months I have really been wrestling with the idea or the question, "What do people want???? (in church, in sermons, messages, talks, worship)" Especially young adults. I have been talking with people and reading books about it.

The past few days I have been driving myself crazy with these questions. Because I watch people come and go, come and go so fast, so often. And I'm like why do they not stick?

I think I am trying to find one pat answer like, "This is what my generation wants." I want to discover it and offer it. But as I talk to different people I am seeing different people want different things. 100 people could say, "I want deep teaching" and that could mean 100 different things. And as I think about church and our culture something clicked, something made sense to me this morning.

In our culture we can tailor make anything to meet our exact needs and wants. Think about how we order food, "No mayo, extra cheese, dressing on the side, wheat bread not white." When I got back from Spain I was overwhelmed by all the choices I had at McAlister's because in living in Spain, you just ordered a drink and didn't even choose the tapa (small portion of food) they brought you and certainly didn't tell them how to make it for you. Or think about your cell phone, think about the thousands of app's you can choose from to serve your life exactly how you need it to. We live in a tailor made culture.

So that is why I think we see people cycling in and out of churches. They go to this church for worship, another church for the sermon, and another church for community. We are tailor making our Christianity to serve us exactly how we want it to.

So maybe I am asking the entirely wrong question. Maybe the question isn't, "People, what do you want??" Maybe the question is, "God, what do you want for the people?"

And if I let him dictate that for me as I lead this ministry instead of trying to tailor make something to meet every want and desire of every person, I can just simplify it and follow God's leading a step at a time, trusting he knows the needs of his people best. I can lead by following his lead.