by Warren Baldwin

Do you know what the number one tourist attraction in America is? Disney World? Grand Canyon? How about the Mall of America in Minneapolis, Minnesota? It draws ten times more people than the Grand Canyon does every year! Americans are consumers.

Do you know what our favorite daily activity is? Judging by the amount of time we voluntarily donate to it, I would say it is watching television. The average American watches four hours of TV every day. That adds up to 28 hours a week, or more than one full day every week we spend in front of the tube. Americans are spectators.

Do you know what the primary word or concept is in the various self-help programs available to us? It is: Self. I couldn't even mention the programs with using the term "self!" Self-help involves self-image, self-actualization, and self-concept. Americans are self-absorbed.

Please, don't get angry at me for this less-than-flattering assessment of "us." I actually got this descriptive list from Culture Shift by David W. Henderson and Make Disciples: Reaching the Postmodern World for Christ by Terry A. Bowland.

What is with America's fascination with consumerism (buying "stuff"), spectator-ism, and self-absorption? According to Bowland, it is reflective of our quest to experience. He says we have become "a culture which has elevated experience to the highest level of importance." And this experiential quest is trait number two of our postmodern culture.

Like trait #1, relativism, experientialism poses a challenge to Christians as we seek to reach a generation that relies upon experience as a means of finding and defining self. Ideas are not that attractive. History is meaningless. Experiencing, feeling, whether by shopping, watching or "actualizing" the self is where meaning is found.

The challenge for us today, as we seek to communicate with our young people, whether in our homes, in the church or in the community, is to go beyond just words. If, as Terry Bowland says, our culture has "elevated experience to the highest level of importance," we have to respect that even if we don't agree with it. "We have to take into account that people in today's postmodern world want to experience what we have to offer. If they cannot experience it, chances are they will never accept it." (Bowland, p.126).

Instead of preaching love, how can we offer love in a concrete, measurable manner? Instead of preaching forgiveness, are there any opportunities in our lives to actually demonstrate it? Instead of preaching kindness, do we act kindly toward others?

Postmoderns would rather see a sermon than hear one any day. Almost sounds like something Jesus said about how others assess our lives, doesn't it? (John 13:34,35).