Hipster Christianity

Recently there's been a lot of talk about a people group called "hipster Christians." These are uber-hip folks who blend all that is chic right now with a real Christian faith... ...or so says Brett McCracken, the author of the new book about this "trend," titled Hipster Christianity.
One part Stuff Christians Like and one part honest look at the changing face of the modern Christian, the book seems to be making waves as it both describes the modern, young adult Christian and simultaneously oversimplifies and generalizes him to the point of ridiculousness.
Who are these people? What should we make of them? Is this even a thing?
Let's look:

A bit of background: I attend sevenoseven (707), the young-adults ministry of Cleveland-area Cuyahoga Valley Church (CVC). The lead pastor of CVC, Pastor Rick Duncan, asked the staff to review an article about 'hipster Christians' that McCracken wrote to promote his book in Christianity Today, and respond to some questions about how CVC/707 is doing with regards to being hip, relevant, and earnest. Bryan Karas, my good friend and 707's worship leader asked me for my input, and so here we are.
First, you'll want to check out McCracken's article here.

I responded as follows:

Bryan,
First and foremost I have to say that sevenoseven, and by extension CVC, can absolutely not be all churches to all people. I think that what we do, we do very well, and with authenticity, and some of the things referenced in this article are things we either cannot do (open up shop in the warehouse district) or it would be irresponsible to try (serving alcohol).

I feel like this article was describing a good thing, but describing it cynically. As we discussed on Sunday, social justice and fixed wheel bikes are both in vogue, but they're not related. The same goes for genuine worship services and lumberjack chic.

I think that the crowd 707 caters to is largely aware of and accepting of the church paradigm as it has existed and I think far fewer of our people are actively rebelling against the kitschy Christian subculture that the article claims most "hipster Christians" are rebelling against. We've got our fair share of God's Gym t-shirts in the crowd, and yet we attract a set of authentic and earnest "hipsters" as well.

The fifth page of the article, which dealt with the problem of hipster culture as a rebellion, and one that therefore is sexually immoral and drunken (the words used were "Pabst guzzling") rang entirely false to me. I don't believe that those of us who identify with this movement do so in a way that is contrary to the Scriptures. It's simply contrary to the schlocky megachurch culture of Testa-Mints and CCM which we grew up on but through which we never found any real intimacy with Christ.

I do not believe that we are up to anything solely for the sake of being hip, or at least nothing that seems transparently cynical or inauthentic. But we are hip in a way that allows us to connect with an audience that has certain expectations of music and the relatability of the message and those who would present it.

Steps to become "more hip" strike me as unnecessary and would likely be met with rejection. It alienates those who think we're doing "just fine" and usually is transparent enough to never actually attract those who we might hope to. Staying hip is more a process of staying true to ourselves and trying constantly to continue to do what truly interests us--an objective we're achieving through the 707 Leadership team.

Lastly, if CVC were to ever be interested in reaching out specifically to this hipster culture (at its own peril, as I dear it may not be large enough to support too large a gesture) it would likely need to do so not through 707 but through an entirely new ministry. This would need to be a ministry with some independence (maybe no more than that which 707 enjoys, but perhaps slightly more). It would need to more closely resemble the house-church movement, or the model of our existing LifeGroups, but would probably have to embrace the decidedly grown-up and not-Baptist aspects of this movement... meeting in bars, questioning everything, and, yes, skinny jeans.

Hope this helps, feel free to share this (in its entirety, if you like) with the team. I wrote it with everyone in mind.

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Bryan Karas provided a response of his own for the team, after I get permission from him, I'll gladly post THAT here as well.

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Finally, A FANTASTIC and biting critique of McCracken's book was provided by THe Other Journal at Mars Hill Graduate School. James A. K. Smith explained why so much of this was really Poser Christianity.

In conclusion, I DO NOT consider myself to be a Hipster Christian, but I meet many of McCracken's criteria for what constitutes one. As I said in my rebuttal I think it's true that hipsters are rebellious sexually, or in terms of drunkenness or any of the other examples he mentions. Additionally, I think it's funny that he purports to be showing a brand new view of a brand new people from his own brand new perspective, and then trots down evangelical bogeymen like alcohol (gasp!).

It's true there are huge changes happening, or emerging if you like, with regards to how God's people do life and seek to be viewed. That's, in essence, exactly what this blog is about. Stay tuned and maybe we'll find out what that looks like.