Metamodernism Discipleship: The Dance Between Two Worlds
To be a follower of Jesus means you must learn to dance and develop a “theology of reality.” A theology of reality affirms Jesus' themes across all space, time, culture, subcultures, and contexts. Jesus is the theme. He is the dance partner. He is the conductor. He is the music. He is the rhythm and sound aligning his people (the church) to dance, move, and flow with the times.
Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 in C minor is known as the “Symphony of Fate.” 1 The theme in the symphony is repetition, adjustment, and different cadences. This is the first time a trombone is used in a symphony, displaying signs of rest and sound variations flowing through the orchestrated moment. A theology of reality affirms Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Heb 13:8), and he is inviting us (His church) into a new rhythm and dance. The danger is that you will be left behind in this cultural moment if you are stiff, don’t like to learn new things, or are more comfortable sitting on a couch than moving your body. A new era is emerging, and that new moment is called “Metamodernism.”
In the web of today’s culture, where modernity’s straight lines and postmodernity’s fragmented pieces swirl together, a new rhythm is emerging. This is the rhythm of metamodernism, a dance that moves between certainty and doubt, irony and sincerity, hope and despair. As disciples of Jesus, how do we join this dance? How do we navigate our faith in a world that refuses to stand still? Let’s dive in and discover how metamodernism can be an opportunity to reframe and re-imagine our path of discipleship.
Metamodernism: The Dance Between Two Worlds
Metamodernism is like a waltz, a dance that glides back and forth between the ideals of modernism and the skepticism of postmodernism. Vermeulen and Van den Akker use the metaphor of a pendulum continually oscillating from the sincere seriousness of modernism to the playfulness of postmodernism.”[1] Modernism sang progress, upward mobility, certainty, and grand narratives. Postmodernism countered with a choir of doubt, deconstruction, and sarcasm. Metamodernism takes these tunes and weaves them into a new harmony, a symphony where sarcasm and authenticity, consciousness and candor, hope and despair all find their place.
It’s a world where we can laugh and cry, believe and question, hope and grieve, sit with saints and sinners at the same table, fluctuate between being in the world but not of it, a space to go back into an ancient past of deep-rooted Christianity but not stay there—all at the same time.
So, what does this mean for us as followers of Jesus? How do we practice discipleship in a world that is dancing to the tune of metamodernism? Here are some steps to guide our journey through research you will need to connect the dots to if you want to join Jesus in the future.
Embracing Complexity and simplicity
Originality is to get back to the origins. You make the past new for the future. A new academic model for discipleship will be learning to embrace complexity and simplicity simultaneously. When you are passing through the pain, you are pioneering. For every exercise in creativity, you must explore the mystery of what it will become. Metamodernism invites us to embrace the complexity and simplicity of faith. In a world without elusive, simple answers, discipleship means living with questions and uncertainties. It’s about holding our beliefs with humility and recognizing that faith is a journey, not a destination, and more often than not, that journey will leave you pissed off at God, wondering where he is taking you. The comfort zones and convenience zones are faith and church killers. Discipleship of the future will have to learn to return to a Celtic model over a Roman one.
Celtic Model: Fellowship, Ministry and Conversation, Belief, Invitation to Commitment.
Roman Model Presentation, Decision, Fellowship.
One, the church goes to the people. The other we wait
Playfulness and Authenticity
The interplay of playfulness and authenticity in metamodernism can enrich our discipleship of learning how to play. The first thing God does in Genesis One is play in the mud. Playing with God in the Garden is the ultimate metaphor for discipleship. In his book, The Well Played Life, Len Sweet says, “The universe is not God at work, but God at play.”[2] Kids learn to be creative through play. Albert Einstein says, “Creativity is intelligence having fun.” You don’t work a basketball, you play basketball. Disciples must learn to play while taking God’s work seriously but not themselves. We have been through a whole era of postmodernism where people just took things too seriously and stopped using humor, playfulness, and laughing through moments. Maya Angelou says, “I don’t trust anyone who doesn’t laugh.” Postmodern irony often leads to cynicism and detachment, but metamodernism reclaims sincerity without losing the critical edge. For discipleship, this means engaging with the world and our faith with a genuine heart and love for people while being critically aware of the complexities and contradictions of the rule and reign of God while remaining like little children at play.
Hope and Action
Metamodernism dances between hope and action. As Christians, we resonate with this dance because our story is one of a world broken by sin yet redeemed through the body and blood of Jesus Christ. Discipleship in a metamodern age means maintaining hope amidst brokenness and actively joining God’s redemptive work. It’s about living out the Kingdom of God here and now, embracing the already-but-not-yet reality of God’s reign. It’s a call to be hope-bearers in a world desperate for light. In the book Man’s Search for Meaning, author Viktor E. Frankl, a concentration camp survivor, says, “When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.”[3] Our hope cannot stay in the building on Sunday. It must move to action on Monday. If it doesn’t, it simply is like the fig tree that Jesus curses for looking more mature than it genuinely is in contemporary terms, “It is full of crap.” A mature tree produces mature life-giving fruit. In Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis expresses the need for the church to grow disciples by saying, “The Church exists for nothing else but to draw men into Christ, to make them little Christ. If they are not doing that, all the cathedrals, clergy, missions, sermons, even the Bible itself, are simply a waste of time.” Metamodernism is a moment to put hope into action in a volatile society looking for deep reals in a world of deep fakes.
Community and Individuality
Metamodernism’s oscillation between community and individuality represents the Christian understanding of the body of Christ, where each member is uniquely gifted yet profoundly interconnected. Every person has a ministry to the church and a mission to the world to join Jesus. Paul uses a metaphor for the church, calling it a “mystery” and “the body of Christ. (1 Corinthians 12:27).” You didn’t ask for your body, but you must learn to live with it. It would be best if you exercised to keep it healthy, moved it so it doesn’t become stiff, nourished it so it has energy, and checked in to ensure it is functioning correctly. There is no discipleship in Jesus outside his body. God forms a person through the relationship with the Holy Spirit and the relationship with the Church. Jesus chose his disciples and put them together as the first image of the church forming. If you recall, they hated each other…. hated. Yet, they learned to love as Christ has loved them. Even after Jesus’s death, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus (who was afraid of his image being tainted) carried Jesus’s dead body and put it in a tomb. Carrying the body of Christ is hard work, but we do it in the community, knowing that resurrection is coming. Discipleship involves nurturing both personal faith and communal life, recognizing that growth in Christ happens within the context of relationships. Happiness experts say, “Well-being has nothing to do with the quantity of economics but everything to do with the quality of relationships.”[4] What will stand out in a metamodern context is genuine, authentic relationships with followers of Jesus who love people.
Join the Dance
Metamodernism, embracing complexity, playfulness, authenticity, and hope, offers a rich framework for rethinking and re-imaging Christian discipleship. It challenges us to engage deeply with our faith, hold space for ambiguity, and live out the life of Jesus. Anyone who calls themselves a Christian without living the life of Christ is what Paul says, “A noisy cymbal” (1 Corinthians 13:1). In modern terms, “They are annoying.”
So, lace up your dancing shoes. Let’s join the dance of faith, navigating the twists and turns with grace, stepping on each other’s toes at times, guided by the Spirit, and anchored in the love of Christ. In a world of deep fakes, we need deep reals.
Thanks for reading. Let me know your thoughts!
[1] “Metamodernism,” in Wikipedia, May 22, 2024, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Metamodernism&oldid=1225070831.
[2] Leonard Sweet, The Well-Played Life, 2nd ed. edition (The Salish Sea Press, 2021), 6.
[3] Viktor E. Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning: Frankl, Viktor E., Winslade, William J., Kushner, Harold S.: (Beacon Press, 2006).
[4] Leonard Sweet, So Beautiful: Divine Design for Life and the Church: Sweet, Leonard: (David C. Cook, 2009).