6:49 AM
I've begun to read a book our youth pastor loaned me, called "Pop Goes the Church: Should the Church Engage Pop Culture?" by Tim Stevens.
Now, don't shoot the book full of holes before 1) you've read it or 2) before I've read it. I'm not sure I'm going to agree with all that it says, and I don't necessarily agree with every stance the author takes, but I found myself nodding in agreement with much of the beginning of the book. I haven't yet gotten to the parts about embracing pop culture (or not).
Stevens begins by stating that we (the Church) have pulled ourselves out of relevance to the rest of the world, packaging ourselves and our message mostly for understanding and use by those who are in the Church already.
A couple of weeks ago I asked my fellow staff members at Wall Highway a question that I must have read in a clip of this book or something, because it's asked in the introduction: "How would our community be impacted if our church fellowship closed its doors and shut down?" Would the people in our community (not just the church members) be upset and ask, "How are we going to get along without them?" or would they go along with business as usual, barely noticing that anything had changed?
There may be a lot of supporting questions to ask in getting to that one, but to me, this question gets to the heart of a serious issue.
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4 comments:
Hey Dean! Long time, no comment. I may really launch a hailstorm here BUT...The New Testament churches were not for the unbelievers. It was for the Christ followers who gathered to learn more about Jesus and his teachings. Somewhere along the way the believers starting thinking that the Pastors/Leaders of the church were better equipped to lead people to Christ. We believers are all called to minister to the lost. I think of the analogy where if you start walking in a straight line eventually you will veer slightly off course. Over time the slightly off course becomes huge and you end up where you never intended to go. We Christ followers have sadly dropped the ball and are fervently trying programs and marketing tools to correct the situation. My two cents :)
Pam M
Pam!! Pray all's going fantastically!
I didn't mean to try to encapsulate the "pop culture" point of the book in my post (again, I haven't even gotten to that part). I believe I have the same issues with slick marketing, programs, etc., that you do, and I agree with all you said in your comment. Hopefully I didn't imply anything to the contrary.
I just wanted to take my one question and throw it out for consumption. I meant that I'm afraid that the groups of people who meet at our church buildings typically don't go out and BE who they say they are.
People gathered around Jesus -- He went out teaching and helping and healing people (ummm... and chastizing the church leaders). Jesus didn't cloister Himself with His disciples. People sought truth, and He was right there to give it to them. I believe more people want to know the truth (about everything) than we realize. And I honestly can't help thinking that the Church (unintentionally) pushes people away from itself.
(As an aside, I wonder if we typical church members really want to know the truth... Am I allowed to say that?)
We are called to be in the world and not of it. But to be in the world, we sometimes have to get out of our comfort zone and get to know people. That doesn't mean we have to meet them at Jimmy's (am I allowed to say that?).
As the world changes for the worst, we have to remember to be more vigilant (I like churchy sounding words!!) and guard ourselves. As we seek to witness to people IN this pop-culture world, we can't become so in touch with the culture that we become OF it.
A really good book on the church and culture is by Francis Schaeffer, entitled "How Should we then Live". Schaeffer documents from the Roman Empire all the way through the 20th century how the Christian church and culture related to one another. The real interesting thing Schaeffer shows is up until the 20th century the church helped shape culture, whereas now the church follows culture.
Although I have not read the book you mentioned, it would appear by the description that the author is suggesting the church must somehow become relevant to the modern day culture in order to be effective. My point (as Schaeffer also points out) the church should be forming or creating the culture rather than trying to "fit" in or find its voice.
Again, the $65,000 question is why is the church failing to no longer shape or create the culture but rather is lost in it??
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