Adventures in Revolutions...
Back at the beginning of February, I mentioned I was reading The Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne. If you have ever been frustrated, put off, or disenchanted with the Christian Church in North America, it's well worth the read. I should have been finished it long ago, but I put it down for a while to stew. I picked it up again last weekend, and was struck by this quote from Kaj Munk, a Danish pastor killed by the Gestapo in 1944:
"... remember the signs of the Christian Church have been the Lion, the Lamb, the Dove, and the Fish ... but never the chameleon."
I fear that in an attempt to seem more appealing, the church in North America has become a chameleon. Some are changing to seem trendy and hip, others to become more like the glossy mega-churches who place a higher value on a new sound system than they do on feeding the poor, or fighting for justice in their own neighbourhoods. Just a thought.
1 comment:
Churches, at present, are basically another type of non-profit organization that relies on the goodwill (or guilt) of donors to keep it running. It does the same thing every business does: market studies and analysis, advertising, etc etc to try to meet its target market that will bring in cash.
I'm not trying to sound cynical here, because I know that many, MANY churches include community service as part of their budgetary output, but to afford the soup kitchen, you need to attract people to come and get their Jesus fix, and frankly, it seems more people are interested in feeling good about where they are in their faith right now than in feeding, clothing, and caring for the poorest of these.
Preaching and teaching are much the same. We do a fair bit of edutainment, and the church does the equivalent in the faith realm. Look at the worship music. It is chosen with a purpose. It's like an exercise routine: warm-up, workout, climactic maximum output and cool-down, with a little stretch after the sermon in some cases.
I don't want to rant too long, but you're certainly on-target as far as I'm concerned.
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