The Value Of “Hip”…
I recently started reading a book called, Hipster Christianity by Brett McCracken (@brettmccracken). It’s a book that examines the question, “what happens to the church when our concern with appearances equals or outweighs our concern for sound doctrine or faithful practice?” This is not an easy question to answer and yet it’s a great question. A valuable question. A scary question. It’s a question that I have wrestled with on my own over the course of the last couple of years and I admit that at this point I still don’t have an answer. So let me pose some questions. These are questions that hopefully will spark some valuable dialogue on the subject and further our understanding of what it means to be a Christian. If you have thoughts on any of these questions please leave a comment.
- Is it important for the Church to be seen as “cool” or “hip” in order to attract people or should we let the Gospel speak for itself?
- Do we spend enough time living out our faith and engaging in dialogue with people about what we believe?
- How does focusing on being “cool” impact what a person focuses on when they attend a church service?
- Where is the balance between having a well programmed service and a show/production?
- Has the Church become consumeristic in nature? If so how and what are the ramifications of this?
- Should Christianity be “hip?”
Obviously this is a big conversation but it’s an important one to have.
As I read Hipster Christianity and engaging in this dialogue with you it is my hope that we will all gain a better understanding of how the be the Church that God intended us to be.
Posted on November 23rd, 2010 by David | 5 Comments »
I think in trying to make church hip and cool we dumb down the message. Who do we think we are that we think God needs us to make him appealing to others? Maybe if we started focusing more energy on living lives that reflected Him -which often will make us anything but cool as we say no to excess and befriend those society considers outcasts- people might actually take notice. Let’s face it, real Christianity is anything but cool…it’s costly. Incredibly costly. People don’t need hip pastors with designer jeans or churches with stadium seating and fancy lights. It’s not about that. They need Jesus and they need to see the church being Jesus. Caring for the sick, feeding the hungry, supporting the helpless, walking alongside the abandoned. I think in our attempts to draw people to Him, we send the wrong message about what Christianity is about and we end up getting in the way of who He really is. When sacrifice and selflessness are cool and simplicity and unconditional love are hip, I say let’s go for it. Until then, let’s get our priorities straight.
Sounds like a great book! We left the ‘mega’ church 2 years ago and went on a search to find balance and solid teaching in the hundreds of churches in our area. We settled on a ‘church plant’ of about 50 people and with a pastor who is 26 years old – and one of the wisest and most authentic individuals I am privileged to know.
You are right – it is not about the ‘product’ – what most big churches are worried about putting out from week to week – it is about authentic relationship, health among leadership and the ability to be a light and encouragement to a lost world around us.
We have NO cool factor in our service – it’s very simple. The message and desire of our pastor is that we effectively communicate our faith – he has no immediate desire or plans of big growth – but wants health for all of us and for our relationships with each other to grow. He believes – as do I, that the message of Jesus speaks for itself. And that is what attracts people to Christianity – not being the biggest or the coolest. We are working through the Beatitudes right now – and there are many new and fresh nuggets of truth that we are discovering.
Great questions!
Elizabeth and Cindy, you both make some great points. Here are some thoughts that I have after reading your comments…
1. By trying to be “cool” or culturally relevant in terms of the way we present the Gospel I don’t know if it is as much that we dumb it down as it is that we misdirect people’s attention away from the gospel and towards the means by which the message is being communicated.
2. I think if we are not careful we can make worship about us rather than God by trying to come up with flashy services. However, we have been created in such a way that we appreciate nice things. We appreciate quality and I think that’s tough to turn off when you go to church.
3. The Gospel should speak for itself.
4. People have tried to make Christianity “cool” by focusing on the wrong things. Attention has been placed on the same temporal things that society gives attention to, in terms of style, glitz, fashion etc. What we should be focusing on is reaching people and emphasizing how “cool” it is to help people.
5. The Bible already is relevant.
6. We put too so much focus on having a good, attractive service because are not living out our faith in an attractive way. If we truly were living lives that were reflective of God and people really saw the transformation in our lives they would naturally want what we have (a relationship with Christ) and it wouldn’t matter what our services looked like.
6. I think we should always have a desire to grow the Church. But a desire to grow the Church in such a way that when a person crosses the line of faith there are people ready to provide discipleship. Attendance is not enough.
What do you think?
I agree with you – we do like nice things and church is no exception – however when we come to the place where we could be just as happy without all of that – in a growing relationship with Jesus Christ – even if it’s in a simple setting – such as a home church – or at least a home group – then I think that is where the real growth and authenticity of relationship really develops. I’m not sure I really feel better about my spiritual life or about my relationship with God – just because I have been to church and ‘watched’ performers or seen a really cool video with the state of the art effects. I believe what grabs at my heart – are deep spiritual truths that convict and bring about change to my character and daily walk. Those that challenge me in my personal walk – friendships that continue whether or not I am in ‘church’ – but that are active in my daily life. I believe if those around us do not see Jesus in us – in our conversation and just how we live – there is a problem. It should be contagious – not contingent on programs or flash.
I totally agree Cindy. Unfortunately I think a lot of people have a hard time getting to that place because they think that the only good churches are the churches that are very “polished.” We definitely need to move beyond that. Not because quality programming is bad, but because that’s not what it’s all about. It’s about those deep spiritual truths that you mentioned and our relationships with each other and God.