Skye Jethani, Dropped Jaws & Disagreements
I just finished Divine Commodity [affiliate link] by Skye Jethani. A phenomenal read–a must-read, even. But I got to a section of the book and after I read it, my jaw dropped.
Here is that section:
Pastors Tim Stevens and Tony Morgan encourage church leaders to “embrace entertainment” in their book, Simply Strategic Growth: Attracting a Crowd to Your Church. And like many others, their motivation is life transformation. They write, “We are about entertainment to the extent that it allows us to captivate the minds and hearts of those who don’t yet know Jesus.” To that end, Stevens and Morgan insist that staging an upbeat worship service is key. To infuse the proper level of energy they recommend “pumping up the volume . . . louder music creates more energy.” Temp is also important. “Songs that are upbeat and more celebratory in nature will generate a positive response from the congregation.” They also advise people on the platform to “practice looking happy” and “make sure you’re strategically using humor.” As the title of their book reveals, the reason for micromanaging the staged worship experience is to attract a crowd.
These pastors, representative of so many contemporary Christians, believe that God changes lives through the commodification and consumption of experiences. If our worship gatherings are energetic, stimulating, and exciting enough then people will attend, receive what’s being communicated, and be spiritually transformed. The justification for this approach is simple–people won’t come to a church that’s boring. And what qualifies as boring is defined by our consumer/experience economy. But the moment we believe transformation occurs via external experiences, the emphasis of ministry must adjust accordingly. Manufacturing experiences and meticulously controlling staged environments become the means for advancing Christ’s mission. And the role of the pastor, once imagined as a shepherd tending a flock, now conjures images of a circus ringmaster shouting, “Come on, come all, to the greatest show on earth!” In Consumer Christianity, the shepherd becomes a showman. (p.75)
I was shocked by the way that Skye didn’t mince words. It was refreshing, especially in Christian circles. Tim Stevens and Tony Morgan are two well-known evangelical pastors. But Skye saw something that troubled him about their beliefs and he wrote about it.
Brilliant.
I was more refreshed by the way that Skye challenged those with differing ecclesiological beliefs than what he actually stated. He honored these two men while simultaneously disagreeing with their fundamental approach to the way church should be done. Awesome.
That’s me. What do you think?
I'm reading out of context as I haven't read the book, but I wish more Christians would disagree in this manner. It's respectful yet truthful. Makes me want to read the book.
I read and loved Divine Commodity and tend to agree with Skye on this. However, I do not believe this is a black/white issue.
At some point in the last half-century, the church was put in a position of having to compete for people’s time, attention and money.
Some churches resisted the shift and entrenched themselves in the past.
Other churches decided they had to compete in the consumer market or they would die. These churches reinvented themselves as highly competent vendors of religious programs and services. Their focus is on a worship service designed to attract a crowd and helping to facilitate personal transformations. The church and community are valued, but only if they strengthen a Christian’s personal relationship with Jesus.
I believe both of these are in stark contrast to the biblical vision of the church in which individuals exist for the sake of the community and the community exists for God’s mission in the world.
The church should be set-apart and distinct from culture, yet visible within the world. In other words we should speak the language of culture, but not their values.
If we over-adapt to a culture we are trying to reach, it means we have bought in to that culture's idols. We are allowing that culture too much authority. But if we under-adapt to a culture, it means we have accepted our own culture's idols, forgetting that our version of Christianity is in large part not Biblical but simply cultural.
The gathered church should demonstrate to the world what the kingdom of God looks like. We should worship in a way that represents our community to God and God to our community.
This is epic. I love when people disagree well. Due to this, I loved the part of Flickering Pixels where Hipps discusses the disagreement process of the Mennonites. There is a strategic, loving way to disagree and build relationships. At the same time!
We need more of this in our big personality church culture.
Glad that he was willing to say what a lot of others were thinking.
The show has started to overshadow the message in far to many churches.
The show has started to overshadow the message in far to many churches.
I haven't read either book, but I certainly think American Christianity has produced a great deal of Consumer Christians! Our motives as Church leaders should be evaluated constantly… and reading what Skye had issues with seems to paint a less than pretty picture of the church in America trying to “attract” people. When we emphasis the crowd, maybe we are not following The Jesus model. He seemed to make following Him more difficult than we try and make it today. We say the right confession and prayer gets you into heaven… Jesus said trusting and following him is the key to the kingdom of God! Jesus said some very hard things to people who hung around him and thought they had their religious life all figured out… this caused many to leave disappointed and perplexed!
On the flip-side, I love loud passionate music, and desire to see the church be as creative as possible in 2010! But I'm not a fan of staging something just to attract people who might not come to church otherwise… this has nothing to do with why I like loud music and creative worship experiences!
The truth is we need less people in church, and more people in community with one another anyway! I'm a huge fan of doing church different, and with as much technology and media as possible. Not because it will attract people, but because I like the creative side of ministry. Lets say prayer labyrinths and stained glass windows would draw a crowd in Mobile Alabama, I would stay true to who I am as a minister of the gospel, and not build the best prayer labyrinth in the city nor purchase the coolest stained glass window on the planet! BE WHO YOU ARE WHERE YOU ARE and don't become someone else (FAKE) just to draw a crowd. People can spot a fake a mile away, and I believe people outside of out church are interested in seeing real people love God with an authentic passion that only Jesus deserves… not a staged, fake, worship service designed to suck them in! Can a cool worship experience save someone or is it The God of The Universe and savior Jesus Christ who draws us in by His spirit?
Peace
Tony
This was the best book I read this year. Excellent and refreshing. I agree completely with his words on this issue. People are choosing churches based on the entertainment element and not the transformation element. We need God to intervene or the future of the church is dark. If you didn't see Skye's message at The Nines you must. Check it out here –> http://tinyurl.com/y9ceyxy
For realz. Skye isn't afraid to call out where he feels calling out is needed.
Justin, thanks for blogging about this. Divine Commodity is one of the most compelling and challenging books I've ever read (see my review http://bit.ly/3aOU5n). I think it's a book every pastor and Christian leader should read. It challenged many assumptions I didn't even know I had made.
I'm also glad you wrote specifically about the way many churches design their worship “experiences” with a consumerism mindset. The arguments for exciting, engaging worship services seem sound. Thousands of churches have bought into them. But Skye makes a compelling argument that that philosophy may be counter-productive. I think this is an issue that needs to be discussed more in depth among Christian leaders and in an open thoughtful way rather than in a flame war that often happens.
That message at The Nines was life-changing. Check it out…….
Paul, your thoughts mirror so many of my own. After I read Divine Commodity I wrote a series of blog articles challenging churches that as you put it “decided they had to compete in the consumer market” (Are Churches Bait-and-Switching People? http://bit.ly/fb8az) as well as churches that “resisted the shift and entrenched themselves in the past” (Anti-Consumerism: Worst Church Outreach Strategy Ever? http://bit.ly/1cNdzr). It seems to me that there is another way to do church that stands in contrast to both of these (Can Churches Sell the Sizzle Without Selling Out the Steak? http://bit.ly/6XCAWn)
Not trying to pimp my own stuff, but I hope to broaden the conversation on what I believe are extremely important issues for the church today.
I'm feverishly taking notes. Tell me if I have this right–The proper way to honor someone whom you disagree with is to write a book, take the words of other pastors out of context (having never visited their worship service or spoken with them about it), never call or write to ask those pastors about that quote, and avoid any conversation about the topic even when spending an ENTIRE DAY with that pastor right before the book is published. Do I have that summed up correctly?
And, can we all agree, it would be great if “more Christians would disagree in this manner” – AND – this is a “strategic and loving way to disagree and build relationships.”
Wow, what an interesting world we live in.
Tim, I can see your point here and would actually like to take back my comment after I have gotten more of the picture.
I am glad that he was willing to throw the point on there (skye that is) but I can see the problem with saying something like that.
Context is king here, and it seems like there are some things that were taken out of context.
knowing what you have said now, it makes things a little more messy and in all honesty, I hope this does not blow up into a controversy.
Easy for me to criticize while not actually being there, on both sides. Sorry about that.
Agreed.
It gets personal, heated and misunderstood very quickly when there's no communication happening.
Sounds like Skye, Tony and Tim need to get together for a cup of coffee and hug it out.
Tim, would you care to put quote in its proper context and clarify what it means?
Tim,
I can understand your frustration, however, I read “Simply Strategic Growth” and “Pop Goes the Church”… how do you feel you were taken out of context? It appears you and Jethani simply have a fundamental disagreement on the issue. What am I missing?
Paul
Interesting question, Pauleo.
Tim,
To respond to your comment (even though doused in sarcasm) I stand by what I said about disagreeing and building relationships. I don't feel the quote was in any way meant to tear you or your philosophies down. The way he disagreed with the approach to ministry does not seem to shoot down the ministry itself, to me. However, as you mentioned about him not bringing this up when you were together, that seems a bit shady. I can see how reading that comment in a book, when it was neglected face to face would make you question the critique.
Agreed.
Shouldn't any book titled “The Divine Commodity” at least be available as a free download?
Shouldn't any book titled “The Divine Commodity” at least be available as a free download?
EVERYTHING in life is sold. Cars, religion, food, EVERYTHING. So to say that a message will sell on it's on is just ignorant of how life works. And yes, another reason why I left the church because of all the ministers that would condemn those churches that “marketed”. Oh, and by the way, the most marketed minister in the history of America- yes Billy Graham. Go study how his advertising and public relations was done. Brilliant. As imo, you would have never heard of Billy Graham without all the marketing done to make him “God's man of the hour”.
EVERYTHING in life is sold. Cars, religion, food, EVERYTHING. So to say that a message will sell on it's on is just ignorant of how life works. And yes, another reason why I left the church because of all the ministers that would condemn those churches that “marketed”. Oh, and by the way, the most marketed minister in the history of America- yes Billy Graham. Go study how his advertising and public relations was done. Brilliant. As imo, you would have never heard of Billy Graham without all the marketing done to make him “God's man of the hour”.