The Fad Driven Church
mood: contemplative
Last week I ran into a friend wearing a Marithe Francois Girbaud t-shirt. It was well worn and obviously he kept the shirt for activities such as painting, changing a tire, cleaning a grease trap, and/or rigorous yard work. It was one step up from a shop-rag. The irony is that just fifteen years ago, this same shirt would have been a must-have for navigating the top-tier middle school social circles.
When I was in middle school (in the early nineties), everyone who was anyone had a pair of Girbaud jeans. There was nothing exceptional about them. Their look was post-eighties, standing in the gap between acid-washed and pre-worn. There was a little white tag on the zipper area that said "Girbaud". Essentially, that was what you were paying for. They were the hot jean to have.
I remember wanting a pair so badly. Middle school is that special time when you decide that there is nothing special about being special, and that it is better to be like everyone else. And so I was desperate to be like everyone else. Of course, Girbauds were name-brand, designer jeans, and that was never going to happen in my house. But I held out hope. I remember going to Burlington Coat Factory where I knew we could find good deals on expensive jeans, and the only Girbauds I could find were a pair of overalls, which were also popular at the time. My mom, being very wise, would not buy them for me, because she knew they would look horrible on me. She was right. But I was desperate to fit in, and so Girbaud overalls were a must-have. I couldn't understand why she wouldn't buy them for me.
Hindsight is twenty-twenty, and I am so thankful I don't have to look at any awkward pictures of myself in overalls. Thank you, Mom. It is also amusing to me that when I came across my friend in his old Girbaud t-shirt, we polled several of our friends who were five years younger than us, and none of them had any idea what Girbauds were. They were a must-have fifteen years ago -- a source of adolescent idolatry -- but now they are nothing more than worn out rags.
Culture is obsessed with fads. We are obsessed with being a part of the "in" thing, even though in five years it will be forgotten, filthy towels on the garage floor. It is a habit we adopt sometime around middle school, when we become aware of our worth, and we spend the rest of our lives trying to keep up, to wear the right plumage no matter how ridiculous it may seem. And all the while, Innocence stands in the corner shouting, "the emperor has no clothes!"
It is no different in the Christian community.
A few years ago when I went into ministry, a coworker described for me how trends came and went in campus ministry. There would be some huge ministry that had a great speaker or cool worship leader or hot girls or something, and it would be the place to be. Hundreds upon hundreds of people would come, and everyone would brag about how well the church must be doing to warrant such blessing. The chuch would start looking trendy, with well-defined social circles. There would be an in-crowd of those with stylish beliefs, education, sense of style, etc, of which everyone was unconsciously aware and hoped to become a part. It would be the hip church.
And then time would pass, the speaker would go to a different job, the worship leader would move on, the church would change locations to a place far from campus, and/or the girls would graduate, and popularity would diminish. Then a new church would come along with a new speaker/worship leader/girls/etc., and it would become the place to be, and hundreds would come, and everyone would pat their own back. And those who stayed at the last church would wonder what happened, still reliving the glory days, treating everyone else like they are still the place to be when everyone knows they aren't, and maybe getting a little bitter about it.
Fad churches come and go. The people look good, the graphics look good, the worship is exciting and tight, and in five years, something newer, better-looking, and more exciting will come along.
Please don't get me wrong. I believe the spirit moves in fad churches. I don't think most fad churches start out as fad churches. I think the people who created Girbaud jeans created something unique, exquisite, and perfect for the moment. But soon Girbauds became the "thing to wear", and anything that was new and exciting was lost in the roar of the crowd who had no appreciation for uniqueness, but was desperate to be just like everyone else. In the same way, the spark that made a church the place to be can be trampled by a crowd desperate for a church that is the place to be.
What is the answer? I think it requires humility. We have to be honest with ourselves. We must evaluate our success using a formula other than raw numbers. If 1,000 new members includes only one new Christian, then the actual growth of the church -- i.e. the Lord's church on Earth, the bride of Christ -- is only one. Church transfer growth does not count! If the other 999 left their church to join yours, nothing will stop them from leaving your church when the new fad comes.
It's easy to to think when raw numbers are good that we must be doing everything right. No one stops to question where the numbers are coming from. No one wants to admit they are a fad. If it is all tied to a person, or lights and mirrors, or a sense of "cool", then we must accept that the fad will soon move on to the newer, shinier thing.
But a church that is obsessed with the gospel of grace, where social circles expand to love people for who they are, rather than contract to draw people in to the "next cool thing", is a church that will endure. This is a church obsessed with the person of Christ. Christ offers a new life, a life for which we were created. It is not the latest trend where everyone is like everyone else. He wants us to be like Him.
Jesus was a drifter who went into people's homes. He didn't carry himself like a king. In fact, he told his followers to carry very little and to depend on the kindness of strangers. He was obsessed with loving people. His community was small, but his followers were many, because he loved with passion, served the sick and poor, and ultimately suffered the worst death, abandoned and alone, for people who didn't deserve it ... us.
We must be obsessed with people. We must give our lives for them, as Jesus did. We must never forget that we have nothing to be proud of except our God who goes before us. We must be humble, always ready to admit when we have lost touch with the broken and searching who could never penetrate our tight circles of attractive smiles and flashy graphics. We have to stop patting our backs and take time to find our blemishes. We have to love, love, love, and love some more, always aware that just because they keep coming doesn't mean we haven't made mistakes.
It might mean we have to stay small. We shouldn't be content with transfer growth -- in fact, we shouldn't desire it all. We should be eager to get just big enough that we can split and start a new church in a new community of people who need to see the grace of God. Like Paul, we must be all things to all people, not the cool thing that all people should want to be. We must be a go-to church rather than a come-to church.
Ultimately, Christ offers us freedom from fads. He offers us freedom from desiring acceptance from others. Instead, we find our identity in Him. If our church ceases to find its identity in Him, it becomes subject to the rules of culture. Culture is obsessed with fads, not longevity.
Christ's love will endure to the end of time and beyond, stretching out to infinity. Our fads have a shelf-life of five years. Let's build for infinity, not for the garage floor.
Alec on 06.11.07 @ 09:23 PM CST [link]
