1.22.2010

Kit Kat or M&Ms, it's Still Just Candy

You know something that really bugs me? New churches that simply take an old formula, slap a new wrapper on it, and call it something new...like emerging, or missional. There has to be a complete philosophy change somewhere, you can't just do the old thing on couches and with candles.

Yesterday a doorhanger showed up on our front door for a new church in our area, touting itself as a new young missional church. The name sounded interesting, so I visited their website. Looked like the same old thing, but not wanting to outright dismiss it, because I've been hoping for something to turn up in my neighborhood...I decided to dig a little further.

Staff pastor(s) seminary trained men*. Check.
Having some big vision for saving the community. Check.
Moving into a non-churchy retail space. Check.

Complete with pastor and wife having a SHARED Facebook page, because that's how they hold each other accountable, you know. (Why does seeing Facebook pages called "Chris n Tony" or "Barb n Todd" really rankle me, especially when they are conservative Christians? Because it comes from that same misogynist mindset that we all love to hate.)

I know those things are great for some people, but they are all negatives in my book. Still, wanting to be open-minded, I thought I'd listen to a sermon or two, just to see. The online sermon list included messages by three different people, all men*. I looked up their names, and they are all conservative seminarians. I chose the most recent sermon.

Yep, just as I feared. Heartfelt desire to CHANGE the NEIGHBORHOOD. And then dissing on the neighborhood because it's poor and needs saving. Preaching the gamut about demonic spirits over our profoundly unchurched area.

When will people get it? First, you can't diss on how dangerous and demonic the community is...you are forgetting PEOPLE LIVE HERE. And unless you live in the ghetto, you have no automatic street cred there. You have to earn it. And dissing on it will not earn anything.

Change? You can't talk about it, it won't do any good. You can pray for it, but that doesn't feed people. You can feed people, but unless you change your attitude about their "poor unsaved gang-member criminal impoverished demon-oppressed immigrant souls", no one will care and no lasting change will be affected. The kids need coats. The moms need free babysitters. The teenagers need a safe place to hang out. They need money, not your couches and candles. Oh, and they speak Spanish. Oh, and they are Catholic. Your emergissional bullcrap isn't wanted around here.

When will something really new come around? Something where you don't have to comply with conservative doctrine, listen to stodgy worship, and be chastised by talking heads, but be among people willing to stop talking and get their hands dirty? When will someone begin to see that change means actually having to DO something, probably something unpleasant?

Granted, I'm no expert. I live in a glass house, but my heart isn't proud of it. My heart wants things to change in someone's life. Not an entire community...just one person, one family. I can't do it alone...but I want to find ways to try. I have no credibility with my community, no experience, no tools, no money...and I'm white middle-class.

But there has to be a way that doesn't involve overhead projectors and bible beating and talking out of your asshole about your intent to change the community.

Granted, they are new to the neighborhood and maybe I have it all wrong. Maybe they will put their money where their mouth is.

But somehow I doubt it.

End rant.



*I am not clear on whether there is one staff pastor and the others were guest speakers, or what the deal is. But same difference.
Labels: ,

11 comments:

  1. This rant is great! What a good reminder about the "us and them" approach to "evangelism". Ugh, even that word repulses me now. If someone wants to change me, then they'd better be ready to invest some time in getting to know me. Plus, they'd better be able to demonstrate with their life that their beliefs aren't just some list of doctrines on paper (or online these days).

    Especially as I move toward an experiment in hospitality, I need to keep this in mind.
    ReplyDelete
  2. I think you would like our church very much from what you say. I wasn't sure if I wanted to write a comment because I don't want to sound like we are doing it right. We bought an old polish hall in a rough neighbourhood and renovated a bit but our mission has always been to love the neighbourhood. We have a meal together every sunday and a household goods store where we sell goods and clothes for cheap (free if the need arises). People from the community volunteer to run the store fur us. I think they love and teach us as much as we do them :) Come visit- if you can bear the snow! lol.
    ReplyDelete
  3. Gary - You're so right. Now, I don't have the right to judge this group, not really, and I shouldn't. Their intentions are good.

    It just struck me wrong, just like so many other church plants, "new" things, missional, emerging things that really don't have a clue about the real life of the people they hope to reach. They live in their letters-on-a-page world and think everyone wants to join them because of their "message".

    And again, I don't know who these people are, and maybe they do have a clue and maybe they will be effective. But this is how they came across to me, and isn't there something important just in the way they seem to the outsider?
    ReplyDelete
  4. Oh, and the whole "same old thing in a new wrapper" doesn't strike me well, either. It seems almost insincere, like we can't really take the risk to be different, but we want to seem different so people who have issues with the old thing will want to join us. I don't know how to describe it, but I think you know what I mean.
    ReplyDelete
  5. Aphra, that sounds lovely. And I'm sure there are many truly sincere groups who really touch people in a tangible way.

    This group, there was talk about "saving the neighborhood", but no talk (on their website) about how they want to do that, or what they plan to do, to really impact people's lives. The church is 6 months old, I'd think if they had some kind of plan, their website would say it. It seems more like they want to come into the neighborhhod and sit in their cute retail space with couches and preach about how they are changing lives...without actually doing anything.

    But again, I'm being unfair...this is all based on first impressions. That's all.
    ReplyDelete
  6. I can't comment on that particular group because I know next to nothing about them, but I think too often Christians have been guilty of assuming that "the message" is all that matters - people will want what we have, the gospel will draw them, yadda yadda. What they tend to forget is that most people don't think in such concepts. What matters to most people isn't whether or not Christians (or whoever) believe the "right" things, but whether or not they are good.

    "By their fruits you shall know them" is an apt saying here. People don't care what you say you believe, but they certainly notice how it affects your life and your attitude towards others.

    Someone can believe the truth until the cows come home, but if they're antisocial, judgemental, or condescending then people will just avoid them. Of course, the built-in excuse is that such people are afraid of the gospel, whereas the reality is that all too often they're repelled by the very people who preach it.
    ReplyDelete
  7. Tears....you brought me to tears.
    ReplyDelete
  8. You're absolutely right, Barry. You've summed it up well. It doesn't matter what you believe, if it doesn't make people's lives better in a tangible way, no one will care.
    ReplyDelete
  10. I don't know if it's like this everywhere, but what you described sounds like something very common where I used to live--the trend to make everything a trend. :) When "emergent" becomes the new popular catch-phrase, churches all over the place start having separate "emergent" services and doing "emergent" church plants that are little more than a younger version of themselves. I wouldn't pass judgment on this particular group, not knowing anything about them...but I guess the idea this presents is both funny and annoying to me. :)
    ReplyDelete
  11. Jeff - I think my issue is that the "new" missional thing is to move into ghetto neighborhoods and think you're going to change the lives of the unsaved people.

    Newsflash, unless you really get in there and really help meet peoples' needs, you're just another church with no care other than filling up heaven.

    And I don't know these people, and I was really ranting against a model...I can't say anything about them other than what I heard in their sermons. So I might eat my words one day.

    But the model remains...it's discrimination, plain and simple, thinking people "need" you to come preach the gospel to them, when all they've eaten for a week is mac-n-cheese.

    And it is very much a trend to make everything a trend. People see a missional model that works, and they want to "DO THAT". Yeah.

    Well, what does IT really mean? That is the question.

    Not to diss on those who really do DO it and not just talk about it. I know some of them folk. :)
    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)