Celebrity Christianity

Despite having been written over three years ago my post was very angry with Chuck Smith from Calvary Chapel yesterday was the number one viewed page on my website last month.  Number two was my letter to Pastor Mark Driscoll, which is almost a year old.  Now granted, I haven't been writing much so that is part of the reason why they are at the top of my most viewed list, but the truth is, no matter what, they would have been in the top ten, and most likely the top five.

Why?  Because people google search these people.  They are big names, who have done big things, and people want to know more about them.  They are Christian celebrities. This is however not a new issue, its just a different mechanism.

Paul, sees this as a problem and addresses it in his letter to the Corinthians.  "One says he follows Paul, another Apollos, and another Cephas and another Christ".  And then he gets to the core of the matter... "Is Christ divided?  Did Paul die for you? Were you baptised in the name of Paul?"

Is Christ divided?

What is interesting to me is that Paul seeing the celebrity thing going on, addresses it in this way:

This causes division
I must put myself in the problem and address my part in it
I must be humble and point others away from me, and towards Christ
I must explain that no man is above another man

This does not seem to be the way with Christian celebrities these days.  It is usually some form of "well I am being blessed for not compromising the truth"  While the others compromise and are "being followed by people with itchy ears,  There is usually a subtle, sometimes a direct refutation of the other leaders.  And the statement "follow me while I follow Christ"

The question we must ask ourselves in a world that worships celebrity, is, how are we to respond? 

I think the church needs to stop building celebrities.  I think the ones that are there need to give serious thought to their ability to deflect that position, and work for unity within the body.  I think we who are not celebrities need to stand up and be who God called us to be, to hold even the big shots to the same accountability we submit to in our body. 

But what do I know, I don't even have a weekly podcast

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Cancel Church Challenge (great stuff is happening)

In my original post about the Cancel Church Challenge I probably seemed brash, obnoxious, and arrogant... well that might be because I am brash, obnoxious and arrogant. But it was also because I was a bit ignorant, and a bit inspired. Now ignorance and inspiration can sometimes make people seem a bit jerkish, so please forgive me. And I really mean that, please forgive me.

I really do believe that this is an inspiration that I need to follow up on. For years I have been practicing a discipleship that sees worship as a daily laying down of our lives for others, following the path of the cross. And I think that this idea of challenging our conceptions of what worship is, and what the body should be about, is crucial to us being the church in our world.

But what I have learned the last two days is that many churches have already heard this call, and are practicing this idea. That even some of the biggest churches like Saddleback, have been doing this for years. This makes me happy, I am trying to get some people to post on their experiences, and ideas for the future. I am trying to put together resources so that others can join in this idea, and we can live a more holistic worship as part of our discipleship.

Another thing I have learned is that I may have been a little bit unclear about the purpose of this challenge. It isn't just to do social justice work. Many churches do social justice work every day, of every week. Many churches are doing work feeding people, clothing people, sheltering people, providing health care. My challenge is to call churches that aren't doing these things to dip their toe in and start growing in this direction, but more importantly, to challenge the idea of worship and fellowship in all churches. The idea is to see these activities not as addendum to our church program, but as part of our worship and discipleship, to move past the hearing of the word, and singing of God's lordship, to the actual practice of both as our communion with each other. I hope that makes sense.

I know I am banging the same drum, over and over, but I really feel, in the midst of my being, this is my word for the church right now, please pardon my immaturity as I seek to express that. And also, please pardon my "marketing" as I just want people to hear.

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A challenge (I need your help)

Lately there have been some challenges put out into the interwebs. Like this one by Jules. To me this is a great challenge, and a great way to confront some of our issues.

But I would like to issue a challenge of my own:

To every Church in the Western Christian world, take one Sunday a year (or twice a year, a month, heck every Sunday), and do not have a service. Take all of the money that would come in, and tell people to spread it around your city. Organize trash pick ups, car repair, free car washes, having lunch or breakfast with the homeless. Take one Sunday, and have a big party where you invite everyone that doesn't get invited to parties, in your homes, in the parks, on your block. On that Sunday visit prisons, and hospitals and old folks homes. Instead of singing songs for worship, sacrifice your time and money to care for those not cared for, the orphans, widows, or the mentally ill. Instead of listening to the word of God, go be the word of God realized, standing up for the marginalized, planting food gardens in public places, or doing a rally for better treatment of low income employees.

What would happen if Saddleback in Orange County, and the Eucatastrophe in Fort Worth, if Mars Hill Church in Seattle and the Revolution in New York, if Calvary Chapel in Costa Mesa and Awakening Chapel in Long Beach, if St. Patricks Cathedral and Adullam in Colorado, all just changed it up once and a while and sent the real church out, instead of trying to call everyone in? What would happen if we unleashed the talent, the artists, the musicians that we bind up in our programatic Sunday mornings, into a world that thrives on the creative? Can you imagine people with the talent of Willow Creeks band, taking requests from a park full of homeless people, to just sing and play. Can you imagine a homeless guy coming up and singing an old song from his past with them?

I can imagine it. I can imagine experiencing Jesus in a Matthew 25 way.

I challenge Mark Driscoll, Chuck Smith, Greg Laurie, John MacArthur, Greg Boyd, Hugh Halter, Phil Shepherd, Jay Baker, Doug Pagitt and countless others to reorder their budgets, to make some plans, to set their hype machines in motion, and do a Matthew 25 worship day, at least once a year.

Now for those of you that may have already done this, awesome, please don't let my ignorance, or arrogance offend you. I am just imagining this wonderful worship, and its effect on a world I am growing to love.

Please share this if you think its a good idea, or even if you think I am an idiot

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