Change Already?
Posted December 1st, 2008 by Keith Howard
As we travel across the country offering the Living the Hope events we hear stories. Some provide kindling for hope; others fall into the category of "Things that can't be that bad, but are."
A woman in her late thirties came for a job interview. The interview was held in the Christian Education building of a United Church. As it happened, the congregation was the one in which she had been raised but no longer attended.
As she passed time waiting for the interview she toured. Later she commented that everything was the same as when she was 10 years old, including the paint colour and the posters on the walls.
We live in a visual age. Sight, sound and sensation are more important than linear written text. For those between the ages of 30 and 45, meaning arises through experience and encounter. As we have heard thousands of times, people seek an experience of God, not information about God.
People make up their minds about returning to a congregation within the first six minutes. This decision is based upon their "experience" of the congregation rather than upon any content delivered in the sermon. Sights, sounds, impressions, "feel" count.
I was at a meeting in the U.S. recently that featured a behind closed doors, no holds barred conversation about the state of the church in North America.
One CEO, with a deep interest in organized religion in North America, said bluntly, "Most worship in North American churches now is a variation on the singsong alternating with lecture" format. If you are not particularly interested in singsongs or lectures then what is there for you?"
The conversation then branched to how younger generations now plug in individually through their iPods, the importance of the dangling earphones as a cultural symbol, the power of Google as an information retrieval/management device and other features of the radically changed context for those born after 1960.
I was part of another conversation with a highly respected church leader on the East coast of the U.S. who said, just as bluntly, that the prime reason people do not associate with organized religion is that much of what we offer is boring and stupid. (Go ahead, say what you really think!)
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Comments
Church & Hollywood -- How are they the same/different?
I was at a workshop on church communication recently in London (Ont.)hosted by a clean, green, Japanese photocopier company. The presenter, an expert on the subject, had been flown in from California. One of her comments that stayed with me was the following: "Marshall McCluhan was wrong... the medium is not the message.... the message is the message... and we can and should use every medium we can to proclaim it." I'm quite sure that this speaker would have agreed with everything in your post. But I'm more curious about how you might disagree with her approach and differentiate your own perspective from it. But since you weren't at the London workshop, let me put the question more generally. Hollywood is, without a doubt, expert at managing the first six minutes (seconds?) of contact in such a way that we quickly buy in to what they are selling. Perhaps we should be taking the same Hollywood approach in the Church. How, in your view, is what we should be doing the same and how is it different?
medium message
Thanks for the comment Rishi.
If I understand you - and the photocopier person - correctly, I would agree that the medium should never displace the message. The ideal would be when the medium reinforces the message.
So with respect to congregations, two comments.
1) When I say the first 6 minutes are critical, I'm not advocating we do something contrary to who we say we are; in fact the opposite. The concern is that while most congregations regard themselves as hospitable or, at least friendly, the reality is that most do not communicate that, especially during the critical first few minutes. People are often left to fend for themselves or are not made to feel welcome in a respectful way.
2) One of my favorite questions is: What is the cutting edge of the gospel to which your congregation is called to bear witness? In communication language, what is your message?
It disturbs me profoundly that many, perhaps most, are not able to answer this question in a way that reflects integrity and authenticity.
Some may cite mission statements but they seldom touch the deep down "message" that I - and other visitors - seek to know. When that core is fuzzy, people are not sure really what or who they are walking into.
To use the movie analogy, it would be like a Masterpiece, classical type piece which started with the same kind of action, music and quick shots of a Bond film, then switched to some Simpsons with a talk show to end. People say, "Ah, what exactly is going on here?"
very good
"One of my favorite questions is: What is the cutting edge of the gospel to which your congregation is called to bear witness? In communication language, what is your message?"
Very good question to be asking.
What are some of your other favorites?
very good
I can not answer that question but can only bear witness and
message infinitely that which Jesus commanded "Love your
neighbour as yourself" That is my greatest temptation that I do
not always practice the second greatest message of the gospel
and message of my Lord and Leader,Jesus Christ.
As an aside a Minister in a congregation in the U.S. stood
up and preached for 6-7 Sundays in a row a 10 second sermon,
"Love your neighbour,as yourself." The parking lot buzz
transformed the membership as within a 6 month period half
the congregation left(50-60 members?)and those remaining lived
the one and only vision/dream/mission/purpose/outreach/ of
followers/servants of Jesus Christ"Love your neighbour,as yourself."
When I chose to follow Jesus Christ I thought I would change but
now realize that the Spirit does not change but only reveals
what was already created in the beginning and had always been there Re Birth/Re Born