Relevance vs. Creativity

I am going to be honest, sometimes I write things, or say things just to hear people say: “wow I never thought of that” “you are smart” “I love reading what you write”, and probably the most unfortunate concept is that it’s never enough. But on an even more honest level, sometimes I say things that I think people want to hear. I know that I am going to be better heard or acclaimed for what I have to say if it caresses their ears. Is everything that I write original? Yes, but the ideas aren’t, I mean I obviously had the thought triggered somewhere and somehow.

It’s like this is infused in our blood though. We feel this need to sell ourselves to everyone around us, we can’t be ourselves we are always working with all that is within us to be someone or something else. The irony of it is that this is not just an individual problem, any group, team, organization, business, and/or church that we are a part of does the same thing. Obviously my main pet peeve is with the church. I was just surfing the net and ran across an author who wrote a book. His name and book title will not be mentioned just in case anyone actually might know him. Essentially his ideas can be summed up by two words – church marketing. Anyone else have a problem with this?

So without absolutely landblasting this poor fellow I will try to be civil. We, as the church have two options. Relevance and creativity. In relevance we follow culture, like an awkward younger brother, mimicking it’s every move and trying to gain the attention of their elder. We see big lights, so we use big lights, we see catchy slogan phrases, so we use catchy slogan phrases (i.e. got milk, got Jesus), and in just about any other category we are always far to gauche to actually be intellectual enough, original enough, or even daring enough to make something up on our own. It is in relevance that we become completely enthralled with the world around us. We are driven by what they want to hear, see, feel and do. Our services are no longer theologically driven to the believer and the language is all of the sudden in need of being filtered by some kind of cultural acceptability forum made up of guys who spend more time on their hair then they have studying theology. Even more so, it reeks of insecurity, as if what we could offer to you is only going to be appealing if I use the things that you like. On top of all of that, it never has appeared to me that Jesus was concerned at all with selling his message. I mean where should we start? Anger in the temple, rebuking the religious system, surrounding himself with the vile sinners of his time, not exactly what his culture wanted to hear, right?

Our other option is creativity. Now, far be it from me to claim being any kind of a source on creativity. However, the church has neither been, and in many cases even tried to be creative. Many of us are stuck repeating styles, structures, and programs that were invented in the 80’s. Have we been creative…well we put drums on the stage…does that count? However, if we believe that within us lies the true Spirit of the Living God, if we are truly made in His image, and He, being the Great Creator, places within us this same desire and knack for creating, then how have we become so adhesive to our culture? There was a time when the church was the hotbed for all creativity, and they were leading the pack, as they should be. It is our theology, our belief that should be driving our creativity and not the other way around. And whether we like it or not, our popularity and our “sellability” will continue to decrease, and it’s not our job to change that. Because, unfortunately, there is very little that is culturally acceptable about the message of Jesus. It’s scandalous. Radical. Full of gaps. A stumbling block. But to those that have believed, it’s redemptive, colorful, and what we’ve devoted our lives to.

So if by marketing he meant: loving others like Jesus did instead of what we have actually lived out as following Jesus, then maybe he should change his title.