The concept of church is thousands of years old, yet we’re
still understanding, debating and re-forming what we believe church should look
like. We all grew up with different experiences of church. Some of us grew up
in small, family-oriented community churches, while others of us didn’t grow up
in church at all. For some of us, church was the kind of thing you had to dress
up for, while others of us only attended on Christmas and maybe Easter.
For many of us, church is a topic of great debate, great
frustration or even great pain. Many of us haven’t connected with the kinds of
churches we’ve experienced, or we don’t agree with how we’ve seen church done.
And so, in response, some of us have disconnected completely, deciding church
just isn’t for us. Still others have decided to do things differently.
A result of this church frustration is what I am calling
“cool churches.” More than ever, churches are striving to be culturally
relevant, attracting church-goers with their décor, their cool music and even
their coffee. Churches are more creative than ever before, striving to be
places people want to be in, adapting to fit what they think people want. But
is this a good thing?
I see pros and cons on both sides, but I want to hear what
you think. Do we need our churches to be cool?
Benefits:
1) Diversity is a good thing. Something we sometimes miss in
thinking about the diversity between churches is that our churches could, and
maybe should, be as diverse as the people who attend them. A group of artists
will hear and respond to the gospel in a different way than businessmen in
Manhattan would. Although we’re all speaking the language of the gospel, why
not allow room to speak in different dialects?
2) How else could we attract new people? One-size-fits-all
churches can be a major deterrent when the size doesn’t, in fact, fit all. If
we want to attract a different kind of person to our churches, we need to be
different too.
3) It’s important to stay in the conversation. I often hear
that churches are out of touch. Many churches skate around pressing issues,
preferring to do things the way they’ve always been done. But in order to stay
relevant, to continue to have a voice that people listen to, we have to be
willing to adapt and keep up.
Drawbacks:
1) We may lose our focus. One legitimate question we should
be asking ourselves as we’re revamping our churches to try to be cooler is
this: Are we losing our focus? Where are we putting our money? Where are we
finding our identity? What takes most of our time? Demonstrating our church’s
personality through décor and the service is a great thing, but it should never
trump our focus on the gospel.
2) We might get lost in what people want, rather than what
Jesus wants. Are people craving the same things from their churches they’d look
for in an apartment building or a restaurant? Is this what’s actually important
to the people looking for a place to belong? That’s a question with many
answers, but one to think about as we’re making decisions.
3) We run the risk of sacrificing truth. Something “cool”
churches seem to value more than more traditional churches is a feeling of
acceptance for everyone. Jesus modeled nothing less. But one question we should
consider as we’re setting the tone for our churches is this: As we’re striving
to create a place where everyone feels comfortable, are we ignoring the truths
Jesus taught us in the process?
Jesus’ truth isn’t always comfortable. In fact, it rarely
is. As we’re creating a welcoming environment, we need to make sure we’re not
ignoring an uncomfortable yet important truth. In this sense, welcoming and
comfortable aren’t synonymous.
Can we find middle ground? I think so. There are pros to
doing church in a new way, to revisiting what Jesus said church should be. But
there’s also wisdom in focusing on what’s most important instead of trying to
appeal to everyone or make everyone happy. What are your thoughts on the
subject? Should we be trying to make our churches cool?
