The Christian Church Looks a lot Like Detroit

The Christian Church looks a lot like Detroit.  Detroit is a city that to most of the world appears dead and dying.  The buildings are abandoned, the windows are boarded up, and the yards are left unkept.  The city may have once had its day of influence, but those days are long gone as the city has now declared bankruptcy.  Detroit may have been something, but those days are past.  People still like to talk about Detroit.  The media will still send reporters into the city, filmmakers will come and showcase the city, and photographers will be excited to photograph the abandoned buildings.  But while people are interested in talking about Detroit, far fewer are interested in making their home in Detroit.

The Church is seen the same way.

Christianity is seen as a dead and dying religion.

There may have been a day when Christians had influence, but those days are gone.  Christianity may have, at one point, been important, but it is now ancient and irrelevant.  Our churches are seeing as worthless and out-of-touch with reality.  They might as well be boarded up and left to rot.  People still love to talk about the Church.  The media loves to showcase stories about the Church, especially when somebody represents the Church poorly.  But while people are interested in talking about the Church and spiritual things, nobody is interested in making their home in the Church.

"The spiritual temperature has changed very suddenly in the United States. For many years, the None population was small  — a mere 5 to 7 percent. Then it exploded quickly. This is very different from what happened in Europe. There, unbelief warmed up slowly, as if in a Crock-Pot. In the US, unbelief has warmed up as if in a microwave. While unbelief is heating up, belief is cooling down. The percentage of Christian converts is not keeping pace with our growing population as unbelief overtakes Christianity.” - Mark Driscoll, A Call to Resurgence

Which leads Driscoll to ask the question, “Will Christianity have a funeral or a future?"

Not Done Yet

An interested thing happened around the time that the city of Detroit declared bankruptcy.  While the outside world looked in at Detroit and saw a city dying and broken, a group of young people saw something different.  A group of people believed that the city of Detroit was not done yet.  A group of people, with the desire to bring the X-Games to Detroit, passionately created a movement of young people who believed that there was still hope for the city of the Detroit.  A group of people who believed that creativity, innovation, generosity, and generosity was not done in the city of Detroit.  And so while people all over the country watched a city in ruins, a group of people said, “This is our city.  And we are not done yet.”

To-date, the X Games have served as a rallying point for us, and we imagined that upon winning the X Games they would be a medium through which we could express and perpetuate the ever-growing vitality of our city in front of a global audience. - Kevin Krease

And later on their twitter, the three simple words:

Not done yet. - @AssembleDetroit

I believe the Church is not done yet.  I believe that while the Church may not be popular or cool, the Church still carries the message of the Gospel that is needed in our world.  And while Christians may be seen as out-of-touch, I believe that the Gospel is never out-of-touch with broken, sinful people.  The church is not done yet, because God is not done yet.  And so America may not be a Christian nation, but the Gospel was not given to a nation, it was given to the Church.

And so the world might see Jesus as irrelevant, old-fashioned, or juvenile.

But I believe He is not done yet.

Photo Credit: Rick Harris

When God Calls You to Get Social (Media)

As Christians we believe that God calls us to live out our faith in all kinds of different arenas.  We are called to live out our faith in our homes as we raise our kids to love Jesus and as we treat our spouse with love and respect.  We are called to do our work skillfully and for the glory of God, even when that work is not distinctly Christian work.  We are called to love our neighbors, whether or not that always means talking about Jesus.  In today’s modern world where life is lived online, should we consider God’s calling as extending into our online profiles?  Has God also called you to your Facebook, Twitter, instagram, and tumblr?

I had an opportunity to spend some time talking about this topic specifically with a friend of mine. Justin Wise is an author, trainer, and speaker when it comes to online marketing and social media.  In fact, he recently released an awesome book called Social Church all about how the church might embrace social media.  In light of his work with social media, I asked Justin to do an interview about the subject and what it looks like for the Christian to live out his faith in a social media world.

[gss-content-box color="gray”]Make sure you check out Justin’s book The Social Church: A Theology of Digital Communication. [/gss-content-box]

Me: If you are a Christian, God has called you.  He has called you to your family, to your community, to your workplace.  Do you think this extends to our internet presence?  And if that’s the case, how does God call us to live out our faith in the digital realm?

Justin: The best way to answer that is by looking at the offline version of living out your faith.  Followers of Jesus live out their faith in all kinds of different ways.  In the scriptures, we most clearly see this in the commands to “Love God,” and “Love others.”  As Christians we are called to love God and love others, period.  This means we approach our work with this in mind, we approach our families with this in mind, we approach our friendships with this in mind, and we approach social media with this in mind.

Me: So for the Christian trying to go about using their Facebook, twitter, and instagram for the glory of God?  Does this mean that the Christian should tweet a verse-a-day and instagram quotes of bible verses with a cool filter?

Justin: A Christ-centered approach to social media isn’t about constantly tweeting bible verses and beating people over the head with it.  Instead it simply asks the question, “How can I live out my life online in a faith-based way?”  In many ways it is simply living out your Christian faith online and letting people witness that. And that can look a thousand different ways.

Me: When I think of this question, I think of the quote that’s attributed to Martin Luther that says, “The Christian shoemaker does his Christian duty not by putting little crosses on the shoes, but by making good shoes.”

Justin: I love that quote.  Let’s give an example of what this might look like.  Let’s say you are a Christian entrepreneur.  Not an entrepreneur running a Christian business, but a Christian who wants to start a normal, not Christian, for-profit business.  As you start your business and run your business you might use your twitter account in a thousand different ways.  You make sure that you are rendering a service that you are proud of.  You make sure your service is something that you care about.  You make sure you use tools like twitter to build connections with customers that you care about.  It may even mean that flowing out of the platform that you build, you use this platform to elevate others or promote an individual or organization that doesn’t have a platform of their own.  It’s not necessarily about quoting scripture, it’s about doing good and using your social media to help make that happen.

Me: In your book, The Social Church, you make the comparison between social media and the printing press.  But we aren’t all Martin Luther, so what role do we play as we use our tweets and instagrams? 

Justin: This is actually the genius of social.  When you look at the printing press, it was still a very expensive piece of technology and very few had access to it.  The impact of what we are seeing today with social will be much greater because of the accessibility.  Anyone with a computer connected to the internet can start their own publishing channel. Even if you are not looking to reform Christianity, the barrier to being able to publish, share, and connect with ideas is lower than ever before.

Me: I know with me, when it comes to technology I tend to jump in with both feet right away.  What cautions would you suggest to someone like me who is all about the new devices, the new networks, and the new technological fads? 

Justin: Use social media; don’t let social media use you.  Social media, and all technology, can quickly become consuming.  And this isn’t simply only a time thing, but it can even be a mind-share thing.  Are you constantly engaged with your Facebook even when you aren’t on your phone or desktop?  For those of us who are embracing social, we also have to learn to be able to distance ourselves and disengage.

Dear NFL

Dear NFL,

The NFL has been no stranger to controversy - that’s the result of being one of the largest organizations in the world, not to mention the sport which hosts the best sporting event in the world.  Every week there is some kind of talk about an NFL-related controversy, which often may have very little to do with the organization called the National Football League.

This year everybody talked about the Washington Redskins.  Even the UN was involved in the conversation.  This year the NFL had to deal with the issue of bullying when Richie Incognito filed a grievance against the NFL.  The NFL has faced people speaking out against the violence of football, including NFL players suing over expenses caused by concussions.  And we can’t forget all the talk when Seattle Seahawk’s Richard Sherman called out Michael Crabtree.

These issues come from all different sides and bring about all kinds of opinions.  Some of them I’ve heard and thought, “That’s bad.”  And others, I’ve laughed to myself thinking, “Really?  That’s an issue?”  These issues aren't what I’m interested in talking about.  Let’s talk about an issue that is deeply connected to the National Football League.

Human Trafficking.

27 million.

"That's how many slaves there are worldwide. Take a moment to wrap your head around it. That's the population of Georgia and Florida, combined. That's the population of New York City metropolitan area. There are more slaves around the world right now than at any time in recorded history. A problem that most people think ended more than a century ago is, in fact, thriving as never before.” - Source (via EndItMovement.com)

The cost of one of these slaves… only $90.  A ticket to the Super Bowl is almost twenty times as much.  And there are more slaves at this time in human history than ever before and it spans the globe.  This sickening industry that profits from the abuse and slavery of women and children (primarily, although not exclusively) makes more money than Google.

Human trafficking is specifically the transporting of people away from their communities in order to force them to work against their will using violence, deception or coercion.  And this happens all over the world, including the United States, and especially when the Super Bowl comes into town.

“New Jersey has a huge trafficking problem,” admitted Rep. Christopher H. Smith (R-N.J.), co-chairman of the U.S. House anti-human trafficking caucus told the Washington Post recently. “One Super Bowl after another has shown itself to be one of the largest events in the world where the cruelty of human trafficking goes on for several weeks.”  - DelawareOnline

And from the Washington Post:

“The Super Bowl is a huge, huge arena for sex trafficking,” Douglas said. Some visitors “are coming to the Super Bowl not even to watch football — they are coming to the Super Bowl to have sex with women, and/or men or children.”

I know this is not the problem of the NFL.  I am still going to watch the Super Bowl with my friends and family.  I am still going to proudly (although ashamedly) hope for the day that my Detroit Lions will play in the Super Bowl.  But while it is not the NFL’s problem, it is a problem that is on us - as humans - to do something about.

So while the NFL hasn't caused this issue (although GoDaddy certainly has no problem promoting women as objects during the Super Bowl), I believe the NFL can impact this issue.  The NFL has more power and influence than most other organizations and a bigger platform than most.  And who better to speak out against human trafficking than an organization who’s premier event happens to bring about slave owners from all across the country.

This may have already been an issue in the minds and heart of the NFL; I wouldn’t doubt it as it’s an issue of human life.  The NFL may have already been taking steps to do something about this and we simply haven’t been aware of it.  I just would like clearly ask the NFL to help.  Let’s make people aware of this problem and let’s do something about the problem.  Let’s raise awareness, give time, energy, and resources to fight for the end of slavery.  There are plenty of issues that will come across the desk in an NFL season, let’s actually do something about this one.  It just might save someone’s life.

[tentblogger-youtube C7yFuLxoldU]

Duck Dynasty Controversy

If you haven't yet heard about the Duck Dynasty controversy, you likely haven't spent much time on the internet in the past 24 hours.   The guilty parties are A&E and Phil Robertson of Duck Dynasty fame.  After an interview with GQ, A&E put Phil Robertson on an indefinite hiatus from the show.  A&E responded to the interview by saying, "We are extremely disappointed to have read Phil Robertson's comments in GQ, which are based on his own personal beliefs and are not reflected in the series 'Duck Dynasty.'"  There are people fuming in anger that A&E would censor a man's Christian beliefs and see this as an attack on freedom of religion and freedom of speech.  And there are others who applaud A&E for what they've done, finding Phil's comments offensive to LGBT people.

In the midst of all this, I thought I'd share a few thoughts that have been helpful for me as I've thought through and read about the controversy.  As with any controversy, a lot of people are quick to speak and attack all kinds of people - I''m less interested in attacking and more in talking about what can we, as Christians, learn from this and be reminded of.  I hope Duck Dynasty continues for many  more seasons.  I hope Phil Robertson returns and continues doing what he's doing on the show.  And I hope that Christians always speak the truth in love.

The way we talk about homosexuality matters.

If I said what Phil Robertson said in his GQ interview, I would have gotten in big trouble by my employer.  And I work in a church -  a  church that is full of passionate conservatives and a church theologically opposed to a homosexual lifestyle.  There are a couple of areas in the article in which homosexuality has come up.  Most quoted by those who are upset when referencing the GQ article is Phil referencing Corinthians when asked "What in your mind, is sinful?":

“Start with homosexual behavior and just morph out from there. Bestiality, sleeping around with this woman and that woman and that woman and those men,” he says. Then he paraphrases Corinthians: “Don’t be deceived. Neither the adulterers, the idolaters, the male prostitutes, the homosexual offenders, the greedy, the drunkards, the slanderers, the swindlers—they won’t inherit the kingdom of God. Don’t deceive yourself. It’s not right.” - from GQ interview with Phil Robertson

But that's not all he said about homosexuality.  If he simply said this, I would completely understand the anger and say it is justified.  It'd be justified because while a lot of people wouldn't agree with him, he's simply paraphrasing the Bible.  And this is a belief that A&E already knew about - there is no way in all the seasons of Duck Dynasty that A&E just now figured out that the Robertson are biblically opposed to a homosexual lifestyle.

Phil also said this:

“It seems like, to me, a vagina—as a man—would be more desirable than a man’s anus. That’s just me. I’m just thinking: There’s more there! She’s got more to offer. I mean, come on, dudes! You know what I’m saying? But hey, sin: It’s not logical, my man. It’s just not logical.” - from GQ interview with Phil Robertson

Homosexuality may be illogical, in fact I would argue it is.  It is sin.  In fact, I would even say that what Phil said was accurate - and probably puts words to what many people have thought.  But what he said in GQ is not the way I would go about describing it.  Phil Robertson should have probably kept that statement between him and the friends he hunts with and not said in an interview that would be broadcast to the world... but Phil may also not be concerned with that.

Christians absolutely need to find ways to talk about their faith - but there will always be certain things that we should say and other things that we shouldn't say.  I'm not sure that this issue for A&E was about Phil being a Christian who is opposed to homosexuality, but more of he is a star on A&E's network who spoke about his issue with homosexuality in a way that was perceived as crude.

As a youth worker, if I want to talk to my students about what the Bible teaches about homosexuality - saying what Phil Robertson said does not open the door for conversations with students who struggle with homosexuality.  I don't believe Phil was intending to be crude or stir up controversy - but I wouldn't say it the way he said it.  If we truly believe a homosexual lifestyle is sinful, we also need to approach it in a way that allows for us to have conversations with people who struggle - and this won't happen by ridiculing or making fun of their struggle.

A&E is a business and will respond in a way that they think is good for business

Some have argued that A&E is not allowing for Christians to have free speech.  This may in fact be the case, which would be a shame.  But I think it is far more likely is that A&E is trying to protect their brand.  A&E wants to sell products, keep viewers, and attract other successful TV shows.  A&E likely made the call they did to prevent backlash from a LGBT supporters who would be very vocal about the things that Phil Robertson said.  A&E now is feeling backlash from passionate fans of Duck Dynasty.  Whatever A&E decides long term is probably not going to be rooted in a moral agenda - they are not going to change their mind about Phil Robertson because they feel they were wrong and they are not going to stick to their guns because they believe in gay marriage - they are going to do what they think will make them the most money.

And that decision may mean bringing back Phil.  And it might mean Phil Robertson doesn't return.

GQ was clearly looking to stir up controversy

Read the GQ interview.  GQ is loving every minute of this controversy because people are flocking to their website and buying issues of their magazine.  And that's exactly what they wanted.  It's actually a very interesting article, but it also very clearly trying to stir up some drama.  Phil was asked about politics, his faith, civil rights, and more.  The interview is obviously shaped by the author's own beliefs (as would happen with any journalist):

It’s the direction he would like to point everyone: back to the woods. Back to the pioneer spirit. Back to God. “Why don’t we go back to the old days?” he asked me at one point. But now, I’m afraid, I must get out of the ATV and go back to where I belong, back to the godless part of America that Phil is determined to save. - from GQ interview with Phil Robertson

GQ interviewed Phil Robertson and asked questions just hoping for the perfect sound bit that would spread like wildfire on the internet.  In fact, if you read the article you will see the potential for several of those, not to mention the same kind of language that people are upset with by the author. The homosexuality one took and GQ is reaping the rewards of the controversy.  A&E is suffering in this fiasco.  Duck Dynasty and Phil Robertson will have consequences because of this.  GQ will make a bunch of money.