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“You’re called to be a pastor, just not in the South.”
That was a friend’s observation to me yesterday. We had a great laugh about it. The only tweak I’d give his insight - it’s not so much the South as it is the Religious South. For some reason, I connect quite well with pagans.
There’s much to love about the South - sweet tea, pork bar-b-que, college football, and the proper use of the word “Coke.”
What’s not so much to love is the strong religious subculture of the South. It’s got a few names that it’s known by - The Christian Ghetto, the Religious Right, the Fundies, the Evangelical Police. Kierkegaard used the term ‘Christiandom’ to describe the loss of focus away from Jesus to created structures and rules. He called it the greatest threat to the cause of Christ.
What’s it done (and doing) is straight out of the New Testament - creating a heirarchy of religious leaders who interpret for us what is right living and what isn’t. Their intentions are great, they just are completely missing Jesus. And not only is their no life in the rules, but it sets us all up to be complete fakes or completely irrelevant.
The first week I was in Little Rock, I used the music of Creed and U2 in our worship experience. (It was a few years ago, so cut me some slack.) One kid in the back got angry because I was using ’secular music.’ He said that we shouldn’t be using secular music. Secular music is of the devil. (Okay, he didn’t say the last line.) I said “Cool, let’s go out to your car and use some of your music.”
For some odd reason, he didn’t take me up on it.
But the interaction opened a huge world that at times I still get very confused about. Some words are okay to use if your leading a life group - period, pornography, masturbation - but not okay in a sermon. It’s okay to watch R-rated movies, drink alcohol, play violent video games, listen to secular music, or watch questionable TV shows in the privacy of your own home. We just don’t talk about it anywhere else. We don’t want anyone else knowing about it. And you sure as heck can’t use any of those things in church. Unless it was made by Mel Gibson.
Why?
Well - here’s the funny part ….
Because it will ruin your witness OR be a stumbling block.
Now that’s funny, I don’t care who you are.
It’s funny because I don’t think lost people struggle with those things and very few of our church members or pastors even hang out with lost people anymore. It’s possible to be born in a Christian home, go to Christian Mother’s Day Out, go to Christian Elementary School, then a Christian High School, then a Christian college, listen to Christian radio, watch Christian TV and videos, get a job in a Christian company and never run into a lost person.
Of all the churches in Little Rock - there’s over 500 in the metro area - I can only name one that that purposely designs their service and their ministries for reaching and ministering to people who don’t know Jesus. Most churches - and yes, Grace is one of them - program and focus on serving ‘the body.’ In other words, those that are already here.
Can those things be stumbling blocks? Sure. So is my greed and consumerism. I wonder if me owning two cars, living in a nice house, and being able to eat out when I want and what I want is a stumbling block to some people? It’s becoming more of one to myself but I’m never busted for that.
That was probably a lot more than what I should have said…but it’s my blog! ha ha ha.
Tags: Little Rock churches, pastoring in the South
12 responses so far ↓
1 wayne // Jul 6, 2006 at 5:07 pm
and we don’t change because . . .
2 Big Tom // Jul 6, 2006 at 6:07 pm
Wow!
3 Mike S // Jul 6, 2006 at 7:40 pm
G - well put
4 Catbird // Jul 6, 2006 at 8:45 pm
THANK YOU for “saying out loud” what I’ve wondered for years, and in a way that shows just the incredible irony (and dare I say, “foolishness”) of our Christian sub-culture of which I’m unfortunately often a part.
Preach on, G-man!
5 Patricia // Jul 6, 2006 at 10:49 pm
Well, the fact that you can eat out whenever you want is a stumbling block for me. Just kidding.
As for the other stuff, I watch R-rated movies, drink alcohol, listen to secular music, and watch questionable TV shows and I don’t care who knows about it. I hope no one sees this:)
6 Paul // Jul 6, 2006 at 11:51 pm
If only you had a stronger accent, you could do it. Maybe try putting some marbles in your mouth. In the South it is important how you talk. How many syllables does “Coke” have?
Right on the money for the South. How about a Midwest or Eastern seaboard version?
7 An Admirer // Jul 7, 2006 at 6:43 am
It’s one thing to admire Jesus, but can you follow him? Can you give up your worldly possessions to follow in his footsteps?
8 sean michael murphy // Jul 7, 2006 at 8:50 am
Christian Ghetto - nice - never heard that one
that’s how I’d describe Christian tv - big hair, gold painted wood, makeup - the Christian Ghetto
9 kris // Jul 7, 2006 at 10:05 am
great stuff … it’s why i keep reading your posts. (even when they ARENT about me
i think w/ the general homogonizing going on across the US, the Christian sub-culture is becoming more like you’ve described everywhere - certainly in the midwest, but probably other places as well.
this is one of the reasons i’m becoming so interested in the ‘house church’ movement. real people, who follow Jesus, getting involved in the lives of real people who don’t. no buildings or programs to try to enlist them to … just relationships.
is that just too idealistic to work …?
10 Mark // Jul 7, 2006 at 4:51 pm
To borrow the words to the new Dashboard Confessional song (Don’t Wait):
Don’t wait, Don’t wait
The road is now a sudden sea
And suddenly, you’re deep enough
To lay your armor down
Lay it down, man, lay it down.
11 Grant // Jul 8, 2006 at 1:03 am
I’d rather talk about why I don’t change…
I am changing, it’s just slow. 2 steps forward, 1 step back.
it’s hard and convicting, and inconvenient.
i’ll write more later.
12 Shawn // Jul 10, 2006 at 4:47 pm
Dude, you should really consider ministry in the wild west! No, seriously. There are no preconceptions about “churchianity” or sacred cows - everything’s too new out here.
Of course, there is a trade-off. You can’t pastor a church out here and feed your family unless you go bi-vocational, for one thing. And the food stinks. No flavor - none. I can’t even BUY grits out here. And the cultural divide can be a strain at times.
But I don’t get raised eyebrows if I’m not wearing a tie, my wife doesn’t get snubbed at fellowship dinners, and new ideas aren’t reflexively dismissed because “we’ve never done it that way.”
So yeah - come on out west. No, Denver isn’t far enough west either. You gotta try Mo-country; Utah, Idaho, Montana.
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