Freedom: Lessons from 2 Years of Being Debt Free
- on May 17, 2013
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My wife and I are celebrating two years of being debt free. It has been an incredible journey of ups and downs, but I want to share with you some of the ways we went about it as well as the lessons we[...]
Is (Your) Church in “the dead zone of slick?”
The below is an excerpt from Seth Godin’s post the dead zone of slick.
There was a terrific duo playing live music at the farmer’s market the other day. They were well-rehearsed, enthusiastic and really good. Being a patron of the arts, I bought a CD.
I hated it.
I’ve thought a lot about what turned me off, and I think it’s the curve above.
Faced with the excitement of making a CD and all the knobs and dials, they overproduced the record. They went from being two real guys playing authentic music, live and for free, and became a multi-tracked quartet in search of a professional sound. And they ended up in the dead zone. Not enough gloss to be slick, too much to be real.
BINGO. Seth gets it.
Seth, as is his style, precisely and briefly puts in words and a graph what many of us often feel about church.
“Not enough gloss to be slick, too much to be real.”
A complaint I often heard in college ministry was that church was too slick, whether it was their home church where I pastored, the church down the road, or the one they grew up in. It’s a complaint that is hard to describe, but we all know what everyone means when they express it.
It’s that fine line between authenticity and being overproduced. Not everyone likes the duo on acoustic guitars leading worship, but not everyone is into the eight musicians on stage with lights glaring and moving images behind them either.
I’m someone who so desires authenticity in our churches and community, but I also want us to think through how we do things as well and do them with a sense of integrity, hard work and passion.
Too Slick
If I had a choice, I would usually prefer the “not slick” versus “slick” everyday of the week.
My 10 Reasons of how you know when is church too slick?
- When no one else is allowed on stage/upfront on Sunday, but the paid clergy/staff.
- No one is allowed to share or preach but the handful of ordained staff, etc.
- Everything is on perfect cue that when there is a mishap it becomes a big issue to the staff or congregation.
- When children (crying, talking, walking around) have no place in church, are given dirty looks, or ushered out.
- The service is broken down into minute detail…minute by minute. No room for the Spirit to move as some say.
- Professionalism reigns (oratory skills, musicianship). There is a difference between putting “capable” people up front, and allowing only the best of the best or professionals to do everything.
- When a staff meeting becomes the place where the service is dissected, but very little time is given to prayer, theological reflection or why we do the things we do.
- When the pastor or band/worship leader carries with them superstar status that if they weren’t up front on a Sunday people might choose not to attend or bring their friends.
- When those up front reflect only a segment of the population of the church (usually the pastor’s demographic or circle of friends), and there is no room to try things differently, with different people.
- When people’s reflection upon the service was more about the technicalities, than it was about the content.
Thoughts?
When is church too slick?
What makes church authentic?
Nice post. Thanks. One comment, and perhaps this is not the place for it, but one of the things that might make number 11 for me is the playing of a piano along with the prayer of the pastor...too slick to be real, not slick enough to be cool.
...Total pet peeve of mine. It also seems to me that the larger the church this is done in...the worse it seems. So hokey...lame ineffectual emotioneering at its best, sentimental crap in the middle, and deceitful manipulation at its worst...
Just stop it!
Great stuff, Rhett.
Let me add number 12:
- When the sermon/message/talk has to be exactly the same amount of time every week (for example, 24-26 minutes).
While you are only looking at most of these things for their negatives there are positives that go along with each of them. At the same time I do totally understand what you are saying. I think the problem arises when we try to be "real" and we do not give our best to the Lord. In our attempts to be real, we often simply give poor effort and planning.
Hey Rhett, great post. I agree that there certainly is a fine line between authenticity and overproduction. On the one hand, we want to honor God with excellence, while on the other hand we don't want to turn corporate worship gatherings into some sort of performance that encourages passivity and consumption. I agree with all of the ten of the "too slick" markers you listed.
It seems to me that perhaps we are creating a bit of a false dichotomy between being authentic and preparing well. In my opinion, the problem lies not in preparedness, but in the wrong type of preparedness. When we're investing a ton of time in fancy light shows and nifty moving slide backgrounds, that is slick and superficial. When teachers are spending hours seeking God and preparing messages, while worship leaders work hard to prepare to help the congregation connect with God, that allows for a healthy marriage between authenticity and preparedness. I believe we're best off erring on the side of authenticity, especially in ministry to 20somethings, who can often spot inauthenticity a mile away. Thanks again for this post, I believe that those of us who minister to college-aged people need to be having more of these conversations.
Thanks for the post Rhett. I really appreciate the guide, you give us all something to examine and chew on in our own ministries. I think I also agree with th majority of the commenters, we want to be prepared but also authentic, and that in erring, we can err on the side of authenticity. I know that this is something I frequently think about in our youth ministries and hope more people take these thoughts to heart. But I also agree that with younger people authenticity is crucial way more so than slickness.
thanks for your thoughts and your heart
I often joke about the “Prayer of transition” that happens during most church services when the pastor finishes the message and the band comes up on stage. Although I think that it is a necessary transition I find myself being cynical about it’s purpose. Rhett I agree with you that overproduced services feel like we are placing a higher priority on the “order” than we are on the “spirit” on the same hand though I know that there is a place for order and harmony in all of this. I think we often throw out the word “authentic” to describe something for us that we “connect with.” I’m hesitant to say that a produced service doesn’t draw some people to God. It seems like this might be another re framing of a the traditional worship war which happens in many churches. Are we fighting now between Produced vs. unproduced? I guess i wrestle with this like you do because I want to have a simple faith but much gets in the way of it for me.
Hey everyone, thanks for the comments. And whoever submitted the comment above, which is a good one, it was somehow submitted under my name and email, etc. Weird. So since I don't know who it is, I just put anonymous on it. Don't know what's up with that glitch.
I think we all agree. There is a fine line between too produced and authentic.
I also think that we want to use our gifts and use them to the best of our ability. And when you have great speakers, and musicians, and artists, and video techs, etc., you get a really high quality....and that is great.
My only caveat is this: That in the midst of our "professionalism" if I can use that word, we still allow room for the whole body of Christ to participate. And when we do that, sometimes things don't stack up to the standards we have set...but I'm also a believer in that they often turn out way better because we allow room for others, and their authenticity can really be seen.
It's a hard line. You want people to be able to be in the worship band, etc, but you don't want the person who is always missing notes or off key. But there has to be room for that person...mentor them, work with them, train them. And also maybe help them find a gift that is better suited to them.
Tyler: You are right, I was looking at mainly negative stuff. Probably because "slick" is not always the best image for me when I think of church. But slick can be good in ways where everyone is using their gifts to the highest ability and the sound, video, sermon, etc, etc. all come together for an amazing experience in church. Hopefully though, that our ability to make something slick doesn't exclude God from the equation. That we rely on him in our church and services. And if he truly calls the broken, sick and wounded, which he does, then things aren't always going to look slick.
Good thoughts everyone.
rhett
Having worked on a megachurch production team, I have heard many of your points from colleagues and friends. I would like to comment on:
"When a staff meeting becomes the place where the service is dissected, but very little time is given to prayer, theological reflection or why we do the things we do."
because in my limited experience, the creative planning team spent a great deal of time working through just those questions, with prayer and reflection for each week's services- the very fact the service was planned weeks ahead increased our ability to be intentional and theologically cohesive with what we did in a way that would not have been possible without the advanced planning and "thinking ahead of time" that a produced service demands.
As an artist, I hesitate to criticize any medium (motion backgrounds, etc.) but much of our faith centers on Intent rather than the Act itself. "Coolness so we impress ourselves" is repugnant, but I had a marvelously enriching experience serving a quite healthy church that did produce its services, and met needs and changed lives, which to me are the fruit of any healthy church, regardless of their approach to services.
Changed lives= Jesus. No Changed lives= show.
yes, I get disappointed when great acoustic acts overproduce their albums :)
Rhettmeister-
Every item on your list sounded distinctly familiar to a certain church I attend...
I figured out that these were big problems when I had to justify the way things are at the church when bringing visitors. There is a way to rationalize everything, and that is why so many of these problems aren't properly addressed. I do know why I continue to attend a church that hits every "slick" from 1-10:God has servants everywhere, and He moves regardless of Satan's attempts to distract people from Christ. The people in charge are seeking after Christ, and they are "authentic." I just think they're still trying to figure out how to do church in 2008 in Hollywood with college students. That's one mean animal to tame! I love that your suggestion is not to leave the "slick" church, but to learn how to transform it into a vibrant body of joyful believers. You have always embodied the belief that anyone and anything can be transformed by Jesus :)
Missing you in SoCal,
James
This post is so right on! Slick is sick kinda like a certain presidential candidate I know and it's NOT McCain.