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

“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

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

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.

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).

…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!