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Pop Goes the Church 6
By John | June 9, 2008
To continue our discussion from last week and to finish our look at Pop Goes the Church by Tim Stevens, let’s consider the last things he discusses: stories of churches who are engaging & redeeming pop culture for the sake of the gospel.
Each church story is unique, but there seem to be some common threads between them.
- Series/Sermon/Weekend Experience/Worship themes and topics are chosen and brainstormed in groups, not by individuals.
- 99% of negative feedback comes from Christians (like the church member who, after seeing clips of Everybody Loves Raymond during the sermon series, watched 19 episodes and decided to share with the pastoral staff every sexually inappropriate theme that they saw.)
- Weekend Worship is viewed as the primary touch-point with unchurched people in the community.
In the end, is this whole discussion about pop culture and the church a marketing effort for the church? Is it the need of church leaders to be cool & popular? Or is it a way that churchgoers can feel better about themselves and how they live in this world?
No! No! No! says Tim. We do this so that:
- People – thousands & millions of people – can learn who Jesus is and how knowing him changes our life here & forever!
- The impact of our church would be so loud that the community can’t ignore us!
Is it worth it to intentionally dedicate ourselves to using pop culture references/media/themes in public worship?
Topics: Books |
