Strategic Stuff
Church Can Be Cool (I think)
Posted by Excellerators on Jul 13, 2006, 18:39
|
|
Church Can Be Cool (I think)
In today’s high-tech world, people don’t buy things for functionality, but because they’re cool. Think about the ipod for a moment. If you have ever used one, watched one, or own one...you understand. There is a reason Apple is making more money now on music players than computers.
So what do you think...should the church try to be cool?
Not at the price of giving up something more important. Not at the price of giving up our faith, beliefs, integrity, or identity.
However, Paul told Titus to "make the teaching about God our Savior attractive." (Titus 2:10) The cultural word for "attractive" is "cool." We should make the gospel attractive.
Cool is not a word that is usually associated with the church, unless the air conditioning system is working overtime and the temperature has dropped so low that some members are complaining.
What is cool...really?
* It is like humor. If you have to explain it, it is not funny.
* It is like beauty. If you have to interpret it, it is not that beautiful.
* When something is cool, you just know it.
Like beauty, cool is in the eye of the beholder. What is cool to some would be downright dippy to others. Naturally, what is cool today may not (in fact, likely will not) be cool tomorrow. Cool is about being fresh.
In fact, that is the new word for cool among my teenagers and their friends. To them, "cool" sounds goofy. "Fresh" is in. Anything that is good and positive is fresh. A car is fresh. The meal is fresh. Fresh is cool. But, to them, cool is not fresh.
What’s in a name?
The name of a church can be cool—or not. Pick up the Yellow Pages and look through the list. What names are cool?
People will fight over the name of a church...big time. In my tribe I have listened and umpired wars over whether or not the word "Baptist" should be in the name of the church or not. Some people are willing to die on that hill. I'm not sure Jesus is as bothered by what we call the church as He is by what the church is or is not....
Names tend to take on generational cycles. You can often guess a person’s approximate age by their name. In a similar way, new churches all have similar sounding names: Saddleback, Willowcreek, Crosspoint or Harvest. These names are different from those of a generation before.
Some older churches have adopted secondary names that in time replace the old. The First Baptist Church of Franklin, Tenn. is now known as The People's Church. As time passed...gradually, they transitioned to a newer label. Is it a big deal...? Not really...it is just a name that connects better with the culture.
Building and location
One of the rules on the mission field is that a church building ought to be near the same level as the city’s banks, schools, shops and restaurants. Try this test. Visit 10 banks, schools, or restaurants where you live; then visit 10 average churches. Which are cooler?
Go to a favorite cutting edge place to eat in your town. Look around at the place .It probably looks very different from the average church you might go to. The atmosphere is probably cool and engaging to the diners. Could you say that of your church?
A Tree is a Tree
Nearly everything can be cool or not, whether that is PowerPoint, graphics, group life, music or Web sites. In Titus 2:10, "so that in everything they may be an ornament and do credit to the teaching [which is] from and about God our Savior."
That is what being cool is—an ornament. Think of a Christmas tree. Ornaments are not the main thing. That is God and His grace and glory and all the rest. Being cool is just an ornament on the tree. But what is a tree without ornaments?
---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ----------
| 
