Edit: The following post reflects a continuing change in views. To hear my heart at the other end of the spectrum you may want to check out This Post first.This article is a good chance to go back to some old debates. Sitting on the couch at the Goatshed the other night I got into an interesting discussion with some of my flatmates from The Street City Church. The Street are doing an amazing things to support the upcoming Greg Laurie Crusade coming to Wellington later this year. This, juxtaposed with my sometimes cynical view on these kinds of events, led to some really interesting discussions. After talking for a while we decided to watch the promo DVD sent out to local churches.
After seeing this I have no doubt God is moving in the Greg Laurie crusades. Since 1990 over 3 million people have attended his rallies and over 264,000 of those came to the front and made a commitment to following Christ. But as the DVD ended, I was almost reduced to tears. Looking at these figures I have to ask, How many of those 264,000 are still following? The testimonies shared show people who are blown away by their experience of the living God, but was this experience enough? Did this experience hold them through the dry times, through the wilderness, through the ups and downs of walking the narrow way?
As I look through the information pack I can't help but be concerned. Three testimonies are shared - all of them by 'successful' pastors from the States. Particularly troubling is the testimony of Laurie's 'rise' to faith.
"...Now, more than 30 years have passed. That little Bible study became a thriving church that eventually spawned a radio program, a crusade ministry, and a television and internet ministry. I never could have dreamed what God would do when I first took that small step of faith."
So what can someone who makes 'that small step of faith' expect? Can they expect a television and internet ministry? Can they expect the excitement of touring the world speaking to millions? Without a doubt this will be true for some, but for less than even 0.00001% of them. What if life turns to crap soon after the event? What if their calling is not one for superstardom, but instead one similar to Job? Can the dream of being 'someone great' hold them through the desert?
It is frighteningly dangerous how secular definitions of success have permeated into our understanding of what it means to follow Jesus. The gospels stress the importance of abandoning self to serve others, yet the Harvest information pack reflects a larger problem accross Christendom where we elevate speakers, preachers and ministry leaders as super-heroes of the faith. The gospel is being distorted on the basis that the greatest expression of faith is faith displayed in public (see: Mr. Harvey's earlier post).
What happened to counting other more significant than yourself, to the first being last, and to the greatest among us being the servant of all? Quite simply, cleaning shit is not sexy, it's sure as hell not successful. On the same logic what are we to say for the person who comes to faith in the midst of terminal illness? Have they lived a sub-significant Christian life because their influence never went further than the end of a hospital bed?
I cannot stess enough that this is not angst with the crusade itself. I believe in what the Harvest Crusade do, and I believe it is changing lives. Given the opportunity, I will hopefully have some of my friends and family come along with me to the event. My issue is with what this medium of evangelism models. As the year goes on more and more brochures will slide accross our desks, and they'll nearly all look the same. A photo of a charismatic, good-looking pastor (one hand outstretched, microphone in the other). More and more these brochures arrive with almost no information about vision or biblical purpose, instead pastor
While I respect them, the words of Rob Bell, Mike Pilavachi, Tony Campolo, Brian Houston, Paul De Jong, or Greg Laurie are not enough for me. And more importantly, neither is the dream I could one day become like them. I am sickened by a culture that elevates pastors and leaders above the rest, I'm sick of conferences which give them their own special seating area to bathe in the glamour and glory or their rise to fame. Most ministry workers I talk to are repulsed by this idea as well, and would happily trade their opportunity to dine with the guest speaker for the chance to see their youth know the true character of God just a little more.
What are we modelling? Does the discourse surrounding these conferences really reflect the character of God? And if we allow ourselves to be bought by the lie that a life with God is a life in the spotlight, how can we ever truly know what it means to walk in the steps of Jesus? My hope and prayer for the upcoming crusade is that many would come to know Jesus, that they would make a decision for the first time that they will continue to make every day for the rest of their lives. That this crusade would birth a new generation of Christians with a passion to humbly die for Christ, and not for a chance on the pulpit.
We can do better.
