A while back, I referenced one of my favorite talks by Sir Ken Robinson. In this talk, he explores the idea of - Do Schools Kill Creativity?
Recently, Robinson gave another talk Bring on the Learning Revolution. Here, he makes several interesting comments that have great relevance on education, creativity and personal pursuit of passion(s). Several of his later remarks would make great conversation pieces as it relates to the Church. Rather than extract various thoughts and quotes, I've simply posted the 18:00 presentation.
2 comments:
Again, good food for thought concerning education - yet Wow! The implications and possibilities for the church are just as profound.
One idea that jumped out at me has to do with the fast food model. Typically this is used in reference to the "now" culture but it was interesting in how it was used regarding mass production, chain, cookie cutter-ness. So many churches today seem to be either stuck in traditional thinking or trying to emulate the next next. My soul shouts "yes!" in desiring the church to be a unique expression to each unique people.
A personal experience on this (with a bit of a tangent yet relevant) was a class I took in seminary on " Religious Education and Missions" The main project during the class was to create Sunday School in an unreached culture - I couldn't do it . . .why? because " Sunday school" is uniquely American for one and for two - it doesn't do what it was meant to do here - why repeat and institute something broken, that flourished in middle America 1950s somewhere else? Here is an amazing link to a sermon by Oscar Muriu (on the global church) that talks a little bit about this from a cross - cultural perspective - but amazing sermon none the less. http://www.urbana.org/archives/2006/session-info?session=3
SO the question is "why do we think it would work in different US contexts?"
There is a reason for the resurgence of Mom and Pop restaurants in our culture. Authenticity is one - but personalization, I believe, is another.
The other point regarding this has to do with spiritual health as a result. When we lean to the fast food model in churches - why are we surprised by the anemic Christians it produces; Fat Christians taking in more information, being entertained and not living out their intended purpose. Unhealthy relationships emerge and the Kingdom does not move forward. Just like fast food creates addiction - so do fast food module churches . . . and the results are less than what God desires for His people and does not result in His ultimate glory.
So how do we learn to be relevant and yet not replicate?
Great thoughts...
It does seem that there needs to be some margin, as Robinson states, "to dis'enthrall" ourselves...
Perhaps there are church-equivalent "wrist-watches." Things that we do that used to make sense and even served a purpose, but no longer make as much sense or continue to serve any substantial purpose...
As to the McChurch Syndrome... There seem to be a number of dynamics at work...
One, by and large, humans (particularly Americans) live and die (mostly die) by the 'fast-food'enchantment...
Two, if I buy into the franchise model, there's a sense of guaranteed success (which typically translates for many 'growth'. But the metrics by which a church is to 'measure' growth as an organization or the individuals involved is a whole other series of posts).
Thirdly, we are enchanted with busyness (or at least the illusion of importance it instills). As a result, many are too busy 'running' to keep up with the present, that there never seems to be enough time to envision, or simply, reflect-and-live into a more authentic version of themselves (individually/corporately). I'm sure there's multiple layers that feed into this...
All that aside, models are inherently evil. In fact, at times they can be helpful for churches/leaders who simply are missing something... However, whatever the case, authenticity (owning it, being true to one's self, calling, personality, gift-mix, passions, etc, etc, etc) is essential.
Many leaders/churches seem to spent copious amounts of time trying to figure out their "target demographic," all the while oblivious to the dynamic make up and composition of the arrow & bow...
There's much more that could be said... but this is a start...
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