When tasked with communicating a message on Sunday morning, the elements that get the most attention are the sermon and the music. From the offset, there’s typically a central theme or concept around which the worship service revolves. Once the big idea is established, common threads can be weaved throughout the service. Music, message, and atmosphere can be crafted in a cohesive and complementary fashion. And services often end there – with a strong message supported by complimentary music and message. It normally works.

However, visual communication is often overlooked in our worship gatherings. At best, it’s often seen as icing on the cake or beneficial – but not needed. I’d suggest that it’s not only needed, but can be the most important method of communication during a worship gathering. That may come across as overly dramatic, but that’s only because we tend to focus so heavily on the sermon. If you look back over church history, however, you’ll discover that visual communication has always been engrained in worship gatherings.

We have seen 2,000 years of visual communication through magnificent architecture, stained glass, and icons. It is clear that the need for visual communication is not a result of our modern, digital age, but is a deep and rich part of our faith.

So how is the 21st century church to engage in visual communication? I would suggest a few simple steps to executing visual communication effectively.

You can read the rest of the article here.

One of the foundation beliefs of Gateway is that we are joining God in the renewal of all things. And one way this is expressed, perhaps the best way to express this, is through art. So Gateway has launched the Restoration Artist Series, featuring artists within the congregation to display their work on Sunday morning.

It is a great concept. It enforces something that I believe to be true in the church, and that it that the artist’s role is to create redemptive art, and the pastor’s job is to curate art within the local church community.

Both men left the churches they founded, stepping down from their pastoral role. Both men did so after writing bestsellers and speaking at the nation’s largest church conferences. I’m not making a judgement here, just pointing out observations regarding their similarity. I was at the Catalyst conference three years ago when both Bell and Chan spoke at the event. Both can hold a crowd of 30,000 in the palm of their hands.

So both men left their posts in their respective churches, one for television after becoming a Christian celebrity and one citing the need for obscurity after becoming a Christian celebrity.

I don’t doubt that these transitions are part of what God has in store for each man.

However, many have loudly and publicly doubted and questioned their intentions.

We don’t much worry ourselves with the pastors leaving ministry each year from burnout. You don’t read many blog posts or news stories about the pastors leaving ministry each year from moral failure. We don’t pay much, if any, attention to the pastors outside of the Evangelical speaking circuit and besteller lists.

Just a thought…Maybe we are fueling the burnout with our obsession over famous pastors. Maybe we are fueling the ministry burnout epidemic by the unnecessary pressure we place on pastors as a result of our misguided concern with celebrity pastors.

I also have a theory on the unnecessary pressures for pastors to become producers rather than shepherds, but that’s another post for another time.

Have any thoughts to share about this?

Since long before the American Revolution, the notion that Christians should be involved with government has been broadly taught, accepted and practiced. It doesn’t bear repeating here, nor is it necessary, to tell the tale of Constantine and his Divine calling and the affect that the institutionalizing of Christianity has had on European and American politics throughout history. Simply stated, the idea that God-fearing, Bible-believing Christians have a responsibility, nay, aduty to be politically active has reached a hegemonic level. Whether it’s Jim Wallis or James Dobson, Christian leaders are at the forefront of the fray, rallying troops around their own particular positions and parties. Be it a Faith and Family platform or God’s Politics, the assumption remains the same regardless of party lines: the soul of America is at stake, and it’s up to us to save it.

But beneath all of our cultural assumptions are questions that must be considered. What happens when claims based on Romans 13 are held up against Luke 22? Or when Old Testament passages are understood within their proper context? How do we choose between issues like social welfare which is generally supported by democrats, and fighting for the unborn, a Republican standard? How can we reflect God’s perfect will and Christ’s perfect example in a system that is inherently flawed and considerably un-perfect?

In the two party system, the choices we’re left with are severely lacking in a lot of ways. Beyond that, different Christians will have different ideas of what responsibilities the government should have vs. what the church should take care of. Yet listening to the discourse happening during this election cycle, it doesn’t seem anybody is taking time to reflect on these issues, instead opting for the simple way out and flocking to one ideologue or another. The “hip” Christians circle the wagons around Wallis and Obama, while the “value voters” stand with their familiar flag bearers of Dobson and the Republican party. From the looks of things, nobody seems to see a bigger picture, and that’s concerning.

The Bible does not support any one political system. Arguably, the Bible supports every political system. Free marketers will point to the book of Proverbs or Old Testament laws while liberals want to make Jesus sound like a socialist. Both sides are drunk on their own kool-aid, and both sides want to push their political position. Either way, the problem is the same: God never calls us to be involved in politics. Lets repeat that: God, at no point in scripture, commands, implies, requests or even suggests that we mobilize as a group and support a party, politician or platform. It’s just not there. That’s not to say that voting is evil, or having party affiliation will condemn you do damnation, but it is to say that God is far more concerned with our testimony and our relationship with him than he is with who wins school board, or governor, or even *gasp* president.

1 Peter 2 calls us to live as aliens in a foreign land and immediately follows up that call by telling us to submit to governing authorities. Not influence, not campaign for, not campaign against, but submit to. Our allegiance has nothing to do with America. Sure, go vote, but don’t vote because America needs its soul saved. Don’t vote because God told you to. Don’t vote because you know which candidate is a closer approximation of how Jesus would lead. Just vote because of your opinion. Your flawed, imperfect, finite, human opinion. And then accept the results happily, however the chips may fall. Remember, this world is not your home, you’re just passing through.

Jonny is a 25 year old Seminary student currently living in Des Moines, Iowa with his wife, Kayla, and son, Joseph. He enjoys getting coffee with friends, talking sports and theology and getting out to the movie theater once in awhile. He’s passionate about orphan care and the future of the American church. You can reach him at jmcraig009@gmail.com or on twitter @jonny_craig

by The Brilliance

Often times in the American Church, we have relegated everything to Sunday morning. Spiritual development, artistic expression in response to the Creator, worship, and on and on and on. You may respond with the following, in justification of this model:

we need to attract people for them to encounter, and then follow, Jesus

I’d ask, sincerely, really? I see some benefit to churches who get amped up to put on a great Sunday show in hopes that they reach a few people (or thousands of people). But the benefit is ultimately quite small, because once you’ve reached them (what does that even mean?) their butts are planted in the seat watching the show next week. There is a gathering mentality here. But it’s hard (maybe impossible) to focus on gathering and sending. After all, when you plan for, and execute, and get good at, the Sunday morning production, the culture of your church inevitebly becomes about the Sunday morning. You cannot focus on Sunday morning, and Monday through Saturday.

The other problem that I don’t hear many pastors discussing is that they don’t know what they’d do if they weren’t always preparing a message. There isn’t much pressure to get into the community, cultivate talent, and curate great art, when you are locked up in meetings and sermon prep.

Maybe you’d say: 

we have small groups – in fact, we believe small groups are where real growth happens

Again, in all sincerity, do you really think so? And by that, I mean do you invest your prime attention, focus, efforts, funds and volunteers to build your groups, since that’s where the real growth happens? Or are those efforts spent on creating a Sunday morning gathering, where you may encourage small group participation a few times a year? Trying to build small groups through a large gathering is like trying to get people to drive slowly by posting billboards on an autobon. In other words, it’s bass ackwards. Church leaders: you create the culture. Where your attention goes, so goes the attention of those you lead.

Three final thoughts.

1. I love the church. I dropped my writing ambitions out of college to go on staff, and then went and helped create a church from the ground up. I believe in the church.
2. I go to a Sunday morning church, and I love it. I lead a small group in that church, and I love it.
3. 1 and 2 notwithstanding, when the words “we’ve been planning all week for this” come out of your mouth, what’s really being said is that you haven’t been planning for much else, and to me, therein lies the problem.

Know that above all, I believe God is redeeming and restoring the American church. I want no part of tearing down, but I do want to be a part of restoring, and sometimes that requires a bit of deconstruction. I hope this causes pause, thought and meaningful dialogue.

And of course, I’d love to hear your voice on this. Do you agree, disagree?

I have good great news for you. Your church services that you brainstorm and plan and sacrfice time away from family for, they don’t have to be perfect. In fact, they shouldn’t be perfect. And, you should have a line of failures behind you that make you feel like Hansel and Gretel, marking your path with failed attempts.

You have a great responsibility and you shoulder an incredible burden. This is why burnout is rampant and pastors leave their post everyday across the country. However, when it comes to planning worship gatherings, your responsibility is not to be Holywood producers or stage actors. Your responsibility is to facilitate a posture of worship with the people of God.  

So do us all a favor, and cancel your next planning meetings and spend some time worshipping, whatever that looks like for you. Of course, while I would be thrilled to hear that this actually happened, I don’t expect it to, because you feel the pressure to pull off another service, and things need to be completed. Sermons need to be written, songs need to be learned, graphics need to be created, setlists need to be compiled, facilities need to be prepared, and on and on and on.

But that’s just it…we need you to be full, not empty. It does our souls well when you are serving out of a fullness of spirit, rather than running on fumes because you’ve spent yourself in preparation. We need you to be present. Sure, you’ll show up, but we need you to be there not just to recite or perform, but to exhort and to encourage and to feel it.  We need you to mean it.

And please, I’m begging you, let yourself and your team fail. They won’t grow, be stretched, or continue to stay engaged if there is no magin for failure. And neither will you. Try something new, mix it up, take a risk, go there. Your team will thank you, your congregants will thank you, and everyone will grow because of it. It if falls flat, you have a story to tell and a learning moment. So sing that new song, or try that new style of presenting, or invite a guest pastor who will challenge everyone, or just allow yourself to be challenged. When you look back at the trail of failures behind you, you will know that you led others into an unknown land.

There was a time where, as a sign of repentance, the people of God would throw ashes over their heads as a sign of repentance. That has been adapted by some communities, and they place the sign of the cross on their foreheads, drawn with ash. Regardless of how we commemorate, Lent provides a time to maintain a posture of repentance.

If you look around corporate settings, such as office buildings, retail spaces, and large organizations, you will see one thing in common – efficient spaces and propoganda.

If you look around many (probably most) churches in America, you will see one thing in common – bland spaces, and a smattering of propoganda.

Those Who Care and Why Some Don’t

Of course, I’m not okay with this. In fact, the only reason you may be okay with this is because you work and/or spend most of your time in one of the last two settings. Many church people don’t give a second thought about art in their space or in their worship gatherings because they aren’t around good art very often. They are insulated, staying busy with the work of ministry (not all bad) without experiencing the culture that surrounds their church building (all bad). You don’t know what you don’t experience.

Many business people don’t notice the lack of art around them, because they are so used to being fed propoganda. Business tenants outside the elevator, success stories from customers printed next to a huge grin, or a picture of two men in suits shaking hands. Bad art, even no art, is better than propoganda.

And then there is a group who cares about design, cares about style and cares deeply about their involvement in a cause. The easy thing to do is call this sub-culture hipster Christians, which is as dangerous as it is naive (I’m guily too, no fingers pointed, here). We assume they live in urban settings and don’t comb their hair, and don’t put anything in the offering plate. I think it’s perhaps the latter that keeps many churches from engaging this group.

The Future of The Church (And Everything Else)

But here’s the thing: they are the future of the church. If you don’t believe me, just look at the changing environment in business. You know those startups I referenced? They are the business leaders of tomorrow.

Youth plays a factor, which either makes me biased or in the perfect place to observe the transisiton taking place in our culture. With technology and an insessant desire to be connected, my generation (Generation Y) has unprescedented exposure to other cultures, varying artistic expressions, and independent work, all which factor heavily in trend setting and taste making.

The trend setters and the taste makers are typically not rising through the ranks and climbing the corporate ladder, but rather striking it out on their own, or joining a small group of empassioned people rallying around a common cause. These folks, with their disdain for the American Dream (maybe that’s my bias) and their desire to make an impact, are the future of the Church…and everything else.  They bring an eye for art, a search for truth, and just maybe the first great movement in post-Christian America.