I think churches need to remember one of the basic phenomena of human attraction: the least likable kid on the playground was always the one trying the hardest to be liked.

The cool kids, on the other hand, were popular partly because they didn’t seem to care if they were liked; they were doing their thing whether or not you were watching. Those were the kids the rest of us openly (or secretly) admired (or envied).

This grade school truism translates very well. The Church will be the most provocative and alluring when it is itself. The Church will be least relevant and attractive and influencing when it is caught in the act of being someone different to gain more friends.

I remember as a teenager in youth group that the easiest way to get me to avoid a Christian event was to promise “cool music and awesome teaching.” That meant that the music definitely wouldn’t be cool and the speaker wouldn’t be awesome.

It’s like Margaret Thatcher said:

“Being a leader is a lot like being a lady. If you have to tell people you are, you probably aren’t.”

Why does the Church have to tell people that it is “cool” and “relevant” and “awesome?” The Church needs to be strong enough to be itself and be confident that it is “relevant” and “cool” because of the Spirit of God?

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 15th, 2005 at 9:54 am and is filed under Culture, Leadership, The Church. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.