MondayMorningInsight - Leadership & Encouragement for Church Leaders

Pastors and Pop Culture

Posted by: Todd
Posted on: Thu, December 07, 2006
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(8) comments so far

“I don’t want to be an old fogy, and I’m trying not to be,” said Morgan, 54,a Free Will Baptist. “But caring for the needs of the church is laborintensive. I seldom have time to watch television. I don’t play video games.A lot of my reading is not the big best-sellers.

“Having said that, I probably do need to find ways of staying current withpop culture, because of the old maxim that I have to know my audience to keep the message relevant.”

A new study shows a pop-culture gap between preachers like Morgan and theirflocks.

Titled “Clergy know more about Bush than Brangelina,” the survey of nearly2,000 Protestant ministers and churchgoers was commissioned by LifeWayChristian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention. It found that the
gap is widest on celebrity news, fashion and video or computer games.

For example, only 20 percent of ministers feel very informed about theInternet vs. 43 percent of laity. Some 54 percent of pastors say they’re notvery informed about celebrities compared to 36 percent of churchgoers; and
39 percent of ministers say they aren’t very informed about music vs. 18percent of churchgoers.

Culture can spur sermons
Researchers said the study was aimed at raising the question of how immersedpastors need to be in pop culture to relate to their congregations,particularly young people.

“There’s a long-term debate within Christendom about what is an appropriatelevel of involvement in popular culture,” said Ron Sellers, president ofEllison Research, which did the research.

“Some Christians believe separation from the world is part of godly
behavior, while others believe involvement in the world is necessary in
order to reach out to the world.”

Morgan says he’s not sure if it’s good or bad that pastors know so littleabout celebrity icons or the latest fashions. He says youth ministers canrelate to young people in his congregation in ways that he cannot.

And while he’s not personally interested in Hollywood gossip, he makes apoint of skimming through the National Enquirer or People Magazine in thesupermarket checkout line and finds the stories sometimes raise interestingquestions, such as:

“What’s all this about Scientology and Tom Cruise? Is spending millions ofdollars on a wedding really going to make them happy?”

He said, “I do think pop culture raises interesting questions and it could be that it’s equally important as politics in where my limited time should be invested.”

Andrew McPeak, a 17-year-old member of Morgan’s congregation, said he thought it would be cool to hear a sermon based, say, on an XBox theme orabout movies’ impact on people’s lives. But, he said, “I think he’d lose alot of people if he did that. His message has got to address the wholecongregation, and we can talk about that stuff in youth group on Wednesdaynights.”

Besides, McPeak said, on the pop culture he knows, Morgan “seems to know asmuch or more than the older people sitting in the pews.”

Reaching out is mission
The Rev. Chris Findley takes both a professional and personal interest inthings such as video games, TV shows, music and movies.

Findley, 34, pastors 50-member, intergenerational St. Francis Church in Goodlettsville.

His cell-phone ring tone is Bon Jovi’s “Livin on a Prayer.” He calls himselfa hockey nut. He’s into his XBox. He’s aired film and television clips aspart of his traditional Episcopal liturgy. He aced a Tennessean pop culturequiz.

“Being in the culture is simply part of where God has placed me,” saidFindley, a self-described child of the ‘80s. “I’ve had conversations andfriendships develop with people who wouldn’t normally hang out with a priestbecause I was playing Xbox.”

As a priest, Findley says he is deliberate about keeping in touch with popculture, because it flows from his understanding of the incarnation of JesusChrist and reading of the Gospels.

“The whole message as we go into Advent and Christmas is about God coming tous and becoming the word made flesh to us, and I think that’s the patternwe’re to take on as Christians,” he said.

“If we remove ourselves from the world and say we’re not going to be part ofthe world, we’re untrue to what we see in the Gospels. Jesus’ parting wordsto the church were go into the world and make disciples. Jesus didn’t seemtoo concerned with being ‘in the world.’ He seemed to enjoy being with us. Ithink he still does.”

But Findley said Christians must discern what to pick and choose from popculture.

“As Christians I don’t think we are called to embrace every value or idea inpopular culture,” he said. “To blindly accept everything in pop culture is amistake. But to blindly reject everything in pop culture is also a mistake,because you’d be living in a bubble.”

Pop savvy not top priority
While it’s likely that younger pastors and laity are more naturally in tunewith pop culture, Vanderbilt University religion professor Volney Gay saysthat clergy as a group are probably not going to have high pop culture IQ’s.
“Pastors are going to be slower in general to take an interest in pop culture because they’re scholars,” said Gay, who is also director of theuniversity’s Center for the Study of Religion and Culture. “They’re trainedin a discipline that is written or oral; it’s not visual or musical for thatmatter.”

And, pastors who do have an interest in brushing up on pop culture say thereality of their jobs gets in the way.

“I don’t know how you can be enough up on pop culture and do your ministrywork,” said the Rev. Sandra Griggs, pastor of the 85-member Glendale UnitedMethodist Church in south Nashville.

“You’re going to the hospital to visit someone diagnosed with cancer. Youprepare your sermons. And when you see kids listening to their iPods, youmight want to know what they’re listening to, but you can’t even hear their music.”

Pastors like the Rev. James Thomas of Jefferson Street Missionary BaptistChurch, say that ministers have more important concerns than the latestBeyonce single or Pamela Anderson break-up.

“I am more concerned about the theology, what people really think about theScriptures, the right interpretation of the Scriptures,” he said. “I do think you need to be able to relate to young people, and I have youth
pastors who can speak their language. But I’ve got to focus on what matters, and that’s the Gospel.”

And Gay, the Vanderbilt professor, says that there are good reasons why pastors should not be filling their church services with pop-culturereferences.

“People go to church for a different reason,” he said. “Everybody I know has150 (TV) channels. There’s no shortage of entertainment available. Popculture and entertainment tend to be about escapism. It’s about daydreams
and fantasies. Preaching shouldn’t do that. Preaching should be about wakingpeople up and self-reflection.”

SOURCE: The Tennessean
http://tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061203/NEWS06/612030371

Pastor Rob Morgan has never been near an XBox, rarely sets foot inside movie theaters and would rather read the newest Thomas Edison biography than keep tabs on celebrity gossip, Oprah or YouTube’s latest video offerings. But Morgan’s level of interest in pop culture isn’t necessarily the same as for many in his congregation, which includes People magazine-reading, iTune-downloading churchgoers. They take their seats in the pews of the Donelson Fellowship each Sunday morning to hear their pastor’s sermons on how to live a Christian life in the contemporary world.

Comments

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Peter Hamm on Thu, December 07, 2006

[Preaching shouldn’t do that. Preaching should be about waking people up and self-reflection.] Or should preaching be about making people think and then DO something different! I think the flaw in some “preaching thinking” is that preachers think that they need to somehow, in the course of their career, disseminate their entire theological education. And then, so many seem to stay totally insulated from the culture. Some of the above examples show this.

“Superman Returns” had some GREAT discussion points from a Christian perspective. There are some fascinating pop songs that do. I’ve seen some compelling stuff on “CSI” too.

Paul used the “pop culture” to make his point in Athens. We should, too.

my .02
kent on Thu, December 07, 2006

There was book a while back by a gentleman named Ed Hirsch, the book was “Cultural Literacy”. It explained that for us to meaningfully communicate with one another there has to be the same foundation of cultural information. This is one of the issue of using biblical images in our culture, there is not a foundation of infdormation that makes it meaningful or understandable.

While I am not carewhat Brittany’s lastest problkems are or who K-Fed is and does he ship over night, I there are people who do carre about such things and these are in roads to their lives. We are bridge builders, and pop culture is one of the ends of the bridge.
Leonard on Thu, December 07, 2006

Does is bother any of you to hear a pastor say I don’t have time to keep up with culture? I think it bothers me because of 3 reasons. First, it is the responsibility of leadership to know the language of the people they ministry to. Second, I think there is a basic misunderstanding of what it means to be culturally aware. I do not know who Brittney is dating to be culturally aware. Being culturally aware is to see the trends and influences of culture on the lives of people. Third, I think is says pastors might be simply working too hard on the wrong things.
Dan Moore on Thu, December 07, 2006

How does one avoid being culturally aware? I’m a busy pastor and chaplain. I get into my members’ homes. I see the influence of the culture. That busy pastor should read the local papers (not paper…but more than one) and not just the editorial page. Read it all. I watch the news each evening on more than one channel. I don’t have an iPod or an Xbox but I know enough about them.

A pastor does need to be careful. I had a pastor friend who stopped renting video’s from a local store because some members wanted to know what the movies’ ratings were [PG was okay for a pastor but not PG13 or higher]. I remember a pop song back in the early 90’s, “What if God were one of us?” and after it was out a few weeks, wrote a sermon series based on it. And there are some popular songs that frankly, are ... well… obscene and I won’t listen to them [just like certain film genre’s].

Pop celebrities do provide some teaching points. When a celebrity marries and divorces and then is admitted to a rehab center, you have a wonderful, living illustration of what happens when someone does not follow God’s rules for living. And the need to pray and minister to folks in such lifestyles. These folks who are “popular” are still people who are looking for something. And it is not new as I study history a lot of church figures could have qualified as “pop” culture types of their day and then they found Christ.
Oliver on Sun, December 10, 2006

First, Paul used ONE illustration as a jumping off point to get his audiences attention, he did EXEGETE his entire message from it like most preachers do. I heard a guy preach through the Lion King as if it was inspired! Lets face it, most preachers today are so busy they don’t have time to study God’s word anymore, they have to rely on shallow preaching and internet downloads. I can’t believe that anyone would seriously consider dragging themselves down into the sick morass of pop culture! just because the average person cares more that Britney spears got divorced should we? Should we let them drag us down and continue to be part of the problem. Do you know why we are stuck in Iraq? because most americans are brain dead idiots who don’t know the difference between a sunni and a shiite. the last church i went to i had to endure a sermon preached by some guy that obviously had alot of impacted fecal matter and was blowing alot of hot air out of his tailpipe. No, let me say to everyone out there, STOP listening to what the ‘consumer’ wants. Don’t listen to the idiot who wants you to preach a sermon on an x-box. Listen to that other guy that said preaching is about reflection. he’s right!
Doug on Mon, December 11, 2006

Jesus constantly used His surroundings to illustrate Kingdom truth. He picked metaphors, parables, and examples that His hearers would relate to and understand. Nothing has changed. We are just as responsible today of finding the most relatable and applicable ways of making God’s Word clear.

Each body of believers is different. What is appropriate and powerful with one group of people won’t have the same impact with another. The responsibility of presenting the life-changing scriptures is too important of a task to settle for anything less than our best possible effort.
Peter Hamm on Mon, December 11, 2006

I heard a youth pastor once commenting on the spiritual implications of a movie that had come out, and he got the plot of the movie TOTALLY mixed up with something else. All the kids had this confused “What is this guy talking about” look on their face.

A HUGE dangetr is when we comment on culture without knowing about it. It is NOT that hard to maintain a pastor’s schedule, prayer life, and home life while keeping up with the culture. It takes some intentionality, but it’s possible.
Doug on Mon, December 11, 2006

Completely agree with Peter. Keeping your eyes and ears constantly open, you can pick up a whole bunch of usable information. We must be in a learning mode at all times. Who knows when and where the Holy Spirit will teach you.