Does anyone want to be a McChristian?
McDonalds has taken a few hits in recent years. First they burned a lady with coffee that was too hot (although I’m not sure I’d blame McDonalds). Then they damaged a man’s health, as seen on “Super Size Me.” But even beyond that, they seem to stand for fast food that is consistently mediocre. To be a McANYTHING is generally not a good thing.
I was reading last night a description of something that really kept my mind at work for some time. The book is by Ed Young and it’s entitled, The Creative Leader. Here’s what he had to say…
“As church leaders, we have a big challenge before us. We have to take these drive-through people and turn them into disciples. We’ve got to take the McChurched and turn them into the mature. We are tasked with the responsibility of growing God’s church in a McChurch culture. And that’s a huge challenge in today’s entertainment-driven, A.D.D, serve-me world. In fact, it’s a bigger challenge than most are willing to admit.”
So what do we do about it? Ed Young suggests that it’s going to take every creative juice we’ve got in the body of Christ. But as I thought about it, I came to the conclusion of making sure our creativity was aimed at the right target. And beyond that, making sure we were only aiming at ONE target.
While there is much to talk about when it comes to our strategy and the way we apply our creative efforts to this task, let me say just a couple of things this time to get our thought process cooking.
1. While we’re striving to create a more simple process in our church, we don’t ever mean for that to be confused with a “superficial” process. We want to take people deep into their experience with God. They don’t need clutter and complexity, but they do need a clear, simple path.
2. Keeping things simple allows us to avoid the too-often-used-trap of busyness (which is code for INEFFECTIVENESS). I don’t want to be a part of a church that’s busy. But I desperately want to be a part of a church that is effective. Don’t you?
McChurch? McChristian?? No way!