Angie is clearly the best singer-songwriter I've heard in a decade - or two. Lyrical, haunting, beautiful.
Brian Mclaren Wants You To Buy His Book
Brian Mclaren's Christmas message begins with four bullet points, the first two of which are a pitch for his new book, and the CD that accompanies it with helpful links to Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and the CD project website.
He then goes on to say this:
Consumerism is the notion that the more we consume the better off we will be. As I explain in the book..
In order to reach Brian's Christmas themed informercial, one must pass through the storefront for the book that is entitled, um... ah... oh yes - "Everything Must Change". On that page one can also access the site for the conference series (tickets $109 a pop) complete with links to the corporate sponsors.
When will we get it? When? And when we do, what will we have to do to get our integrity back? Or our dignity? Everything Jesus did had "self-sacrificial love" written all over it and, here we are, writing Christmas messages that are faintly disguised product pitches while bravely taking a stand against consumerism.
There's been a substantial exodus of people from the traditional evangelical church. I meet them everywhere I go, I meet them in the most surprising of places. To a one they are all struggling with church as we know it not because they are rebellious or lacking commitment or spiritually immature but because of they are the exact opposite. Largely, I believe, they've come to a place of maturity and depth in their relationship with Christ and the traditional evangelical church is no longer able to address their needs, to speak their language or to help them take the next steps in their journey. It was out of this profound hunger that the emerging church movement first came into being. This extended conversation of faith has helped some of us make tremendous strides in our journey. It has also helped create some egregious errors in doctrine and practice. Yet it has remained the first serious re-examination of the role of the evangelical church since the Social Gospel movement of 100 years ago. In other words, it brought some of us a great deal of hope. Brian Mclaren has been a prominent voice in that hopeful discussion.
It seems, however, that Mr. Mclaren has crossed a threshold. There's no going back now. In whatever way he sought to contextualize the gospel it's pretty clear now that he's selling stuff. Maybe he's selling ideas; it's more like he's selling himself as the bearer of those ideas. Whatever the case may be it's the absence of self-sacrificial love that is the tell-tale sign of the absence of Christ. Make of that what you will, but what Mclaren's selling this Christmas season I ain't buying. I've already had a stomach full of that tripe, thank you very much.
And yeah, it is just that - tripe.
[rhymes with kerouac]
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Reader Comments (27)
changes are happening, i do not know why. i think that maybe it is because there is always change, renewal, within us as believers and always change in the world as well. only God does not change. we do, and when we leave here we will be completely changed. the way that people gather and worship on earth will continually change. not that one way is right over another...i do not think that it will ever be what we long for, as long as we live on this earth. it is easy to find the wrongs...but, harder to focus on the right.
even the celebration of Christmas has been through quite a few changes in it's history...and it will continue to. and i suppose we can find a lot of wrongs in that as well.
but, not to worry, for God is in control.
i really do not see how God still puts up with us and Loves us. however, i am certainly glad that He does. Praise be to God.
Nancy - One of the most well known and respected voices in a widespread movement of Christians used his "Christmas Message" to hawk his books, cd and conference tour while decrying consumerism at the same time. This is an absolutely breathtaking display of hypocrisy, and, frankly, it's about time somebody said so... and I are that guy :)
as far as you saying what you think about brian mclaren, maybe it should be said to brian mclaren. maybe it would be helpful to brian mclaren to be told the truth. you could be the one to save brian mclaren from going in the wrong direction. is that not what brothers are for?
Thank you. Thank you for writing this. I am linking here today.
One of the things that I do know is that he is living solely off of his book income now. He is no longer taking a salary from the church he planted and pastored, so possibly it is because of this that he felt the pressure to "pitch" his wares???
I came over here today through the link on Barbara's blog. I think you hit the nail on the head here:
"To a one they are all struggling with church as we know it not because they are rebellious or lacking commitment or spiritually immature but because of they are the exact opposite. Largely, I believe, they've come to a place of maturity and depth in their relationship with Christ..."
Though not I'm personally a part of the "emerging/ant" church movement (or any church at that rate), I do think that the movement has raised some important questions which evangelicals must face if the evangelical church is to survive (though do we really want it to survive? that's another question). However, when it comes down to it, I don't see much difference between this movement and any other evangelical movement in the recent past (ie. the Jesus movement, house church movement, mega-church movement etc). McLaren's blatantly pitching his products while denouncing consumerism is just one more example of that. If the emerging church wants to be seen as distinct from evangelical culture (or any part of American culture) this sure isn't the best way of going about it.
Author "X" arrives on the publishing scene with some rather unique take on Christianity in general and publishes a book or two which pick up some buzz and eventually become mainstream.
Next, enter the guys in the suits, a.k.a. Thomas Nelson Publishers who make the author an offer they can't refuse and additional titles are brought to market.
Here's where it it seems to consistently get weird: The Nelson books simply never do as well as the original did. I'm not saying that at the end of the day they don't sell more copies, but the overall impact of those books is never the same as the true originals which are the books that are always remembered as the author's signature works.
In the meantime, author "X" is in some small (or large) way corrupted by the process they have endured. At this point, it's all about moving product.
Rahime - Sooner or later every 'movement' will begin to look a lot like the dominant culture it is found in. This is, I think, an inevitable by product of growth. Revolutions are always born on the fringes of society and never at the centre.
Agent B - My sentiments also.
Mike - I don't mind that he earns his living selling books and doing conferences - that might be considered his 'job' too. It just bugs me to no end that he decrys consumerism on one hand while using it to move product on the other.
Paul - Why does the involvement of the publishers always signal that shift? Is there a rememdy?
dsheff - Maybe my hopes were too high.
nancy - You may be right. I'm going to send him an email and we'll see what happens. One thing that should be said, though, is that he has never shied away from putting himself and his message into the public. Once a person starts doing that, they pretty much have to expect that others will talk about them - and I think it's entirely fair to do so - particularly in a public forum such as this.
I've sent private correspondence to Brian and the Emergent staff in the past, when there's no need to "tell the world" about my feelings.
But Brian has sent out a -very- public marketing piece, and SLK is simply responding with some objective concerns. I don't read any hostility or vendetta here - I'm guessing that SLK has probably read some of Brian's books and benefited from his wisdom.
I've read Today at the Mission virtually since its inception and have seen over time that SLK is a beautiful example of "being the hands of feet of Christ" on earth. This is a voice of wisdom, not to be ignored.
Let's continue the conversation, not to "bring anyone down," but to learn from our mistakes and grow together towards that place Jesus talks about in Jn17.
i am still learning about what is fair in public view.
and i respect you, rwk...always have.
Nancy - I'm not sure about the loving and courageous part. Mostly I just try to figure stuff out as I go along. This is another step in the journey. We'll see how it works out.
However, I've recently been struggling with what seems to be a creeping arrogance that I find in my fellow fringers (including myself) that expresses itself in terms of, oh, those poor church folks, living in all the light that they have, we're so mature, maybe someday they'll 'get it'.
Granted there's an awful lot of complacency and self satisfaction in the established evangelical church (my background), but I'm increasingly seeing the same thing in the fringes. It's just painted a different colour.
It's hard to strike the balance between freedom and boldness, and judgment of those who have stayed behind. And equally of those who blazed the trails that we're now following (and, God willing, extending) but who've been the victims of their own success.
Public figures must accept public scrutiny, but there's a fine line between speaking the truth in love, and speaking the truth 'in love' and I need to watch that in myself.
I've seen some of the arrogance of which you speak - have been arrogant and probably will be again. But geez I'm getting frustrated. Howling into the wind kind of frustrated, and more so now than ever before. Of course, it may be my fault that my expectations were set too high, but where do we go from here?
Just keep going.