[Mins] Grumpy Carl strikes again

Wed May 1 00:05:47 UTC 2013

It is not really happening?....

On Wednesday, May 1, 2013, wrote:

> What if Life Was Complex?<http://www.reformation21.org/articles/what-if-life-was-complex.php>
> ****
>
> Article by Carl Trueman <http://72.47.212.95/carl-trueman/>  April 2013***
> *
>
> **[image: http://72.47.212.95/media/carl.jpg]******
>
> This month, I thought I would use this column to indulge in a little
> thought experiment. What, I wonder, if the conservative evangelical church
> world came to be dominated by a symbiotic network of high profile and
> charismatic leaders (think more Weber than Wimber), media organisations,
> and big conferences? What if leadership, doctrine, and policy were no
> longer rooted in the primacy of biblical polity and the local church? What
> if, in other words, all of this became a function of an Evangelical
> Industrial Complex?****
>
> ** **
>
> It is an important question. It is probably a year or so since I raised
> the question of the impact of celebrity on evangelicalism. As I was told
> then, celebrity either does not exist in the evangelical subculture or is
> of no real importance there. Thus, I suspect the Evangelical Industrial
> Complex either does not exist or exerts no influence; but it is
> entertaining to imagine what would the signs be that it was a real issue
> (which, I am sure you will agree, it is not).****
>
> ** **
>
> The aesthetics of success would subtly and imperceptibly supplant the
> principles of faithfulness or would indeed come to be identified with the
> same. The rhetoric of faithfulness would be retained, but the substance
> would be less and less important. Thus, the key leaders would be the men at
> the big churches or with the ability to pack a stadium or to handle media
> with slick sophistication. Fruitfulness and faithfulness would be
> rhetorically opposed in a way that would be ridiculous if we were talking
> marriage, but which somehow seems plausible in a church context.  ****
>
> ** **
>
> The key books on pastoral ministry would be written by men who either have
> no real experience of anything approaching normal pastoral ministry or have
> not had such for decades. Students at seminaries would rarely, if ever,
> name their own pastors as the most influential preachers in their lives.
> Multi-site video churches would spring up, as the desire to be connected to
> success and to the Top Men, rather than to serve as part a local body,
> would become a significant factor in church life. The pastors held up as
> models of ministry would have little personal contact with most people in
> their churches. Of course, the Complex may make space for criticism of this
> type of church and churchmanship; but it will not do anything about it,
> thus making the matter yet one more area where we can - must -- all agree
> to differ.****
>
> ** **
>
> Leaders would gradually and sometimes self-consciously become brands. The
> instruments of fostering that intimacy of strangers which is such a part of
> celebrity culture - for example, the faux-chumminess of all those tweeted
> exchanges and retweets, lives lived as soap operas mediated by the internet
> - would feed smoothly, humbly, and imperceptibly into the building of one's
> brand. Another sign of this branding would be that publishers and
> conferences would recruit writers and speakers not on the basis of
> competence but of market appeal. Some writers would thus write the same
> book over and over again (using different titles, of course). Some topics
> would not be considered sufficiently or definitively addressed until the
> Complex's own brand names had had their say. Few, if any, thoughts or
> sermons of the brand names would pass unpublished.****
>
> ** **
>
> Overall control of the evangelical world would in practice lie in the
> hands of select groups of unelected  leaders, captains of industry,
> answerable to nobody but themselves and with no transparent accountability
> beyond the constituency's ability to give or withhold funds.    ****
>
> As a corollary of this, ordained office would be of little significance in
> the world of the Evangelical Industrial Complex. Character, personal
> orthodoxy, a transparent, stable, loving family life embedded in a
> particular congregation, prioritisation of hard work in the local church
> setting (evidenced by far more Sundays serving in your home church than
> anywhere else), ability to teach the local church, accountability to a
> local session, elder board or presbytery - these things would be at a
> discount. One might even come across key leaders who had left their local
> calling precisely to further their 'ministries.' Paul's list of elder
> qualifications in the Pastorals would be of secondary interest compared to
> the ability to handle communications media, to attend board meetings, to
> attract a crowd, to sell a title, and to network. And the average age of
> the key movers and shakers would slowly but surely decrease.****
>
> ** **
>
> Criticism would be effectively stymied. Most critics would lack the
> stature to present a threat and could thus be safely ignored. Those who
> carried influence could be internalized by being offered a cool speaking
> gig or a place at the table or inside the tent; they might even be allowed
> to voice their criticisms there - but only as members of the club, in which
> role they would demonstrate the Complex's openness to discussion. The fear
> of missing a true movement of God would ultimately keep them from actually
> doing anything to upset the PR strategy. Finally, those who could not be
> ignored or internalized could be rendered irrelevant through linguistic
> demonization: they would be decried as 'haters', 'ivory tower
> academicians', 'ranters' and 'envious.'****
>
> ** **
>
> Along with this, a more positive rhetoric would also be developed to
> pre-empt criticism. A term like 'gospel centered,' for example, could
> easily be turned from a helpful description of a ministry into a kind of
> mantric shibboleth, implicitly ruling as imbalanced, malicious, or
> unbiblical any criticism of those who own its copyright. 'Confessional
> orthodoxy' would be wrested from its historic ecclesiastical context, with
> its connotations of elaborate theological formulation connected to clear
> polity built upon a Pauline view of the church and her officers. Instead,
> it would come to be whatever the careful negotiation between the captains
> of the industry, the media moguls, and the marketplace would determine it
> to be.  ****
>
> ** **
>
> Grand visions always create large overhead costs. Money would therefore
> play a larger and larger role in who is in and who is out, who gets to
> speak and to write and, indeed, what therefore comes to be spoken and to be
> written. Further, production of commodities is never simply a response to
> market need but is often creative of the same. After all, nobody needed a
> smartphone or an iPod until someone invented one. Thus, the captains of the
> industry, the big conferences, and the key media outlets would come
> increasingly to set the churches' agenda.  Supply would shape demand.****
>
> ** **
>
> Creation of new markets would therefore play a large part in determining
> what issues are addressed and which are ignored. For example, everyday
> problems would be subject to mystification so as to place them beyond the
> competence of the minister and elders and deacons (and thus beyond the
> church as Paul envisaged it) and therefore to require specialized training
> and help. And guess who is there to provide the quasi-Gnostic knowledge
> necessary? It can be purchased, of course, from the members of the
> Evangelical Industrial Complex. And this would in turn feed into further
> marginalization of biblical polity and ordained office.   ****
>
> ** **
>
> It is a bleak and disturbing scenario. One can only be glad that it is not
> really happening.****
>
> ** **
>
> *Dr. Carl Trueman is the Paul Woolley Professor of Church History at
> Westminster Theological Seminary and the pastor of Cornerstone Orthodox
> Presbyterian Church in Ambler, PA.*****
>
> ** **
>
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