Last week I was blessed by my former boss, Curtis Riskey, the owner of Basic Books in Oshkosh, WI. Curtis is one of my favorite people! He seeks to resource and provide the means by which people can grow closer to the Lord by operating a Christian bookstore.
The great thing about Curtis is that he is aware of the crap that is coming out under the umbrella of Christian Consumerism. When I worked for Curtis I struggled mightily with stupid t-shirts that we sold (I’ll confess I even wore some, like the own that was the Volkswagen rip-off that said “Disciples Wanted” instead of “Drivers Wanted” and the VW logo was tweaked and turned into a cross), the scripture mints and the rest of the so-called “Jesus junk.”
{Jesus Junk = the merchandise that is sold that either mimics pop culture (like the GODSTRONG bracelets by the front register, come on guys can’t we be a little more creative than this) and slaps Jesus on it or the very low quality junk that is sold near the registers. This can be the Jesus figurines, or the “Faith Stones” that when you put them in your pocket you magically walk closer to the Lord.}
What I began to learn though was that the “Jesus Junk,” is what keeps the store, and many like it, in business. It is a very sad thing, but it is the truth. To carry books that people SHOULD be reading they need to carry the junk and everything in the gift section. This is an interesting predicament that Curtis is in. Should he continue to carry and sell those things? I, like him probably, wish the answer was no, but sadly it is yes. So we get into an “the means justifying the ends” situation. So when I worked at the store I would bite my lip every time I saw any of these things sold over a good book that could benefit the person much greater than the junk they were spending their money.
Anyway, I didn’t intend to write that much about that, but I was going to talk about what Curtis blessed me with. See last week he had a quarterly pastor’s breakfast for the pastors in the Oshkosh area and he gave away a bag that had a new CD, an ESV translation of the Bible in paperback and some good books inside it. He had some leftovers so he felt compelled to bless the poor missionary former employee that I am and give me one. I was stoked! I love books and when they are free they are even better! What I discovered in the bag was something that brought some sorrow to my heart. It was a bunch of stuff about the new Christian bandwagon movie that is coming out in a month or so – The Chronicles of Narnia. Don’t get me wrong I’m stoked about the movie and I’m excited about what God could do with it, BUT I’m not excited about what we, as the Church, are already doing with it.
What I found in my bag of free goodies was a packet full of “Outreach” materials for the film. These materials are intended to help pastors and church leaders use the movie to reach out to their communities. Which is fine, but as I opened the packet and began to look at the contents of it I began to wonder how Christianity has come to the point where we can consider putting a door hanger on our neighbors’ doors reaching people for Jesus. What if we spent money on helping pastors and church leaders learn how they can really make a dent in their communities by helping their congregations lead lives that are congruent to the Bible and the faith Jesus has called us to?
The problem is because each time something like this comes out us Christians start clamoring. We begin thinking something like this will usher in the next Great Awaken in America. Then we have the average church goer and others thinking that to reach out to their communities they need programs and events and Christian movies and Christian this and that or whatever to reach out to their worlds. I think this is felt as I read #8 on the sheet I got for “Outreach Ideas for Churches:”
Distribute Narnia Door Hangers to the homes surrounding your church. Invite neighbors both to see the movie and attend a Narnia-related event with your church. Pray for your neighbors as you leave Door Hangers at each home. This is a great way to engage youth in a Narnia outreach.
I especially like that last sentence, “This is a great way to engage youth in a Narnia outreach.” Is it? Is it truly a great way to engage youth in reaching out to their communities? This brings me back to what I said earlier about Christians being dependent on events and programs to bring change to their communities. I think what would be a better way of helping our youth engage in reaching out would be to do something where they are serving and getting their hands dirty. Go to a homeless shelter or a soup kitchen. Teach and help our youth see that the greatest ways to be missionaries to their high schools, sports teams and ultimately their worlds is by serving, loving and speaking truth into their friends’ lives. Help youth engage by getting them to do this, not by relying on the next Passion or Narnia or big event to come along.
This goes beyond the youth of our churches, it extends to every person who pledges allegiance to Jesus. Jesus made the example pretty clear during the 3 years of his earthly ministry – this revolution, we call Christianity, is thrusted forward into our hurting world by relationships, service, and love. How are you doing following His lead? I’ll be honest with you, both you and I need a heavy dose of the Lord’s grace to do this each day we live. I pray that He would extend that to you and me and that our worlds would never look the same.
be a revolution!