[sydneyanglicans.net] 21 Jul 2008--Celebrity cook Jamie Oliver gained notoriety as ‘The Naked Chef’ when he encouraged his viewers to strip back their kitchen creations to the natural ingredients. His message: ‘simple is best’, and that adding unnecessary flavour to recipes takes away from the pure taste of the elements.
There is no question that Jamie is correct. The juiciest steak requires no sauce or seasoning.
As a result of market-driven ministry models, many churches have tried to work out how to make church more tasty (i.e. entertaining). Turning their back on traditional styles of ‘worship’, they dance with the devil of popular entertainment as their paradigm.
The outcome is that the Western world’s mega-churches bear more resemblance to a rock concert or a theatre performance than a cathedral.
This approach makes some sense. For if Bono can capture the attention of his loyal followers for a long night at a U2 rock concert, then their recipe must be worth considering for our attention-deficit-disordered congregations.
However, the underpinning logic is flawed. Unlike cinema or concerts, church is not a spectator event. It is a participation event. The parishioners are as much a part of the action as the pastor. Church is an expression of relationships, not a spectacle to be witnessed.
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