I'm Like So Uncool
by Motte Brown on 10/30/2007 at 12:48 PM
And I'm too poor to be a metrosexual.
Part of my job is to attend conferences for 20-somethings. It's a humbling experience for a balding 30-something. Everybody there looks so cool; especially their stylishly disheveled hair. I don't even have a soul-patch. But according to Carl Trueman, that may be a good thing.
In his Reformation 21 blog "To Baldly Go," Trueman says that aging ministers to 20-somethings are way too interested in cool, and put too much emphasis on being culturally relevant.
[W]hat is it with ministers and Christian leaders who seem to feel a compulsive need to talk about youth culture all the time and to adopt the styles of self-obsessed teenagers in order to demonstrate how 'relevant' their ministries are and how hidebound everybody else’s are? Above all, the arrival among the forty-somethings of the soul patch, that absurdly redundant tuft of hair just below the bottom lip, says it all. That middle-aged ministers think that they are somehow culturally more attuned or useful because they lecture their peers about what kids do or do not believe, and because they adopt the aesthetics and style of the modern metrosexual is a bizarre and sad turn of events.
So 20-something ministers should deprioritize cool. What then?
The priority of the minister is not to be hip or cool. It is not even to 'connect with the kids.' It is to immerse himself in the word, to know the gospel inside out, and to communicate that gospel with care, clarity, love, and force. ... Let's hope that the hairstyles of the forty-something clergy with soul patches are not sacramental: outward signs of inward spiritual realities. As to my brothers who are follicle-challenged but who faithfully study, pray and preach the gospel week by week; Be bald, be strong, for the Lord your God is with you.
Good stuff. And I'm glad it's the prioritization Trueman's primarily concerned with. Surely he thinks it's OK to know the gospel well, preach it with clarity and use Rogain and love shopping at H&M. I hope so. =)
1. Ken said the following at 1:03 PM on Oct 30:
I find this to be ringing true in my own church. I've had quite a few come to my small group saying they are looking for a place where they can have a deep and honest discussion about the sermon and life in general. That a lot of small groups were about having fun when they really wanted to find a community share in the life with and learn God's word.
It's like modern warfare today, it's not the large force attack your looking for but the unconventional, asymmetrical small force that wreak havoc on you because your not expecting it.
It's the same today with this spiritual life, we are being led astray to confrom to this world instead of the other way around.
2. Kyle said the following at 1:24 PM on Oct 30:
I had to laugh at this one, even though the underlying seriousness is there. I'm a campus pastor/twentysomething who often gets the metrosexual label slapped on him (whatever happened to well-dressed). I learned to take pride in my appearance from my grandfather, a pastor who always looks sharp but not ostentatiously so. Many modern Christians decry the "old school" tenet of modesty and say we should be free to wear what we please because God looks on the heart. I certainly don't wear a shirt and a tie every Sunday, but I know better than to present myself in a distracting, distasteful way. In fact, I would venture to say that our spiritual tastes have become so acclimated to the world that we no longer bat an eye at things that would have been shunned by church communities in times past. People are more concerned with what fits them (selfishness rears its ugly head) rather than what is becoming and fitting as children of God. God has certainly convicted me to be the vessel, not the glory. Hopefully deemphasizing aesthetics will help us to reemphasize the Gospel.
3. Tami said the following at 3:48 PM on Oct 30:
Kyle, I appreciate that you show honor to God through the way you choose to present yourself.
4. Justice said the following at 5:43 PM on Oct 30:
maybe part of the difference is that these pastors just grew up in a slighly different era. Even within the US we have different subcultures, California is different than West Texas or Kentucky. We all need Christ but we dress differently. I like dark jeans, my pastor like Kirkland jeans.
True anyhow, some pastors try way too hard to be relevant and what lacks is more truth. In fact, I've been watching my Red Sox and podcasts more than I've been to my church!
5. Tim H. said the following at 7:07 PM on Oct 30:
My pastor is a wonderful, mid-60s Welsh man who is not "cool" at all. He loves to wear bow ties, talk about the Puritans, and preach the Gospel firmly without any entertainment or "cool" factor. Yet 75 college students pack in to his house each Sunday night to study a book written 350 years ago (Precious Remedies against Satan's Devices by Thomas Brooks) and 150 college students attend our church (which has about 350 people total each Sunday).
It seems that there is something very cool about not being "cool".
6. Eric said the following at 10:35 PM on Oct 30:
While I have attended "cross-campus" worship events, retreats and other large church functions, I have never been to a "conference." I'm curious: what exactly goes down at a Christian conference?
I don't want to discredit them, but a 20-something conference sounds like a de facto meat market, a gathering for believers interested in getting equally yoked -- young.
7. Adam Sloope said the following at 7:34 AM on Oct 31:
Give me a break! If you're priority is to be cool, then that's wrong, but there is nothing in itself wrong with being culturally relevant. The mentality that you can be a total outsider and come into any situation and preach and be accepted is false. Making the gospel relevant is not possible because it is already relevant so it does not need work; however, there is nothing wrong with making yourself relevant to your world so they will accept you so you can preach the gospel more effectively to them. I don't think Paul was worried about being cool among the Athenians, but he did go into Athens in Acts Ch 17 making himself relevant to them by complimenting their religiosity in order to preach the gospel. I see too many older generation pastors stick their noses up at younger pastors because we look a lot like the crowd they are trying to reach. If you like your 3 button suite, cuff links, and comb over, do your thing, but don't think every one that calls himself a pastor has to be outside of the relevant culture. It's culture that requires us to work for relevance, The Word itself is and has always been relevant, so if you feel you can greater spread the good news by becoming culturally relevant there is no problem in that.
Sorry for the quick rebuke, but I’m a young person who gets beat up on a lot because I happen to be culturally relevant, I don't try or put any additional efforts forth to be this way, I just am, and it seems like a lot of the older pastors I spoke about earlier, seem to think I’m this rebellious hippie.
8. Cassie said the following at 9:59 AM on Oct 31:
As a 20-something in ministry to young people in their teens and 20's, I have encountered those who think they have to stay up with the current fashions or cultural fads. I think that what today's youth and young adults need is to encounter a real God and to know that the people that are leading them into this are real people who aren't concerned about cool. Clearly, in order to connect with young people they need to keep up with what young people today are encountering, but that doesn't mean that they have to sell out. We get enough of pop culture as it is and it doesn't bring life. Youth/young adult ministers should be more concerned about helping young people be confident in who they are.
9. Abby said the following at 10:53 PM on Oct 31:
This is great! I am always so bothered when I see our cultures obsession with youth infiltrate the church. Generational wisdom of faithful older believers is vital for the 20-something community in church today. Why are they looking to us and trying to fit in? We're the ones who are confused and don't know where we are going half the time. There should be a respect for both older ministers and younger ones alike. And never under ANY circumstances should a man over 40 have a soulpatch...Actually I would pretty much recommend that men not have them in general...
10. Leah said the following at 1:52 AM on Nov 1:
Hehe. "I'm like so uncool".
I love my siblings' friends. Two of them in particular. My sister's best friend and her older sister (who, incidentally, is my brother's girlfriend).
One of their catchphrases is "I'm a loser, but i'm the coolest loser you'll ever meet", and the other one's is "hugs not drugs, all the cool kids are doing it".
Just another interesting take on 'coolness' ;)
The priority of the minister is not to be hip or cool. It is not even to 'connect with the kids.' It is to immerse himself in the word, to know the gospel inside out, and to communicate that gospel with care, clarity, love, and force.
I agree with most of that. I would, however, point out, that in the case of youth pastors, it *is* a priority to 'connect with the kids'. I mean... what use is a youth pastor if they are disconnected from the youth of the church? But as for regular pastors or ministers, I totally agree. I'm glad I've never had a minister like that.
11. Emily said the following at 4:15 PM on Nov 2:
First off, I've worked with teeneagers in many different settings, and one thing I know is that image can be a huge stumbling block to authenticity. As our brains and emotions develop and as we learn who we are, image becomes less of a barrier to connection with others, but for most this doesn't happen until we are adults. For some people this never happens. But one thing I do know is that kids and teenagers can smell a fake from miles away and they cling to the truly authentic person who loves unselfishly. But "image" creates a barrier because teeneagers get hung up on it. They might think you're cool and want to impress you, but it will be hard for them to get past the cool factor.
Also, I am a worship leader and I have seen this even more in worship leaders than in pastors. Why do we have to be rockstars? I've found it focuses my own heart and helps me lead better if I don't let my self approach the slippery slope of trying to portray an image. Any thoughts?
12. john sullivan said the following at 7:53 PM on Nov 6:
and then there's mark driscoll... both cool and immersed in the Word.