Hopefully you’ve seen the TV show? Mythbusters tests (and usually explodes) long-held myths and urban legends. I wonder what the test results would be when they took on our “friendly, relevant, uplifting, and compelling” church services? Or what the test result would be when they examined, ”how many people will ask me my name and actually engage me in more than polite conversation on my first visit?”
Some people might assume I’m a pessimist about the church. I’m not. I’m a “contrarian.”
I’m reading a book right now that reminds me of my contrarian approach to looking at the world, the Church, and Christian education, which is:
- Things aren’t always what they seem (and thus you need to seek out alternate points of view).
- The reason “why” things aren’t working (or are) may not be what you think (and our “why” is often self-serving).
- Many popular explanations and opinions and practices are wrong (and we are so comfortable with them that they have made us dumb).
- The problem may be “you,” and not “them.” OR, it may indeed be ”them”, (contrarians dare to look in the mirror).
The book is titled “God’s Battalions” …a myth-busting look at the Crusades. (Rodney Stark, Harper Collins) It’s conclusion grates against the apologetic ”guilt” many westerners have about the Islamic (ie “Arab”) world. The book attempts to set the HISTORICAL record straight and put the Crusades in the proper context by carefully describing the history leading up to the Crusades and examining the source materials on both sides of the history.
One conclusions of this mythbusting is that the Christian world (ie “western”) doesn’t need to apologize to the Islamic world for the Crusades, and that it is counter-productive to view current history through false interpretations of the Crusades, or by the ethics and belief systems of the modern world. That in fact, due to the history preceding the Crusades and the accepted practices of the time, the Crusades were a logical response to the political, military, and religious needs of the day. (Which isn’t to say they were good or righteous by today’s standards, or a good idea.)
Aside: Had I not gone into the ministry I would have likely become a history teacher. Love the stuff and read a lot of it. My interest in the Crusades began years ago when some very deep family research revealed an ancestral line that went back to the Crusades (and further), and included the builders of Castle Shobak on the eastern shore of the Dead Sea. This large fortress was known as “Mount Royal” or “Montreal” and was featured in the film “Kingdom of Heaven.” Pretty cool, but I digress.
The Crusades were in large part a pious (by standards of the day) and real political response to militant Islam’s takeover of century old “Christian” kingdoms in the Middle East. Byzantium was under constant attack by Islamic forces, and were making military encroachments into Europe. (Islamic forces were stopped 150 miles south of Paris). The book also points out that the Crusades were mostly about TAKING BACK the Holy Land, not conquering it, for indeed, Palestine, Syria, Lebanon, parts of North Africa, and most of Asia Minor HAD BEEN part of the Byzantine Empire (ie, “Christian”).
And yet, this point of view is rarely taught in the western world.
The book does not excuse the violence and plundering that went on during the Crusades. It re-balances the discussion, noting that Islamic armies were just as likely to massacre civilians and plunder populations as were Christian armies, and that in terms of what’s happening today between east & west, popular history needs to be challenged.
Contrarians, like Myth-busters, don’t take your word for it.
They don’t accept the standard institutional explanations.
Contrarians AUTOMATICALLY assume there is another way to look at something (even if it is wrong), because they know that it is IN THE LOOKING, and IN THE CONSIDERING of ALTERNATE OPINIONS, that myths can be discovered and busted, that they will learn some new things, and may even stumble upon new solutions.
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I’m a contrarian by nature. The minute someone says “tomato,” I wonder, “Are you sure it’s not tomahto?” If you tell me “it has to be this way,” I immediately assume that COULD BE wrong. And if you tell me, “well it isn’t working because of X,” I immediately assume it may also not be working because of Y & Z.
The Church and most local congregations are in great need of myth-busting.
Put simply…
We need to question what we’ve been told about the church.
We need to question the conventional wisdom about:
- how we operate
- who’s needs we are meeting
- the vested interested of those in charge
- what our needs are, as opposed to what’s easy to do
- is our worship as moving and helpful as we think it is?
- are we really as friendly as we think?
- is our programming really as good as our publicity thinks it is?
- how much of church office work is necessary?
- is paying a minister to spend 15 hours a week writing a sermon a good investment?
- do we have the right leaders?
- are we creating a shallow, warm-fuzzy congregation that can’t withstand a crisis (and are only going to find this out when it’s too late)?
- etc. etc. etc.
One of the ways I’m a contrarian in the church is to simply ask:
What’s not that great about our congregation and what are the long-term effects of continuing on this way?
And… If the long-term effects are bad, then we need to change, even if it makes the short-term difficult.
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More about Neil the contrarian, and about being a contrarian…
The theological term for this contrarian nature is “iconoclast.” Many years ago I was called this by a church executive and I had to go look it up to see if it was an insult. (LOL) An iconoclast is someone who “smashes idols.” An “idol” is something people falsely worship as true. An iconoclast is also someone who doesn’t sit idoly by.
Where did this point of view come from? It was helped by a variety of books I’ve read over the years.
One of the first pieces of contrarian literature I remember reading as a boy was titled, “The Good Ol’ Days: They were terrible.” It dismantled the myth of an idyllic 19th Century and Victorian age. Another seminal book in my early life was the classic, “Your God is Too Small“. In seminary I remember reading ”Reflections of a Contrarian” by church change guru Lyle Schaller, in which he challenged the deathgrip of conventional thinking in many churches. And I continue to read books that challenge my thinking.
My contrarian nature has brought about many of the major changes in my life:
- “Churches will never be able to give up the traditional Sunday School model.” –So I helped create the Rotation Model for Sunday School.
- “Churches will never be able to afford computers in Sunday School.” – And yet now many find computers really easy to find or purchase for their kids.
- “Leaving your nice parish job to start a Christian software company is a bad idea.” –Sunday Software Inc. is now in its 14th year.
Along the way I’ve been told by some publishers that rotation and software were “the devil” …or “a fad”. In 1996, I rejected the offer of Presbyterian Publishing to come work for them and bring my rotation and software work with me. The then V.P.’s parting shot was, “we’ll be doing this in another 2 or 3 years and will overtake you.”
In my personal life, I’ve gone against the grain of conventional thinking many times. Most recently, this included leaving the beige vinyl of suburbia and moving my family to the island of St Croix for a few years to challenge our lifestyle, pursue some new goals, and experience a different culture.
Throughout this Blog you’ll see many of my ideas & articles about doing things differently. I’ve found that BEING DIFFERENT doesn’t always solve the problem, but it often leads you to new revelations about yourself, gives you a new way of looking at the problem.
Important Final Note:
Being a “contrarian” is not the same as being a naysayer or pessimist. I’m a happy, positive, optimistic person. I believe we/me/you/the church CAN change for the better. My own life is proof of this to me. But some people will interpret you this way. I’ve learned this the hard way and still have trouble with it at time. Some people don’t like argument and assume that debate is personal. It’s the way they were raised, I suppose. So HOW you state your contrarian ideas is as important as the ideas themselves.
Some people think that being a contrarian is about “thinking you are right”. Far from it.
- It’s about taking a step back to look at the big picture and consider other possibilities.
- It’s about CHALLENGING YOUR OWN THINKING before anyone else’s.
- It’s about injecting humility into the decision making process, …the assumption that what you, or someone. or everyone thinks could be wrong, and that there’s something here that we could be missing.
- Just because somebody is wrong, doesn’t mean you are right.
So back to the Crusades….
After reading God’s Battallions, I immediately started looking for opinions and reviews of the book that challenged the author’s point of view.