“It’s hard to deny yourself or take up any cross daily when you’re chained to the shackles of hip”
That quote comes out of this fascinating article entitled “Cooler than thou: Will Hipsters wreck Christianity?”
Brett McCracken’s book Hipster Christianity is also on its way to me – it questions ‘whether or not Christianity can be, should be, or is, in fact, cool.’
We are travelling at a different pace here in Northern Ireland so the need or desire for Christians to have tattoo’s, scruffy beards, skinny jeans and be culturally aware is still in its infancy for the most part but it is here.
I have to be honest, when i first encountered the term ‘hipster Christianity’ i was intrigued and thought i had discovered a new club that i could be part of. I thought the same about the “emergent” stuff until i discovered they were all mental! I do have a scruffy beard and 9 times out of 10 i will be wearing skinny jeans so………i would also kind of like a tattoo but im not supposed to say that in public!
I wonder is the image authentic though? Or is it as a result of seeing the dudes in Hillsong United (insert any popular CCM band that looks cool but lacks originality) looking swell in their skinny jeans with their tattoos of crosses and religious emblems and blah blah blah.
I always gravitated toward the scruffy and slightly ‘different’ approach to …….well, most things…………so that means i am authentic right? Ask my mum, i was always cooler than the rest of you!
And i genuinely sometimes say things i shouldn’t – not to try and be cool but because im a sinner and my mind is not as pure as it should be!
These things and many other complex rules make up what we define as ‘cool’ – oh its confusing!!
But seriously, right now my generation and the one that is following us might just have the largest identity crisis that ‘the Church’ has ever encountered. I recognise it in myself, the narcissism, recklessness and potential for ‘deviation from the faith’ – the article mentions these things and they are very serious, make no mistake about that!
Being a cool Church in order to attract or keep the cool kids? Thats not going to cut it!
Brett McCracken argues in his book “that we need to cool it a bit on the whole “how can we change Christianity to be more current/relevant” thing. We need to instead focus our attention on being a biblical, gospel-centered people whose attractiveness to the world is the result of the Spirit’s edifying work within us, not a result of our Tru Religion jeans, $600,000 sound system, or tasty shade-grown coffee served in the vestibule.”
“It’s hard to deny yourself or take up any cross daily when you’re chained to the shackles of hip”
I think he is onto something…………………
I do wanna read this book, read wee snippets on Vicky’s blog, It’s in interesting question, but are we becoming ‘hipster churches’ in order to attract people, or as a result of the people currently in the church? and if it is the latter, then why are people becoming like this, is it because that’s what CCM or ‘famous cool Christians’ are like, and we are trying to imitate?
Tattoos? Beards? On Christians? Surely Northern Ireland can not possibly be living at such speed!!!
Keep yer skinny jeans to yourself! I’ll stay baggy, thank you… Maybe I ain’t so hip!
Oh, and how do I get me one of them fancy pictures on my posts!?
if you have a wordpress blog it does it automatically – otherwise you can use a site called Gravatar which places your image of choice on blogs when you comment
“I can say with confidence that when it comes to church, we don’t want cool as much as we want real.” — Brett McCracken, The Wall Street Journal
Thanks McCracken for summarizing so well. Authenticity and transparency is what we all need at the end of the day.
Man, super post, really agree but have the same identity crisis….
but then I’m fat, scruffy, loud, I think i should be hosting the radio one breakfast show!
You’re right, we have a massive identity crisis, and as all things, it comes to Northern Ireland 10 years later
Interesting times. Cross my palm with a cup of caffeine and I can muse further one such matters!
Dude, totally – ballymena – next time you are coming up?
my girlfriend is very skinny that is why she likes skinny jeans and tight fitting trousers ::
sometimes skinny jeans are not comfortable to wear, i would always prefer to use loos jeans ””