The church is not asked to invent an identity;
it is to live the life of Jesus Christ in the world.
– Jurgen Moltmann
How can you just leave me standing
Alone in a world that’s so cold?
– Prince, When Doves Cry
A recent feature article about Prince included the following story.
It’s 1984, and Prince is about to release “Purple Rain,” the album that will make him a superstar and push pop music into distant realms we had no idea we were ready for. The sound engineer Peggy McCreary, one of many female engineers he worked with, describes witnessing a flash of genius during the creation of his song “When Doves Cry.” Over a two-day marathon recording session, she and Prince filled the studio with sound — wailing guitars, thrumming keyboards, an overdubbed choir of harmonizing Princes. It was the sort of maximalist stew possible only when someone is (as Prince was) a master of just about every musical instrument ever invented. But something wasn’t right. So at 5 or 6 in the morning, Prince found the solution: He started subtracting. He took out the guitar solo; he took out the keyboard. And then his boldest, most heterodox move: He took out the bass. McCreary remembers him saying, with satisfaction, “Ain’t nobody gonna believe I did that.” He knew what he had. The song became an anthem, a platinum megahit.
Do less, go deeper. This has been a consistent refrain of our blog for the last several years. When asked what we see in churches that are thriving, we will say they are…
Doing less.
Going deeper.
And, yes, both of those directives cause immense complications in most congregations. Churches do more because someone (or a group of someones) is inspired to add something (a program, a gathering, a lecture series) to the church’s roster, probably for very good reasons, and initially powered by passionate volunteers. But multiply those moments of inspiration over the course of years and churches are doing too much more, whether or not all the things still make sense and contribute to the church’s identity and mission—and whether or not there are many volunteers showing up to shoulder the work.
Or the more comes from trying to keep up with what other churches are doing, in an effort to be all things to all people. This activity of chasing more is a futile endeavor, if for no other reason than that it does not build community. It simply adds to a church’s menu of options. It creates, in the potent image of the Prince article, a “maximalist stew.”
The “go deeper” part isn’t any easier. Going deeper means the claims of God on our life will, in a word, deepen. Going deeper means that we must allow ourselves to be known, warts and all. It means vulnerability, which, let’s face it, most of us are not very good at.
Prince’s genius with When Doves Cry was that he recognized, much sooner than most of us do in life, that more was not bearing fruit. So he started subtracting. Imagine the courage and bold creativity it took to do that in the wee hours of the morning, after so much time invested in adding more. And yet, in the subtraction, there it was: beauty, art, meaning, a profound achievement, a fully realized sense of purpose.
Theologian Jurgen Moltmann (we hope we are the first blog post in history to put Prince and Moltmann back to back) had a way of getting to the heart of the matter when imagining the purpose and work of the Living God in our midst. His caution: the church is not asked to invent an identity. We don’t need to add more in search of a burnished cultural resumé or an impressive ministry menu. The invitation after the caution: live the life of Jesus Christ in the world. Not more to do, but a way to be.
In a culture where more seems to be the default setting, some will look at your church doing less and going deeper, and they will scoff and talk about continuing decline.
To which, powered by the Holy Spirit (and quoting Prince), you might simply say, “Ain’t nobody gonna believe we did that!”
- When in your own life have you deliberately practiced the art of subtraction? What moved you to do it? What happened as a result?
- Can you think of recent moments when your church board has deliberately practiced the art of subtraction? What moved the board to do it? What happened as a result?
- Under what circumstances does a “maximalist stew” make sense for a congregation?
- What do you make of Moltmann’s statement, “The church is not asked to invent an identity”? Why not?
- What would be the most heterodox move your church could make in order to achieve its fundamental purpose? What would be your church’s equivalent of “taking out the bass,” as Prince did?
No Comments