The Bono Effect

I'll be getting back to my new series of posts on "Christianity as a Practical Romance" soon, but today I want to offer another snippet from Tim Stafford's excellent article, "The Church: Why Bother" in the most recent Christianity Today.

In February 2003, Christianity Today featured Bono, lead singer for the rock group U2, and his campaign for the church to become more involved in the fight against AIDS. Bono emerged as a star example of the unchurched Christian.

Having once been involved in a loosely structured Irish fellowship, Bono now seldom goes to church. He does pray. He likes to say grace at meals. He has a favorite Bible translation. But he doesn't want to be pinned down.

"I just go where the life is, you know? Where I feel the Holy Spirit," Bono told Christianity Today's reporter, Cathleen Falsani. "If it's in the back of a Roman Catholic cathedral, in the quietness and the incense, which suggest the mystery of God, of God's presence, or in the bright lights of the revival tent, I just go where I find life. I don't see denomination. I generally think religion gets in the way of God."

In an editorial, "Bono's Thin Ecclesiology," CT appreciated Bono's thirst for social justice, yet criticized his lack of churchly commitment. Bono had voiced sharp criticisms of the church, suggesting it was in danger of irrelevance if it failed to act on AIDS. Wrote CT, "Any person can stand outside the church and critique its obedience to the gospel. Part of God's call on a Christian's life is to walk inside and die to self by relating to other human beings, both in their fallenness and in their redeemed glory."

Letters to the editor fiercely defended Bono. One pointed out that U2 travels with a chaplain—isn't that equivalent to church? Another suggested that Bono avoided church out of respect for other Christians, since his fame would disrupt worship. A reader complained that white evangelical churches were to blame for Bono's alienation, since they have become more Republican than Christian. Another reader whose lifelong illness kept her from church wrote, "I do not believe not attending a regular church service … takes away a person's beliefs, Christianity, or their salvation … . I have faith that Jesus Christ is more fair than that."

All good points, as far as they go, except that Bono is not too sick to attend church, could find an unpoliticized church if he tried, and doesn't mention respect for worshipers as a reason for staying away.

Clearly, Bono has chosen to keep his distance from the church, or at least to stay in the shallow margins of the pond, where he can dash for the shore at need.

He has plenty of company.

In my book, It Takes a Church to Raise a Christian: How the Community of God Transforms Lives, I cite some (favorite) Bono lyrics about spiritual searching (U2 is one of my favorite bands).  In many ways, he represents exactly the kind of Christian that many of us evangelicals actually endeavor to be: socially aware, compassionate to the downtrodden and outsider, prayerful and passionate, incredibly cool and deeply individualistic in faith.  When I read characters like the hero Neo, in Brian McClaren's (excellent!) novels, I can't help but see some of the similarities. 

Is this ultimately what it means to be "emergent"?  Does it mean that we are going to "emerge" from the church and create a faith of our own making, with the people of our own choosing, in the manner and time of our own doing? 

I am incredibly sympathetic to the Bonos and Neos of the world, indeed, my book was a challenge to make the church the kind of place that seekers need it to be--a representation of God in the world.  But if I read the New Testament correctly, we bother with the church because it is the ONLY body of Christ in the world--disappointments and all.

So, then what do we do to make the church more Bono-Neo friendly?  Hmmm...

Comments

[David M. Smith]

“So, then what do we do to make the church more Bono-Neo friendly? Hmmm...”

Tod,

Tim Stafford had some good facts and good quotes in his article. However, his analysis was confusing and I think his conclusion was wrong. He never differentiated between those believers who think they don’t need to be part of a church and those believers who would like to be part of a church, but are unable to find a church that is relevant to their lives. He ended his article by blaming the un-churched and then implying that believers need to be a member of a church no matter how irrelevant it becomes.

You, on the other hand, have drawn the right conclusion. Christian leaders should take more responsibility for creating an environment that is attractive to the un-churched and they need to be asking themselves the tough questions about what needs to change in order to make the Church relevant to a generation that has alternatives to a Sunday morning sermon and entertainment. Pastors who specialize in curing insomnia should not be blaming their members for the lack of commitment to their church.

Your Blog is certainly a step in the right direction. My brain and heart have been stimulated more by the few minutes I read your posts than a year worth of sermons at the church I had been attending.

One solution to making the church more Bono-Neo friendly is to get back to the concept of the Christian community. We need to build our infrastructures in a way that believers and non-believers can interact in meaningful ways.

[Frodo]

Hi Tod,

I appreciate your comments about Bono & Neo etc. To me, however, it is critical for us to consider what the church really is. When Jesus put the hope of the world in the hands of the church, he did not put it in the hands of a denomination, particular congregation of followers, event that happens at 11 a.m. Sunday morning, building or organization. The church is and forever will be followers of Jesus. While we may have our particular way of expressing our faith, it isn't necessarily the best or only way of being Christian. Afterall Jesus, Paul and the rest of the early church were in fact those outside of the establishment. So the fact that Bono or Neo or anyone else for that matter doesn't fit into a particular mold doesn't affect their true self or faith.

I have been involved in established churches as a youth pastor for the past 10 years and am now exploring more organic approaches to being and doing church together. We currently have a church meeting in our home on Thursday nights.

blessings.

bob (frodo)

[Rob A]

Great article by Stafford.

[gary eagling]

i dd not feel the need to attend church or be part of a church. This was probably the start ( amongst other things but it certainly didnt help)of backsliding and going away from God for a number of years.

[hana]

wow

[KARLA LINDQUIST]

Bono's style and his style of spirituality will do more for the souls that belong to the church than one can imagine.
nourishment for the soul...jesus wants our souls to be fed thru works, love, committments. and it FEELS so good to help people and feed our souls. the harvest is great and the workers few....take whatever help we can get to bring more to a level of awareness of the beauty of knowing Christ.

[isaac]

I found this randomly... but I have to side with Bono. Unfortunately, people have come to equate the Gospel with regular attendance and good works... they miss the relational dyanamic between man and God. Spirituality is not a product of man's work -- spirituality is a product of grace.

On another unfortunate note, the churches nowadays do very little to enrich the lives of the community that they're situated in... the beginning is to begin reaching for inhabitants of the fringes of society...