The Divine Commodity: Discovering a faith beyond consumer Christianity
Titles are often the first point of interest for me in determining whether I should read a book. This title immediately grabbed my attention – particularly as I’ve read widely and thought deeply over the years about consumerism and its impact on faith.
And I was already familiar with the insightful writing of Skye Jethani, managing editor of Leadership journal and a teaching pastor in an Alliance church. In his early thirties and of mixed Indian and Anglo heritage, Skye (his nickname) often contributes to the “Out of Ur” blogsite that runs parallel to Leadership. It’s worth checking out (http://blog.christianitytoday.com/outofur/).
So the title and author were enough to convince me I should buy the book online.
Interestingly, like all good consumers, I also take into account the cover of a book (in spite of the old proverbial saying “Don’t judge a book by its cover”). So when I received the book in the mail I was a little perturbed with what I saw. The artwork and overall feel of the cover was, in my very humble opinion, quite unappealing and somewhat dated. Ironic assumptions from someone as out-of-step with fashion as myself! And doubly ironic given the subject matter of the book.
Not to be put off though, I proceeded to open the pages. Jethani’s thoughts quickly resonated with me. Early on his asks:
Has the contemporary church been so captivated by the images and methods of the consumer culture that it has forfeited its sacred vocation to be a countercultural agent of God’s kingdom in the world?
The writer then goes on to outline his context for writing, by noting:
Christian critiques of consumerism usually focus on the danger of idolatry – the temptation to make material goods the center of life rather than God. However legitimate and commonplace the evil of materialism may be, it misses the real threat consumerism poses…consumerism as a set of presuppositions most of us have been formed to carry without question or critique. More than merely an economic system, it is the framework through which we understand everything including the gospel, the church and God himself. Consumerism is the dominant worldview of North Americans (read: New Zealanders). As such, it is competing with the kingdom of heaven for the hearts and imaginations of God’s people.
Weaved through the book is the inspiring and, at times, tragic story of Vincent van Gogh. A committed Jesus-follower who struggled in his relationships with others, the church, and indeed his own mental health, van Gogh’s Impressionist paintings symbolize much of his perspective on life, God and the church. Skye Jethani explores several of van Gogh’s paintings in some depth (and the book even includes several pages of colour paintings).
Imagination – learning to see the world as it truly is
In the first chapter, Jethani suggests that our major challenge today as the Church is our lack of imagination – we struggle to imagine how to carry out the mission of Jesus, and simply “reinterpret the mission of the church through the only framework comprehendible to us – the one we’ve inherited from our consumer culture.”
The emergence of a Christian subculture that parallels the secular culture in every way reveals the captivity of our imaginations.
We have abandoned the vision that Christianity is an alternative way. We cannot see our lives, our households, or our churches operating any differently than the world around us.
God as a commodity
In chapter two, Jethani explores how a consumer society such as ours operates. He notes that our system is made possible because of the belief that anything can be given an economic value, and exchanged. This makes it a commodity.
“As a result, an object’s value is not linked directly to what it is, but what it can be exchanged for.” In other words, something or someone is only valuable to us if it/they are useful to us.
Over time, more and more things that in the past would have been considered “beyond economic exploitation” have been commodified – water supply, living organisms, and even people. Most tellingly, this also translates into the commodification of God:
The reduction of even sacred things into commodities also explains why we exhibit so little reverence for God. In a consumer worldview he has no intrinsic value apart from his usefulness to us. He is a tool we employ, a force we control, and a resource we plunder. We ascribe value to him (the literal meaning of the word “worship”) based not on who he is, but on what he can do for us.
To support his thesis, Jethani quotes the research of Chrstian Smith, a sociologist of religion who researched the spiritual lives of American teenagers and concluded that most of them (including the church attenders) had a MTD faith – shorthand for Moralistic Therapeutic Deism. Smith writes:
By “moralistic” I mean good and nice…by “therapeutic” I mean primarily concerned with one’s own happiness…by “deism” I mean a view of God as normally distant and not involved in one’s life, except if one has a problem one needs God to solve. In other words, God functions as a combination divine butler and cosmic therapist.
Smith suggests that this kind of faith has simply been mirrored by how teenagers see adults functioning – in other words, that it’s really the dominant faith of North Americans – including those who attend church.
The author then goes on to note that a subsequent consequence of consumerism, after commodification occurs, is alientation – caused by a product being disconnected in our minds from the means of its production – in other words, its context.
As a result, we’ve been conditioned to believe that context is largely irrelevant – and it’s therefore no real surprise that this translates into our church life. Here, increasingly, people are disconnected from the biblical story that informs us of God’s character and attributes. And not only has it resulted in biblical illiteracy among Christians, but when Scripture is used it is often reduced to “three applications on a PowerPoint slide.”
Brands
In chapter three Jethani tackles the power and importance of “brands” in our consumer culture. He begins by retelling the true story of Steve Terrett – a 17yr old Chicago teenager who was attacked and killed by two teenagers who were after his Nike Air Jordan shoes.
Using Nike shoes as an example, Jethani notes that:
The goal of branding is to manipulate people’s minds so they involuntarily associate that logo with predetermined feelings…nurturing emotional ties…
Branding has linked certain shoes with power, success, and status in our minds.
That fact that Steve Terrett was just the first of many teenagers to be killed for their shoes is evidence of this. Ultimately, “we define our identity and construct meaning for our lives through the brands we consume.”
A brand, according to marketing expert, Colin Bates, is “…a collection of perceptions in the mind of the consumer.”
Reading this chapter reminded me of another book I read a few years ago – Naomi Klein’s classic No Logo (Flamingo, 2001).
Jethani goes on to state the blindingly obvious – “Consumerism has created a culture that values style over substance, image over reality, and perception over performance.”
We see this in the marketplace. We see this in politics. And most disturbingly, we see this in the Church.
It’s here that Jethani asks the question:
If brands are the new religion, is the opposite also true? Have religions been reduced to brands?
In answering this in the affirmative, the author notes the huge, highly developed Christian sub-culture – consuming in Jesus’ name! Whether it be the WWJD brand, or CCM, or whatever,
In a consumer culture “incarnating Christ” no longer carries an expectation of Christians loving God and their neighbours, but rather the perpetual consumption of Christian merchandise – music, books, T-shirts, gifts and jewelry. A person’s identity as a Christian has less to do with internally transformed values, and more to do with externally displayed products…Like Virgin, Nike and Starbucks, the church has learned that success in a consumer culture has more to do with the packaging than the product.
Jethani then goes on to suggest that the great danger of such an emphasis in branded Christian products is that they take the spotlight away from the very thing that should make us distinctive in our culture – internal transformation – a life marked by increasing righteousness, holiness, faithfulness, love and justice. For external branding is pointless if it does not reflect an internal reality.
Rather than putting on a “Tommy Hellfighter” T-shirt, a “Got Jesus?” bumper sticker, or “Jesus is my Homeboy” underwear, why not follow Paul’s advice and focus our energy toward putting on “compassionate hearts, kindness, meekness and patience.” This is how our identity is revealed, not by the brands we display, but by faith working through love.
Experiences
In the following chapter Jethani suggests that a consequence of our commodification and branding is the development of an experience-based consumerism. He quotes James Gilmore (author of The Experience Economy) from an interview Leadership Journal conducted. Gilmore notes:
Experiences have become the basis of everyday commerce…Starbucks isn’t just about coffee. It’s about the coffee-drinking experience.
Commerce has moved through three economic phases and is now entering a fourth. First was the Agrarian Economy in which economic value was based on the ability to extract commodities – grain, minerals – from the earth. Next came the Industrial Economy built on the ability to make goods from those commodities. Next came the Service Economy: providers perform various services for clients. Now we’ve entered a new era, the Experience Economy.
To give an example of the economic phases, Gilmore talks about the evolution of the humble birthday cake – firstly made by mothers from scratch, then made by using packaged cake mix (like Betty Crocker), then by purchasing it from a bakery (a provided service) and finally to where the parents pay for a person or company to put on a “birthday experience” – complete with activities, entertainment and cake.
So what does this have to do with the Church? Gilmore suggests that:
When the church gets into the business of staging experiences, that quickly becomes idolatry…The organized church should never try to stage a God experience. Increasingly you find people talking about the worship experience rather than the worship service.
As Jethani notes, “Something is wrong when an economist recognizes the danger of staging experiences in church and a church consultant does not (a reference to a previous conversation he had). It reveals the power consumerism has attained over the Christian imagination. We assume, without pausing for critical reflection, that the church’s mission will be advanced by creating external spiritual experiences for people. Most often these take the form of a Sunday worship service.”
Quoting church leaders who utilize such an experience-based approach, the author goes on to say that:
…so many contemporary Christians believe that God changes lives through the commodification and consumption of experiences. If our worship gatherings are energetic, stimulating, and exciting enough then people will attend, receive what’s being communicated, and be spiritually transformed. The justification for this approach is simple – people won’t come to a church that’s boring. And what qualifies as boring is defined by our consumer/experience economy. But the moment we believe transformation occurs via external experiences, the emphasis of the ministry must adjust accordingly.
Using the story of Moses’ experience of meeting with God on the mountain (Exodus 34), Jethani suggests:
Every Sunday morning, millions of Christians want to have an experience with God, and this is precisely what churches promise. And not disappointed, many leave these experiences with a sense of transformation or inspiration. They feel “pumped up”, “fed” or “on fire for the Lord.” No doubt many people, like Moses, have authentic experiences of God through these events. Others may simply be carried along by the music, crowd and energy of the room. Whether a result of God or group, what is beyond question is that many people depart feeling spiritually rejuvenated and capable of taking on life for another six days.
The problem with these external experiences is that the transformation doesn’t last. The mountaintop experience with God – the event you were certain would change your life forever – turns out to be another fleeting spiritual high…This philosophy of spiritual formation through the consumption of external experiences creates worship junkies.
This reminded me of a short article I read recently by theologian Scot McKnight, who among other things stated, “There is a big difference between saying ‘You are worthy of our praise’ and saying ‘I love praising God.’ The second, I am suggesting, is courtly love. It is in love with loving God; but it is the first that is in love with God.”
Our consumer-driven appetite for experiences can easily and subtely cause us to not just be in love with the idea of loving God, but also be in love with the experience of loving God.
Seeking to clarify what he is suggesting, Jethani goes on to note that “The problem is not our worship gatherings, but what we expect from them. If corporate worship is an external display of an internal reality – the glory of Christ that abides within – then these gatherings will not be full of passive spectators. These events will be where Christians gather to show a watching world the continual worship that marks their lives – whether it is celebratory, reflective or even repentant.”
Corporations and competition
In chapter five, using the development of the cruise ship industry as an illustration, Jethani tackles the evolution of church from being a means to an end (helping people follow Jesus faithfully) to becoming an end in itself.
We have entered an age where competition reigns – not just competition with the wider culture, but also with other churches. This, according to Jethani, accounts for the huge growth of mega-churches and the corresponding decline of smaller churches (so that now over half of all churchgoers in the US attend the largest 10 percent of churches).
In such a “market” where “…megachurches are self-contained cities where the faithful can worship, eat, shop, work and play” those church communities that don’t have the will or capacity to compete, lose their members to a bigger church down the road.
Jethani charts the development of the “corporation” and its eventual acceptance in American society as deserving of equal rights with a person under the law. “One hundred years of relating to personified corporations has caused a profound shift in the way we live.” This has transferred into our view of church life.
In such an environment Jethani suggests that:
…in a competitive religious market the goal is not simply for believers to be dedicated to God, but to the particular institution who supplies them…the personification of institutions in our culture means the institutional church, rather than the flesh-and-blood people of God, has become the vehicle of God’s mission in the world. We believe that with the right corporate vision, structures, and policies the institution will be divinely empowered to do Christ’s work. The minister’s task becomes initiating and managing programs so that spiritual maturity can be cultivated among members. This is salvation by institution, paradise via programs. And preferably our programs rather than the church’s down the street.
He goes further in challenging our tendency to try to reduce and contain God’s work through programs and structure.
The exchange of an unpredictable God for controllable principles is also common within the church. Our insistence on an institutional and programmatic faith is a savvy new form of divination. Invariably, churches that experience significant numerical growth will publish books outlining their methodology and create conferences so other leaders can reproduce such success in their own churches. The assumption is that with the right curriculum, the right principles, and the right programs God’s Spirit will act to produce the outcomes we desire. This plug-and-play approach to the Christian life makes God a cosmic vending machine, and it assumes his Spirit resides within well-produced organizations and systems rather than people…And God’s Spirit does not empower programs or inhabit institutions. The Spirit fills people who were created in God’s image to be the vessels of his glory.
Jethani goes on to recount the experience of Bill Hybels’ Willow Creek church, who in 2004 undertook a very honest examination as to what degree they were accomplishing their stated mission of transforming people into fully devoted followers of Christ. The central premise they had based their church’s program-driven approach on was that the higher the level of participation in the activities and programs of the church, the more discipleship would occur.
However, they discovered that, disturbingly, there was no such correlation. People’s participation in their programs did not necessarily result in them loving God or people more. Their programs did not lead to transformation. Instead,
The research found that what impacted a person’s spiritual growth most were personal Bible reading, prayer and meditation, a meaningful relationship with a friend or mentor, and serving others…all of these practices are relationship-focused…
Jethani concludes:
This does not mean the church should be unorganized, a fluid and completely unstructured community. Just as our goal should not be to escape consumerism, neither should we abandon institutional churches. This is not a call to ecclesiastical anarchy…Every relational community, like a family, needs structure. But the goal of any structure should be strengthening, not replacing, human relationships which are the medium God uses to carry out his transforming work. The Holy Spirit inhabits human beings, not institutions.
In the language I like to use, this means that structure and programs are there to support and channel communal life and relationships. They can’t create life. A friend of mine says, “Structure is a brilliant and necessary servant but a hopeless and tyrannical leader.”
Desire – “wants” and “needs”
Chapter six focuses on the centrality of nurturing desire in our consumer culture. There’s been a lot written on this over the years and Jethani does a good job of summarizing some of the key elements. It reminded me of British sociologist Tony Walter’s book, Need – the new religion: exposing the language of need (Downers Grove: IVP, 1985). Walter’s work is an exceptional analysis of how our consumer culture hinges on the creation of “needs”.
While Walter’s material is not mentioned, Jethani does quote another writer who has much to say about consumerism – Rodney Clapp. He (Clapp) states, “The consumer is schooled in insatiability. He or she is never to be satisfied – at least not for long. The consumer is tutored that people basically consist of unmet needs that can be appeased by commodified goods and experiences.”
Our economic system is actually based on lack of self-control. In fact, this statement reminded me of what several astute commentators have noted over the years – all but one of the seven deadly sins, sloth, have been transformed into a positive virtue. Greed, avarice, envy, gluttony, luxury, and pride are the driving force of the new economy.
Jethani notes that maturity does not result from such a culture. In fact, if as Scott Peck has suggested, maturity is “the ability to delay gratification” then allowing ourselves to ferment in a culture of desire can only lead us away from such maturity.
It follows then that, “To believe that employing consumer methods in the church will produce spiritually mature Christians is delusional thinking akin to expecting a dog to hatch from a chicken’s egg.”
Jethani contrasts the insatiability of created desires with the way of Jesus – which revolves around self-denial, discipline, fasting and the embracing (rather than running away from) of suffering. (He could also have mentioned the Christian virtue of contentment.)
Community
In chapter seven Jethani examines the effect consumerism has on our capacity to build Christian community. Increasingly, freedom of choice (a core characteristic of consumerism) has created a culture of customization – where we are encouraged to choose products and services according to our particular individual tastes and preferences. The author suggests that we have simply transferred this over into church life.
When given the choice, most people will pick a community that conforms to their style, perspective, life stage, and ethnicity.
And within that community, people will often be given multiple choices regarding, for example, the style, time and venue of worship services. In such an environment it is little wonder that the homogenous church growth principle has thrived over the past few decades. It’s so much easier growing churches that minimize diversity.
However, sadly:
Rather than challenging the social divisions of our culture, the church has capitulated to them. Rather than defending the radical imaginations of Jesus and his apostles, who called for unity that transcended the dividing walls of culture, ethnicity, and economics, the Consumer Church has enthusiastically defended the status quo.
In Consumer Christianity, our concern is not primarily whether people aretransformed to reflect the countercultural values of God’s kingdom, but whether they are satisfied – often measured by attendance and giving.
Of course, building true community is costly. In fact, it is largely unappealing to comfort-driven church shoppers. For as Henri Nouwen has written:
Community is the place where the person you least want to live with always live…(It) has little to do with mutual compatibility.
Jethani finishes the chapter by talking about the centrality of the Eucharist.
The table of Christ confronts and abolishes our consumer tendencies. It mocks our desire for comfortable community, and it abolishes the principle of homogeneity because we come to the table of Christ as guests and not the host. We have no control or authority over who is invited. Instead we are asked to surrender control and simply take our seat with the other wounded souls…His table is a refuge for many…at his table we will probably find the person we like least, and this is the person we are called to love.
Hospitality
In chapter eight the author continues this theme of community and hospitality – as antidotes to the all pervasive alienation, loneliness and isolation that result from our consumerist lifestyles. He touches on the impact that the car and the suburb have had on privatization and the resulting inability of many to relate meaningfully to others.
With the ability to relate meaningfully to others lost, the fully formed consumer is left only one path to seek fulfillment – consumption.
These two realities of consumer life – the inability to relate meaningfully to others and the formation of identity around stuff – explain our fearful suspicion of strangers.
As an aside, Jethani notes the popularity of blogs and social networking websites such as Facebook and MySpace, suggesting that rather than stimulating meaningful friendships, they actually just enable people to “…simultaneously have hundreds of ‘friends’ without risking the emotional investment of a real human relationship.” He feels they often foster pseudo-relationships through shallow identities built around a person’s consumer preferences.
In contrast to our cultural aversion to people who are different to us – particularly those on the margins – Jethani reminds the reader that Jesus built a community that “…did not judge, categorize, or label people based on any external commodity.”
The call of the Church is to exercise similar radical hospitality, where we welcome and love whoever is in front of us.
Interestingly, the author contrasts this type of hospitality with being “seeker sensitive” – where the church “…engineers an experience to be attractive to a hypothetical person predetermined by demographic research” – such as that suggested by Inside the Mind of Unchurched Harry and Mary.
Hospitality was never about changing oneself to fit the desires and expectations of the guest, but rather about loving and honouring the guest by welcoming her into the reality of one’s life and community with open arms.
I loved the last paragraph in this chapter which stated:
Our homes are to be hospitals – refuges of healing radiating the light of heaven. And our dinner tables are to be operating tables – the place where broken souls are made whole again. In our churches people should find rest from their battle for acceptance and release from the lie that they are nothing more than the goods they possess.
Faithfulness and Obedience
The final chapter focuses on the “bigger is better myth”. Like our wider culture’s obsession with economic growth the Church has also developed an unhealthy obsession with numerical growth – and with impact. Using the clever marketing of Mel Gibson’s Passion of the Christ to church leaders, as an example, Jethani asks the question:
Why is the church so susceptible to pitches and products promising big impact?
Part of the answer, he suggests, is consumerism’s bent toward sensationalism and superlatives such as “best selling”, “most watched” etc. No wonder Gibson and co could boast (and get away with doing so) that his movie was “Perhaps the greatest outreach opportunity in 2,000 years.”
Advertising expert James Twitchell is quoted, explaining the genius behind the megachurch movement, “In old-time denominations growth was not proof of value, stability was…(Today megachurches) concentrate on what makes the brand powerful: growth. What you sell is the perception that whatever it is that you are selling is in demand.” As Jethani notes, this helps explain why churches will repeatedly buy into plans promising big impact.
I might add here that even though NZ has few megachurches, we too suffer badly from this myth. Quite apart from my deep concerns about the theology behind many modern evangelistic efforts, I’ve been appalled how easily we (the church) have been sucked into the naïve belief that certain big budget programmes will make a huge impact. Whether it be World Impact Tour, Passion of the Christ or Harvest Crusades, the marketing claims that are presented in advance are simply outrageous and play to our hopes of an “easy result” without the cost of incarnational living, personal relationships, and sacrificial investment in people’s lives. And if there was any definitive proof that we were collectively searching for such shortcuts, it might be worthwhile reflecting on the enormous sales in NZ of Bruce Wilkinson’s little book The Prayer of Jabez, and the implicit message it contains.
Anyway, back to the book! Phil Vischer, creator of VeggieTales, is quoted as saying:
The more I dove into Scripture, the more I realized that I had been deluded. I had grown up drinking a dangerous cocktail – a mix of the gospel, the Protestant work ethic, and the American dream…The Savior I was following seemed, in hindsight, equal parts Jesus, Ben Franklin, and Henry Ford. My eternal value was rooted in what I could accomplish.
Jethani does a good job of pointing to a more gospel-centred path. Reflecting on Jesus he notes that “For Jesus impact did not define legitimacy; bigger was not intrinsically better. What compelled Jesus was not impact but obedience. He was nourished by doing everything his Father commanded.”
Returning to Vincent van Gogh’s many canvases depicting peasants sowing seeds in fields, the author notes that Vincent saw his own “…task was to faithfully throw the seed knowing the outcome was beyond his control.”
The sower has a smaller, secondary part to play in a far larger mystery. The sower casts the seed upon the ground, and the seed sprouts, but he knows not how. The sower is neither the central player in this act of creation, nor is he the cause of the growth. The primary agent is God…The sower cannot take responsibility for the results of his efforts; he can only play his part and abandon the outcomes to God.
Continuing on from this Jethani notes that:
Our work certainly matters, but probably not as much as we’d like to think – because ultimately the outcome of our labour is not in our hands. We work, and the world is changed, but exactly how this spiritual impact occurs remains a mystery.
The shock-and-awe approach to mission is extremely appealing to people shaped by consumerism. It taps into our consumer-oriented desire for big impact and feeds the assumption that large equates legit.
We have incorrectly made the scale of our methods conform to the scale of our mission…In the economy of God’s kingdom, big does not beget big. The overwhelming message of Jesus’ life and teaching is that small begets big.
The examples of the Incarnation, the feeding of the five thousand, the beginning of a movement with a handful of diverse disciples, and the Crucifixion, all point to the counterintuitive nature of God’s kingdom. No wonder Jesus likened it to a grain of mustard seed.
(My) concluding thoughts…
While I remind myself that the extremes of American Christianity aren’t completely reflective of our own Kiwi context, nevertheless there is much about Skye Jethani’s analysis that fits us all too well. We too, are captured by a consumerism that determines so much of how we seek to follow Jesus together.
But what I really like about Jethani’s book – even more than his analysis – is the space he gives to an alternative way – one that is grounded in a process of deconstructing and then reconstructing our imagination in order that we might “sing a new song” so the world can hear our music. He writes in the last page of the book:
I have proposed that we respond to the overwhelming influence of consumerism by sowing seeds – silence, prayer, love, friendship, fasting, hospitality. These are not bombs to shake the world. They are not spectacular or popular…They are grains of yeast that eventually work through the whole lump of dough…They are the practices and disciplines that can awaken our imaginations to the beauty and wonder of a divine kingdom that is increasingly difficult to perceive in a noisy world.
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