The Salty Peanut Gallery

Author/blogger, Kevin DeYoung uses this McDonalds commercial to illustrate a great point concerning the Emergent church culture:

DeYoung writes:

“I admit it’s funny because I like McDonald’s more than I like coffee shops. (I can get a filling meal at McDonalds for the same price as a thimble of hot chocolate at Starbucks). Some people don’t like the ad because they think it makes fun of jazz music, facial hair, and reading poetry. I like the ad, not because I think it makes fun of these things, but because it makes fun of the haughtiness that sometimes comes with these things. McDonalds has cheap greasy food, the atmosphere is utilitarian, and their coffee is pedestrian. But, hey, some people like burgers, fries, frugality, and bad coffee.

I mention all of this because so much that passes for spirituality these days is nothing more than middle class, 20something coffee culture. If you like jazz, soul patches, earth tone furniture, and lattes, that’s cool. But this culture is no holier than the McNugget, Hi-C, Value City, football culture that most people live in. Why does incarnational ministry usually mean hanging out at Starbucks instead of McDonalds?”

AN EXCELLENT POINT!

I’ve made no bones about the fact that I really don’t care for the arrogant attitude that assumes because it’s modern it must be authentic, that if we’re not willing to be hip and relevant, then we’re not really serious about reaching people. The authenticity of our Christianity cannot and should not be measured by our degree of unconventionalism. Hip and trendy can very easily become just another form of religious ritual. Real, authentic Christianity is not determined by cultural relevance. “Man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart” – 1 Samuel 16:7. Let’s get real, people!