Maybe it's because I'm getting older, but the call for Christian artists to properly "engage the culture" is starting to sound more odd and less informed to me. I include myself in the crowd of those calling for engagement with the culture, calling for more artists to stop preaching to the choir and take the Gospel to the streets. But now I'm wondering if this is even possible, professionally speaking, from an artist's or entertainer's point of view.
I believe that all Christians are called to be witnesses to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, regardless of how that witness is carried out. But it is the professional Christian artist to whom I am referring specifically here. To be more specific, I'll focus on Christian musicians, those operating within the format termed CCM (contemporary Christian music). I'll maintain this specificity just for ease of discussion, but I suspect the ideas could easily be carried over into discussions of Christian authors and Christian filmmakers.
In short, I'm not sure that a blanket call for musicians in the CCM scene to shift focus is right or proper. For one thing, we culture reclaimers may in effect be encouraging musicians to disregard a unique calling to minister to the church. We don't tell all of our pastors to quit their jobs and go into street evangelism; or, as a better parallel, to go into carpentry where their preaching of the gospel is expected to be latent. We know that there are folks called to street preach and there are folks called to carpentry and there are folks called to shepherd congregations. Occasionally, individuals in different camps may need to cross over but I doubt it is often enough to merit a consistent call to the entire coalition of CCM artists to target another audience.
One thing we culture reclaimers have right is our sensing of the need for quality Christian musicians in the mainstream. We rejoice when bands like Switchfoot or P.O.D. "make it." But why? Are they having that much effect? I don't doubt these guys' faith, and I'm sure they are having positive spiritual effects on those within their private spheres of influence, but can it be convincingly argued that Christian artists who go mainstream really impact the culture, even in a small way, for the Gospel? I'm not convinced it can. So we are right to wish more of a Christian influence in secular media, but perhaps we are right for the wrong reasons. We think a mainstream-promoted Switchfoot will bring lost kids to repentance. I hate to be a pessimist, but I doubt it. However, I don't doubt that the guys in Switchfoot can be a powerful witness to studio execs, venue promoters, other bands, etc.
But at what cost? We hear the criticism so often from the Roaring Lambs brigade that the holy huddle of the CCM industry is ineffective. But is it? What is it exactly we want them to do? Isn't the ideal goal of the Christian artist to make art that glorifies God? I would agree that one can do that without being didactic or cheesy or intellectually lazy. And I'd agree that one can do that in the mainstream writing the music they feel called to write. But why are we so convinced that the profession of writing music for the Church is less worthy? The notion of calling aside, doesn't it make sense that a Christian's worldview will be evident in what they create?
That is the real reason, I think, why more Christians aren't found in the world's marketplace. It is because they aren't welcome. The world's producers and distributors aren't interested in spiritual content unless they are convinced that a) it is universal enough to not be construed as fundamentalist Christian (whatever that means), or b) it will make them a lot of money (which is typically true only of product that has already earned lots of money from within the Christian marketplace).
It makes sense to tell Christians to take the message of Jesus to the world. It makes less sense, however, to tell Christian artists to take their biblically informed art into the world's marketplace. It's not wrong to do so, I admit. And we could definitely use more Christian art in the world's marketplace. But the reason it's not there, I think, has more to do with the world's marketplace than the Christian artist. The unfortunate truth is, they don't want to hear it. And when it comes to professional artistry -- where money and promotion is involved -- such a transition in ministry cannot be forced. It makes no sense to tell lambs to roar in a world where they are necessarily mute.
It's all well and good to tell CCM Suzy she needs to engage the culture, get outside the bubble, and write music for everyone, but as long as her music is informed by her faith, she will not be taken seriously or promoted seriously by the mainstream. What crossover hits from Switchfoot and P.O.D. include explicit spiritual references? They might as well be Creed tunes. (The temporary success of Mercy Me's "I Can Only Imagine" on pop radio is an anomaly, but its success is almost undoubtedly due to dutiful Christian radio listeners leaning on stations.) Again, there's nothing wrong with that. But if we're going to keep insisting that CCM Suzy cross over, we will have to accept that we are essentially telling her to get over the cross.
Let me be more personal (and stray from the CCM discussion a bit). I am a Christian writer. I would love to be a "writer who is a Christian." That is the code phrase for a Christian author who enjoys success in the mainstream publishing world, who has books published and promoted by secular publishing companies and whose faith informs his work without resorting to sloganeering, didacticism, cheesy execution, etc. But I realize that, for me, writing with excellence and literary flair and depth and substance does not preclude mentioning Jesus or writing about explicitly Christian subjects. That is why I am seeking publication within the Christian marketplace. It's not only the best fit for my work; it is the only hospitable environment for it (until I'm a best-seller and the world realizes it can make some money off of me).
The alternative concept is available to both authors and musicians -- make references to spirituality and faith so general and non-specific that Christians will appreciate them but the world will not register them as Christian. The idea is that these references will somehow permeate the unbeliever's heart, planting seeds for the Gospel. I am not pessimistic enough to doubt that possibility. However, I am realistic enough to doubt that many Christian artists will be comfortable with that. You know what? I don't want to sugarcoat my redemption stories. I don't want to water them down to the point of universalism. When the protagonist in one of my novels dies to save the life of his friend, I don't want that to merely be evidence of his love and heroism. I want it to be an obvious and explicit demonstration of his faith and the power of Jesus Christ. I want readers to know that the character dies not because he's a good person but because he's a follower of Jesus.
If engaging the culture means eliminating that distinction, I'll have none of it.
I plan on saying more about this subject next week, more specifically in defense of the so-called "Christian market."
Jared Wilson is the pastor and co-founder of Element, a missional Christian community in
Nashville, Tennessee, and an award-winning writer whose articles, essays, and
short stories have appeared in numerous publications.
Jared's first book, The Unvarnished Jesus, releases Fall 2009 from Kregel.
A graduate of Middle Tennessee State University, he lives outside
Nashville with his wife and two daughters.
Encounter Jared's passion for the ongoing reformation of the evangelical church
almost daily at www.gospeldrivenchurch.com.
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