Bigger is Better: How Ego Has Harmed the American Church

How wonderful, how uplifting it is to meet a Christian speaker.

Isn’t it?

In the American Church, our Christian Speakers are our saints. We read their books. We follow their twitter feed. We aggressively quote Timothy Keller and Francis Chan and all the rest of them. They’re our modern day apostles.

These men have insight. They’ve bottled it up. They’ve neatly arranged it. They’ve sold it under glossy covers and stood on huge stages, broadcasting their views to millions through YouTube.

This — this is the highest good. To reach the maximum number of people with a good idea. That’s where the heart of Jesus lived. In the millions-at-once. In jotting down some quick advice and then having it passed out in leaflet form.

Oh, wait.

No it wasn’t.

The Ministry of Jesus

Jesus kept things small(1). He was bizarrely ineffective by today’s standards. Imagine if Jesus had never left a certain region of Detroit.

He met with some guys. He chatted with some disgraced women. He did some miracles. He was homeless and hung out with “dirty” people, and I guarantee that the American Church wouldn’t even have heard of him. We would have heard about his death afterward…