December, 2007:

At the Christianity Today blog Out of Ur, Chad Hall writes (Part 1 and Part 2) about the influence of young Christian leaders like Rob Bell and Mark Driscoll. He seeks to answer the question: Are these “new bishops” the result of a generation searching for leaders outside traditional church structures, or are they a product of publishers and slick marketing?
I’ll pull out a few quotes here but the articles are rather short so it won’t take long for you to read them yourself.

What had given rise to these new bishops? Hall names three primary factors:

1. Waning denominationalism

2. The “Global Village” effect (if you don’t know what that means, read Marshall McLuhan, especially his book “Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man”)

3. A populist mindset in the present generation that prefers to choose its own leaders rather than have them chosen by someone else

Hall raises the concern that this could devolve into theology by majority and I think he’s bang on with that diagnosis. Popularity is the crown of the celebrity, and with popularity comes power. He also raises the issue of marketing: “With book deals and conference invitations based on who will buy what, the consumer ambitions of publishing houses and conference promoters (and ad-revenue blogs like this one!) may drive choices more than ambitions of faithfulness. ” I don’t see how this is any different from previous generations. Book deals, conferences, and publishing houses have existed for a long time. I’d say the internet is the difference for this generation.

In Part 2 Hall asks: How can Christ-followers navigate the era of new bishops and guard against theology by marketing majority?

1. Let’s not forget that faithfulness to God often does entail faithfulness to leaders. Leaders discerning God’s movement and directing others toward faithfulness is Biblical. We happen to live in a world where we get to choose our leaders, and we should choose wisely. I hear some ministers today who almost seem unwilling to follow anyone other than themselves. Being your own bishop is not healthy.

2. Let’s be savvy in noting the complex relationship between following and consuming. We need to be alert to marketing hype and sensationalism and to separate message from medium lest we buy into an inappropriate message simply because it’s packaged well. If we’re blind to the new reality we can get sucked into inappropriate hero worship and faulty faith.

3. Although this may not be politically correct, I suggest trusting older leaders rather than the hottest and latest leaders. While I’m not disagreeing with 1 Timothy 4:12, men like Gordon MacDonald, Dallas Willard, Leith Anderson, Peter Kreeft and Eugene Peterson have enough water under the bridge to lead me to trust them, which is distinct from simply admiring them. People live a long time these days, so let’s not rush to make bishops of the young guns just because we live in a culture that worships youth.

4. Let’s not neglect the bishops who’ve lived in centuries past. The minor fact that they are dead shouldn’t remove them from our list of trustworthy leaders. They may not have websites or bestselling books, but they have insights that many of us need today.