Mark Sandlin, co-founder of The Christian Left and owner of TheGodArticle.com, recently suggested that the fandom of God is slowly killing the church. More specifically, he argues
When we are fans of Jesus rather than followers of Jesus, our focus is inward turned, like in fandoms, concerned with and finding full satisfaction in what we think and feel and believe. We are more interested in who gets to be labeled insiders, who are “real/true” fans of God, than we are with following the sometimes difficult teachings of Jesus when it comes to those we see as different. Our world shrinks. It becomes far too easy to worry about those we claim as our “own” and to forget that there is a world of hurting people who we are not only called to stand with but who we are to recognize as equally created in the image of God.
The ultimate downfall of the fandom of God is that it creates a self-appointed, elitist community too concerned with regulating, disciplining and congratulating itself to invest the appropriate amount of time outside of its physical and self-imposed walls to indicate in any way that it truly grasps the example and call of Jesus to minister with “the least of these”.
So What?
Mark Sandlin does well what Kyle Idleman does poorly: recognize the problems of our fandom culture as they relate to an increasing tendency of Christians to behave more like fans of Jesus rather than followers of Jesus.
- How would you rate your congregation on promoting a culture of following rather than fandom?
- On a continuum with hardcore fandom at one extreme and devoted following at the other, where do you find yourself?