Celebrity cook Jamie Oliver gained notoriety as "The Naked Chef' when he encouraged his viewers to strip back their kitchen creations to the natural ingredients. His message: "simple is best', and that adding unnecessary flavour to recipes takes away from the pure taste of the elements.
There is no question that Jamie is correct. The juiciest steak requires no sauce or seasoning.
As a result of market-driven ministry models, many churches have tried to work out how to make church more tasty (i.e. entertaining). Turning their back on traditional styles of "worship', they dance with the devil of popular entertainment as their paradigm.
The outcome is that the Western world's mega-churches bear more resemblance to a rock concert or a theatre performance than a cathedral.
This approach makes some sense. For if Bono can capture the attention of his loyal followers for a long night at a U2 rock concert, then their recipe must be worth considering for our attention-deficit-disordered congregations.
However, the underpinning logic is flawed. Unlike cinema or concerts, church is not a spectator event. It is a participation event. The parishioners are as much a part of the action as the pastor. Church is an expression of relationships, not a spectacle to be witnessed.
At last month's TWIST Music Conference, I shared with the delegates that I wanted to try stripping the gathering back to the raw ingredients, to model The Naked Church.
In years past, our main sessions looked more like theatre. A stage manager ushered the participants to the stage via the wings, and the musos waited in the "green room', enabling them to prepare for their "performances'. As the compere, I read my scripts from an autocue, and was given prompts by a hidden earpiece.
By most accounts, the result was a slick and professional product. But the problem was that it lacked something. With a powerful enough sound system, and a large enough video screen, someone could have "done' TWIST on their own from the comfort of their lounge room. It was a good gathering, but lacked some heart.
This year, however, TWIST was different. The music, the talks, the packaging were up to their same standard. But we worked hard to break down the barrier between stage and seating. Instead of sending the stage "talent' off through the wings to the comfort of the green room, we all sat in the front rows of the auditorium. Our stage manager sat in the front seat, and ushered us up via the front seats. We even ran into the crowd with a wireless microphone and invited people to speak to the whole group.
This year we removed the sauce and the spice, and got back to the raw ingredients. We gave people a taste of The Naked Church, and the result was delicious. Is your church smothered in sauce and spice, or can the congregation experience the delicious taste of relationships?
Jodie McNeill is Director of Camping and Conferencing at Anglican Youthworks, and is one of the organisers of the TWIST Music Conference held last month.
