Louie and Shelley Giglio are the founders and visionaries of the Passion Conferences, which draw ten-thousands of university students every year. Matt Redman is an offspring of the UK-based Soul Survivor movement and author of numerous worship songs. His wife Beth is a former member of the school mission formation World Wide Message Tribe and also a rising book author. Nathan Nockels is a successful recording producer and sings together with his wife Christy in the duett group Watermark. Chris Tomlin is, hands down, the songwriter at the moment. His songs are sung all over the world. And these, by all means, blessed individuals got together now to plant a church in Atlanta: the Passion City Church. A church plant led by Christian superstars - is that possible? 

On Good Friday they had their first worship service, with 9000 attendees who came despite of very heavy rain. If that isn't a great start, then what is? But I do ask myself if those 9000 people showed up because of Jesus or simply because they wanted to see Tomlin and Redman for free. Louie Giglio seems to be very aware of this danger: "All I say to [criticism] is, well, you'll have to take that up with God. There is some history on the side of God putting gifted people in the same space at the same time. The purpose is not to congregate ability but to foster a movement that will reach the cities of the nation and the world. History is on our side and Jesus is on our side because he is the one who promised to grow the church. I'm not starting anything. Jesus started the church. This is not going to be Louie's church. This is Jesus' church. To the degree that we can let it be his and not ours—then it will be amazing."

Fair enough. But does the danger not remain, that the Passion City Church will attract hundreds of Christians from other churches in Atlanta? "There will still be hundreds of thousands of people in the city who have not yet encountered the grace of God", says Giglio. "Some people ask me, "How could you put a church in Andy's backyard?" (ed. note: Andy Stanley is the senior pastor of North Point Community Church, Atlanta). But Andy and I are on the same page here. It's not Andy's backyard, it's God's. The church and city don't belong to Andy or to me or to anybody else. They belong to God."

Well, that sounds very reasonable. To me, it is obvious that Louie Giglio and his team really do act in response to a divine calling for the city of Atlanta. The problem, it seems, are not the supposed superstars. The problem are the Christians who almost always get extremly over-excited when someone with a little bit of a name comes near them. And that's not only an American problem. We also have that problem here in Europe. Go to any of the Christian conferences and festivals on our continent and you will see: Christians are so turned on by stars! And I find this extremely disturbing.

Years ago, it was the evangelists and the preachers who were adored and idolised. Today, it's the musicians and in particular the worship leaders. And when we make people into stars and portray them as especially holy and extraordinary, then we diminish the worth of the remaining parts of the body of Christ at the very same time. When we use phrases like "he is a great man of God" or "she is so anointed", we immideately create a distinction within the body of Christ. We are all workers in the same Kingdom of God, we are all in the same boat together. For sure, God uses people like Matt Redman and Chris Tomlin, but he also wants to use the ordinary, the regular, the weaker. He has a purpose for a man like Louie Giglio but he also has a purpose for you and me, even if we seem rather insignificant. In His eyes, you are also a star (which is why He died for you!)

When we understand this, we will stop to wait for the wonderful evangelist who comes to our church once a year for three special evenings and hopefully starts the revival-ball rolling. When we understand this, we will stop to wait for the summer youth concert, to which we have invited two contemporary bands who will finally reach the young people in our town. When we understand this, we will stop to wait for the anointed prophet, who will join us for our church weekend to sort out all our problems and deliver the Word in a "fresh new way" to us. When we understand this, we will see that we too are graced, called, enabled, gifted, breathed on and purposed, and we have Jesus just as much on our side as Louie Giglio has.

If there is one thing we can learn from the Passion City Church, then it's this: there is a group of people, who have been called to reach out to this city, and they do not only talk about "what could happen, if...". They are starting to get the job done and they follow their calling. If they can do that, then we can do that, too! Let's get this party started, baby.

Comments

Tobias Ambs-Thomsen

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Hi David!

Great article and good point - lets get the church going.

/tobias

Tuesday 28 April 2009, 05:47

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Petar

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Oh, man... I can write a book on that topic probably. :D
I agree with the statement that Christians just freak out about famous and important people. Anyone who doubts should go to any Christian conference, and unfortunately, will see it first-hand. A lot is about musicians, but I'll say that it's still a lot about the "pastor of that big church" or the "overseer of that great region/district/area". It's painful to watch.
My opinion is that we (Christians) have simply let too much of the culture around us influence our thinking. Very few in today's secular society care about the "nobody".

God indeed does a LOT through "small" people, the nobodies... As a matter of fact, I'd even say He does most of the work namely through such people. The sad part is that nobody's there to talk about it, just because they're nobodies and giving them from one's precious time won't "pay back" well.

Anyhow, as you said - we should be focused on following God's instructions and not wait for our individual requirements to be fulfilled (which hardly ever happens). I'd only add that we also need to address this issue openly in our churches. Many other problems have been left in the dark and they've turned into bombs ticking and ticking...

Wednesday 29 April 2009, 19:28

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Sven

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nonsens. It's both anointed ministers and "do it yourself" .

Gifted leadership is called to impart to the body of Christ. You need impartation among other things to be able to walk in spiritual strenght.

Monday 03 August 2009, 01:12

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