Celebrity Christians
It’s a tag that is increasingly used as a label of shame. Those it sticks to can be seen as hungry for fame, superficial, self-promoting and diva-like. It’s a glib shorthand, but I can understand why it has come into vogue. Here’s the label: celebrity Christians.
Back when I first wrote this, we were a culture obsessed with celebrity, and little has changed since. Entire rainforests had succumbed to provide the paper for myriad magazines that did nothing but follow in the footsteps of the famous. Some mega-celebs even launched their own magazines, literary altars to their own existence. Oprah Winfrey had O, The Oprah Magazine, and one glamour model – famous, as far as I knew, for being famous – had a glossy imaginatively named after herself. We had people who not only cooked, but were celebrities because they were handsome and cheeky, like Jamie, or because they swore at their kitchen staff, like Gordon. We had singing competitions judged by people who couldn’t sing, but who apparently knew about music simply because they were famous.
And so, weary of hollow celebrities, some people point to well-known Christians, curl their lips and label them celebrity Christians. Some time ago, a letter appeared in a Christian magazine warning about the dangers of Christian celebrity culture. In it I was named, alongside dear friends like Steve Chalke and Rob Parsons, as an example of celebrity. The writer said that we need to abandon well-known faces and voices, and instead find people who are less known and tell their stories. It was inappropriate, the letter stated, to describe someone as an international speaker or television presenter. It was a shrill warning, suggesting that something was very wrong indeed in the church world.
All of which tires me out. I totally agree that we need to share the treasured stories of those as yet unfamiliar to us. And I confess it is worrying that most of the high-profile worship leaders around the world are handsome or beautiful souls whose facial arrangements look pretty good on an album cover. Thankfully, preachers are not required to be eye candy, which is a relief to me – although being attractive hasn’t done Steve Chalke any harm.
But to tag those whose faces are familiar as celebrities, simply because they are well known, is a cheap stunt. They are well known because people around the country, or around the world, have found their ministry, preaching or writing helpful. They have offered their lives to bring influence for the kingdom of God, just as anyone who serves Jesus does. As it turns out, because of the appreciation of the people of God, the blessing of God or, hopefully, a combination of the two, they have become familiar faces. People like to read their books and hear their Bible teaching. What’s so very wrong with that?
It’s too easy – and perhaps gratifying – to lob Christians whose names are known into a skip labelled ‘celebrity’. It lines them up with the PR-created airheads of our wider world whose only talent is grabbing headlines. To be tagged a ‘celebrity’ implies that there is no real reason why certain voices are listened to, and that the familiar name belongs to a person without experience or substance.
Being an unfamiliar name carries no intrinsic merit. And of course, there is a cycle of danger here. As you profile someone’s work, you risk people becoming interested in them or inspired by them, which makes them potential ‘celebrities’ too. Another candidate for the skip: people are starting to like them too much, so chuck them in quick. Is it right to make someone a villain because they are popular?
It’s OK to be well known if you’re a legend, or dead – ideally both, like Billy Graham, Wilberforce and Mother Teresa. But for others in whom the Christian public shows interest, there’s no way out.
And why is it so wrong to be an international speaker? What’s so terrible about having a passion to see the Church across the globe strengthened and encouraged? It’s of no greater worth than being a local preacher, but it still has worth.
All this said, I do think there’s some merit in the warning about Christian celebrity, and it applies to those who are privileged to have wide influence. They should not be condemned because of their profile, but they should certainly be held accountable for their attitude. When a Christian speaker or worship leader starts to act like a big fish in the tiny goldfish bowl that is the Christian world, demanding special treatment and projecting a nauseating air of pomposity and self-importance, it’s time to speak up. But let’s demand humility and servanthood from the well known, and not just throw bricks at them because they’re well known.
Sometimes, in the Church, we’re not very kind to each other. We snap at leaders when they fail, when their churches don’t grow or their sermons are dull. And then we snap at them when they bring a message that seems to help many, when their churches grow and when their preaching and teaching make an impact. In the Church, it sometimes feels as if you just can’t win. And there’s something very wrong with that.