A Flexible Skin
By Fred | Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Eric, from Crosslands Church, posted this Youtube link on Facebook. This is a really interesting example of innovation and ingenuity. It automatically made me think of our message series on values. We have our core values that comprise our framework for how Crosslands Church operates. It is the framework that really “is” the church. As in any local church, however, people don’t immediately see the framework; they see the “skin,” the exterior. I think that many churches have defaulted to the expected–the rigid skin, like a typical car. I wonder if it is possible to have a “flexible skin” (and part of me screams, “YES IT IS!”).
After watching that, I was reminded of the Dodge Stealth when it first was mass-marketed as Dodge’s “high-end sports car.” It had two plates on the hood–a cross between confusingly futuristic and down-right ugly. Apparently when they designed the rigid exterior, they didn’t take into account the size of the front struts. And so they had to poke holes in the hood and cover them with these plates.
I wonder how easy it would be to default to a “rigid exterior” so that the exterior determines the body plan, the shape, the framework, the structure. I think this may be what happens typically. We recognize cars by their exterior. That’s almost how they’re defined in our mind. Car aficionados can tell you what’s under the hood (or what they presume is under the hood), but we identify cars by what we see. That’s a Lamborghini and that’s a Mustang. I think the same is true of churches. I think we can look at a church and have a pretty good idea about how it operates by how it looks (and I’m not just talking about the building). The question is, can that “look” be flexible? Can we be “fast, flexible, and focused” in our mission without being locked down and defined by a rigid external form? Again, I think this is possible. With a solid frame and a flexible exterior, the possibilities are almost endless.
Category: Stuff
Comments (9)
Interesting. This made me think of a different kind of analogy – that the skin is what we see and what we really use to judge if we like something or not. The reality is that it is what is inside that really counts. A Ferrari or Lamborghini covered in an old rusted body hides the real power and quality underneath. Is making the ‘skin’ (the superficial part we see) flexible the answer? Or is the answer to teach people to look beyond the skin to find what is underneath?
Hmmm…that’s a good question. It seems to me that most people don’t bother to “look beyond the skin” (in terms of cars or churches).
If the skin “doesn’t really matter” in terms of how the car runs, then why wouldn’t we move towards flexibility, at least to make sure that the skin doesn’t determine the frame, the engine, etc.?
Now you have me thinking. The skin DOES matter. We need it. It serves a purpose to protect the inner body. The problem is that we focus on it and not what is inside. How do we turn that around to understand that while it is needed, the visible part is not always the most important? I wonder? Perhaps I am struggling with the word ‘flexibility’. Would ‘transparency’ be more appropriate?
Ever seen a transparent car? ; )
Cool post- I agree, I think the skin is important. People always say “don’t judge a book by its cover”, but we all know it has a strong influence on whether we pick it up or not.
I think developing a “church skin”/impression that accurately represents us as a unique group of Christians is important, because then people can see who we are and what we stand for.
If people are able to see what we’re about upfront, and that we’re different, then they can make the decision to “open up the hood” and go “all-in” to explore life in Crosslands Church and with God.
I think what’s most important is that our “skin” is honest, and people can see who we are instead of just who we want them to see.
I have to strongly agree with Sara and Douglas. The first impression counts. Now that may seem shallow, but quite literally, I’ve walked out of churches before immediately after having walked in the door. If I can’t walk into a church and feel the love of the people immediately, I am not staying. Period. Your Churches’ skin does matter.
Now as time goes on, you get to see if a Church actually walks their talk… but that’s another issue all together. The insides of a Church’s soul can be rusty even if the exterior is all warm and fuzzy and glossy.
I’ve visited two black congregations in the GTA and believe me — The skin of their church is unbelievably beautiful and filled with joy. And as a white dude in a mostly black congregation, at first I felt really out of place. But within seconds, from both these churches — I quickly learned how loving and caring these Christians were. They talked the talk and walked the walk even better.
The question I always ask myself whenever I get into a discussion around how churches can both be both culturally relevant (attractive to non-christians) and culturally transcendent (holding to eternal truths) is “is this a wine issue or a wine skin issue”?
While holding true to the “wine” we need to be totally open to altering the “wine skin” in any way that best gets the thirsty to drink. As Jesus says, if you put new wine into old wine skins the wine will spill out. When this happens the wine is wasted and the drinker remains thirsty.
The key thing I am taking away from this is that the focus for change is not really the building or the church leadership but all of us believers to challenge ourselves and to step up to make Crosslands a relevant and growing destination for the spiritually thirsty.
Brian: Absolutely!
I didn’t relize you posted this on the church website! Context over dogma is a powerful statement! Having a G.I.N.A Church mentaility I guess would be about Flexible functionality. flexible so that our rigid religious exterior we “have to” protray gives way to skin thats easy to see whats inside even though it’s shifting and changing through life of church and personally. It’s about the human side that Christ came and redeemed, he flexed to our context and clairified why we need him. God incarnate form redeeming human rigid behavior. This has a christmas theme!