Church, Cowboys, Comfort, and Brett Favre’s Wranglers
By Keith Goad January 9, 2009
I will kick off the New Year with some reflection from an article I read at NBC.com on cowboy churches. YEE-HAW. There is apparently a network of cowboy churches started by the denomination of the SBC’s missions organization North American Mission Board. If that was confusing, it was intended to be. The churches are targeting cowboys by meeting in barns, having rodeo events, and playing country style worship. I am actually all for these things. What stood out was what seemed to be a justification for having a church built specifically for cowboys. The rational was repeated a couple of times–”You don’t feel judged based on how you’re dressed, how you talk, how you look. We’re not asking somebody to be something they’re not.”
I am happy these churches exist if the gospel is being proclaimed and people are coming to Christ. It just made me wonder, who would not feel comfortable if they visited our church. Then I asked, do we actually have a style? Bruce has been intentionally hijacking the music for years in order to keep us from being tied to one style (keep it up homeslice). The way folks dress seems varied and we certainly have no rules or expected code. I hope people come in and no matter what they are wearing they feel comfortable because our church is a genuinely loving church. I asked a fellow wanting to join last night the obvious question, “why?” He said because it feels like family. In an ideal world we would not need to appeal to specific styles for folk to feel comfortable. Do we have a style that does this? What should make people feel uncomfortable in church is gospel preaching that confronts their sin.
The irony of the cowboy church is I am not sure I would feel comfortable in my “casual cool” dress. However, of course every man actually wants to be a cowboy and dress like the guy in the picture at NBC. Wearing wranglers with the posse, playing football, and then riding home on your horse with six-shooter at your side is the dream. My horse’s name would be stonewall and my rodeo event, if I am honest, would probably be clown.
Some questions: 1. How do cowboy church’s think through missions concerning every-kind-of-Joe?
2. Does 3abc actually have a style? Can someone categorize us? (Okay beyond being associated with another church due East.)
3. What are the real benefits of seeking a particular group out and ordering yourself around them?
4. How has the cowboy church avoided the gender-inclusive nonsense? Is it because it is a safe place for men to be men? I think if every church’s flooring was covered in sawdust we would get past this in a year.