The Medium is the Message
“If the church could have solved their problem on their own, they would have.”
Daniel Grissom
Canadian communication theorist Marshall McLuhan coined the phrase “The medium is the message” in Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man in 1964. It has now become part of communications folklore. His original meaning had to do with whether a message was delivered in print, visually, musically, or through some other art form. The medium would determine how the message would be perceived. An everyday example is Christmas music playing in stores while people are shopping, which puts most in a good mood. It creates an emotion of joy and a desire to spend on loved ones. If Joy to the World was playing in your favorite department store in July, more than likely, shoppers would be repulsed. The calendar or context was an important part of the medium. A poem about love can reach a person quite powerfully where as a logical explanation or clinical approach could not. The medium as the message is also a valid observation when it comes to the gospel and its spread to the world.
One could even say McLuhan’s statement could be stripped of its adroitness and rewritten to say, “The method is the message.” My interest in this matter goes to another highly respected writer and thought leader, Dr. Robert Coleman and his little masterpiece, The Master Plan of Evangelism. The book has sold over 7 million copies to date since its publication in 1963. On page 21 of the book, under the chapter titled Selection, a little phrase was used that reveals the secret sauce Jesus used to spread his message. That jewel of a phrase is, “Men were his method.” An updated adjustment would be, “People were his method.” And I would adjust it a bit more and say, “People were his medium and, therefore, his message.” Now before I distort this phrase any more than I have from McLuhan, Coleman, and, of course, Jesus, let me get to it.
I was reading an article this morning in the Wall Street Journal about the growth of Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, Apple TV, and other streaming media companies during the 2020 pandemic. There has been an explosion in the industry created by a nation stuck at home. The rich have gotten richer while the poor have become poorer, but at least they have been entertained. The message is that the new and most widespread medium is on demand movies and entertainment. And the temptation is to conclude that if we want to reach the world then we must invest more time and energy in media over the internet. This conclusion, even though superficial, has some merit on some level. Religion via the media over the last fifty years has, I believe, been a net loss. For every good program, there have been many bad ones. It has been dominated by either the most bland, poorly produced, and cliché ridden presentations, or the pathological and bizarre displays of religious hubris that has turned the Christian faith into a circus without a tent. Yes, millions can be “reached”, but with what and for what purpose?
Recent research by the Barna Group has cited a steep decline in the American population identifying as Christian. They report that in the last decade those so identifying has declined from 50% of the population to 25%. That is a serious and alarming fall from grace for America. Competing pollsters may discover reasons to be critical of the finding, but in a general sense, this should tell us something quite clearly. If the medium is the message and that medium is primarily the media itself, the campaign has been an abysmal failure.
I don’t believe Christians should leave the media. In fact, I believe we should endeavor to engage in a divine conspiracy to infiltrate and influence it. But if we are to obey what Jesus told us to do, make disciples of all nations, then there is no substitute for the human being in the flesh. In other words, the gospel incarnated in the lives of his followers in direct contact with other humans. And part of getting that message is the reality that people are Jesus’ method, which is itself a message. The good news is that Jesus became a person, lived among other persons, taught them, loved them, rebuked them, challenged them, and suffered by their hand. In the end he said, “Father forgive them, they don’t know what they are doing.” As a resurrected King he left them with instructions and his example. The Acts of the Apostles tells us how they followed his example and how personal it all was through their lives.
This leads me to the quote from my friend, Daniel Grissom, at the top of this column:
“If the church could have solved their problem on their own, they would have.”
Daniel’s statement struck me as a clarion call for those of us who have been or are leaders in the church to be honest about our failures. Particularly about our chosen methods and the message our methods have sent to the general population. That church problem can be stated in so many ways, but let me be brief - we keep trying to reach the world without making disciples. By that I don’t mean that no person or church is attempting to make disciples. In fact, every church does make disciples, but often those disciples are inept, spiritually sterile, fearful, untrained, or simply trained to be good church members. By that I mean they can do “Christian chores” that the clergy assign. They end up, in 95% of cases, getting stuck with a stopped up ecclesial system that backs up on them, and behold how it stinks.
There is a way out! But most need three things.
A theological/gospel reform that reasserts the why of what they do.
A clear understanding for what. What is the church’s product? What kind of disciples are we to deploy into the world? They create conflict, they create coverts, they don’t assimilate, they penetrate.
Get clear on your product and then finally, have a plan. How will we get there? Most leaders need a guide to lead them through this process.
And in the end, that process of Why? What? How? is about transformed people. Those people are the method. They are the message that when people ask, “Where is God?”, the answer can be, he is sitting beside you in the form of a person who is his disciple.
