Long form content by Stewart Perry

I haven’t really made any New Year’s resolutions this year, I rarely make them to be honest. What I sometimes do is make some conscious intentions… & New Year’s Day doesn’t need to be the catalyst for me to do that. Towards the end of last year I realised I had a stack of unused credits on my Audible account. Confession time: I’m not great at reading books for relaxation, reflection & learning. When I read the “old fashioned way” it’s generally for a purpose, to prepare a sermon, to research a topic - reading feels like work to me but some years ago I tried audio books & they really seem to work with my pattern of life & personality.

I went through a phase of reading/listening to lots of books but more recently that’s dropped off & I was listening more & more to podcasts for inspiration, relaxation & entertainment. So I’ve made a conscious intention to read or at least listen to more books. I’m already onto my second book for the year. If you’re looking for a recommendation “All Things New” by Pete Hughes was great! 

Books & audiobooks are a bit counter-cultural in our world today where “short form” information & entertainment dominates. While I’ll be unlikely to read a whole newspaper, I will scan the headlines & read the articles that stand out that interest me. Instead of watching a movie, we’ll watch a YouTube, Instagram, Facebook or Tik Tok video because it’s short & to the point.

Recently our government has started to regulate these platforms because they can be really unhealthy, especially for the young. Our desire for short form content can also be unhealthy for us who are older as well.

I remember when my daughter first started using her pocket money to buy music I was horrified that she would only buy a song from one artist & then another song from another artist. She thought it was a stupid idea to buy an album - how would she know if she’d like all the songs on an album if she hadn’t heard them before.

My argument was that an album tells a story & it’s not just about all the songs being played on the radio - you go on a journey with the artist from the energetic to the reflective ,from the profound to the frivolous. Without an album you don’t get the full picture of who the artist is. My logic did not convince the 11 year old at that time & she continued to buy one song here & one song there.

We do live in a short form content world but the church is all about long form content because God is not just about the long term, God is about the eternal. 

Some church’s can fall into the trap of trying to mimic culture to attract new members but what we are starting to see in recent years are people who are drawn to the church because it is not like the world. 

It is so easy for our church & our Christian life to be short form… we seek the sermons we connect to, the songs we like, the communities that make us feel good. Church & Christian life becomes like what we see in our world, the search for the sugar rush or that exhilarating feeling. Where God wants to form us most is in the journey.

It’s been fascinating that “binge” watching has become a phenomenon with younger generations. I grew up in a generation where you had to wait each week to watch your favourite show & if you weren’t home or had something on you just missed that episode. You could buy video tapes of a whole series but they were really expensive. These days it’s not unusual to hear someone say that they watched a whole series in one sitting.

Last week I mentioned that we are launching into a new & exciting season… it won’t be on video tape & it will be accessible to all… but don’t be surprised if there are those who will come & join us & want to “binge” on faith… Don’t we already know that the world without a relationship with God leaves a person unsatisfied? So why should it surprise us if when they discover or start to explore the idea of God that some will find it so compelling that they want to take it all in at once.

This is going to change who we are as church. It should at least. No longer can we say - well see you same time next week. We have to resource them, support them, mentor & disciple them… but how do we do that if we’ve just become use to short-form Christianity… it’s time for us to recognise the value of the journey again… to let God into every facet of our life.
We cannot lead another to a place where we aren’t prepared to go ourselves… those new to our communities are going to need people who know the story, & are living the story.

To quote Pete Hughes at the end of the book I just finished - our role is “to live in the story, to live out the story, to enjoy relationship with the author, to partner with his purpose to make all things new”.

It will be so much easier to welcome people into the story if we are living it out..