What Steve Martin taught me about the future of church
Re-thinking the system that brings us to joy
A ‘wild and crazy guy’. An plastic arrow through the head. ‘Happy feet’.
I’m old enough to remember Steve Martin when he was the most successful standup comedian in history. Then he went on to star in 50 movies. I was watching a documentary about his life, and even though I certainly know who he is (I’m a huge fan of ‘Only Murders in the Building’), I don’t think I ever really appreciated his genius before.
The documentary is in two parts - because that’s how long his career has been! - and the first part really riveted me. Because it goes to great lengths to show that Martin didn’t just want to be a comedian - he was obsessed with what made things funny.
And with how to re-imagine this.
When he first started in comedy in the 1960s, standup comedy followed a very particular pattern:
Setup — > Punchline — > Laughter
The setup was some kind of story, with tension:
A Roman Catholic priest, an Episcopal priest, and a rabbi, walk into a bar. Suddenly, the place is struck by lightning, and they all die and go to heaven.The rabbi gets to the pearly gates first, and says to St. Peter: ‘I’m a good man and I have led a good life - I should definitely get into heaven’.
Peter says, ‘I’m sorry, Rabbi, but you were eating pork. I can’t let you in’ - and off he goes to hell.
The Catholic priest says to Peter, ‘I’m also a good man who has led a good life, and I’m not obligated to follow the dietary restrictions of the Old Testaments, so I should definitely get into heaven’.
Peter says, ‘I’m sorry, Father, but it’s Friday’. And he goes, too.
Finally, the Episcopal priest gets to St. Peter, and she says, ‘Look - I’m also a good person, and none of those restrictions apply to me. I should most certainly let me into heaven.’The punchline is the unexpected twist:
’I wish I could’, sighed Peter.
’But you were using the wrong fork’.Laughter follows naturally.
Or at least it should! Not all punchlines ‘land’ - nor does everyone share Episcopalian humor like I do 😀
Martin could see that times were changing, and didn’t think the 60s-style jokes were going to work with audiences of the future. So he spent decades figuring out the essence of what makes people laugh.
And eventually, he came up with a new way.
He did away with the punchline. He didn’t tell stories. He did silly things, he played his banjo, he ad libbed, he went out in the audience. He brought everyone in on the joke, and gave people permission to laugh just for the sake of it.
He immersed himself - and others - in joy.
He took himself out of the box of what ‘comedy’ looks like - and focused on what the outcome is.
I was mesmerized by the documentary - and by Steve Martin’s relentless quest to find new ways to bring joy into people’s lives - because I share this quest.
I’m in no way comparing myself to his genius - but I am comparing my calling to his.
Because I feel the same way about church.
I can see that there is a system that is no longer working:
Building —> Clergy —> Programs —> People grow closer to God
The building is where everything happens
Members go to the church building to participate in worship and programs. Clergy work mostly in buildings, and every building has one (some are lucky enough to have more than one).The clergy are connected to one congregation at a time
Clergy are devoted (and paid) to lead worship and programs, and spiritually care for the members of one congregation at a time (they serve for a time in one place, then move to another, or retire). Their ministry is the ministry of the place (“I’m the rector of St. Paul’s”).Programs are ‘in-house’ ways to grow in faith
Clergy and lay leaders oversee and create programs, along with worship, prayer, and spiritual care, all ‘in-house’: a Christian formation program, and music program, a prayer team, etc. Members rarely leave a congregation - unless they move away, or there is some kind of conflict.People grow closer to God by belonging and participating
What members learn about the Christian faith - and how they participate in it - is almost exclusively determined by their participation as members of one congregation. A single clergy person can have a huge impact on members’ lives.
The ultimate goal is a place where members are surrounded by the rituals and practices of their faith - and through these, knowing the love of God - from birth to death. Surrounded by a similar community of believers.
It’s about the experience of joy.
This system was so successful for awhile, that there are congregations built on this model everywhere.
Most people who belong to congregations belong to only one, so there are big churches and small - self-contained systems of sharing the faith - right alongside each other, even if each is very small.
Cities contain multiple churches on one block. I know a small town in North Carolina - population 500 - that has 3 Episcopal churches in it. Not to mention those of every other denominations.
Over the decades, this has become unsustainable.
Congregations become so small they can’t afford clergy full time. They can’t sustain programs and worship. Clergy must serve more than one congregation to make ends meet - or work secular jobs alongside their ministry.
And we live in a new age.
People frequently belong to more than one congregation. They also, they get a lot of information outside the ‘system’: they listen to podcasts, read books, belong to online and in-person Bible studies, visit spiritual directors, go on retreats. Many of these are not part of a specific congregation’s set of programs and worship.
People go to church a lot less.
For lots of reasons, but one is this: faith formation happens in multiple ways now. People find the joy of following Jesus and experiencing the love of God in different ways.
Clergy - and professional lay ministers - are also finding new ways of sharing the Gospel.
Many ministers have side-gigs (and full-time ministry!) as authors, teachers, podcasters, spiritual directors, bloggers, artists, musicians, social media influencers, retreat leaders, etc.
This is where the innovation is.
This is where I see the pivot point - a twist on the church ‘system’ where we can immerse ourselves - and others - in joy.
This moment - the one we’re in! - is the chance to bust out of the building with the Gospel. Then bring it back in.
We’re already doing it, actually - it’s growing all the time.
All we need to do now is do it on purpose:
bring church to people, and bring people back to church (though not necessarily in a building).
In new ways, different configurations, but in the service of the same thing: more JOY, more Good News, more people growing in their relationship with God.
How?
The building is NOT where everything happens.
Church buildings - sacred spaces - are still very important. They become the place where sacraments and worship happen, mostly on Sundays.
They are beautiful symbols of the sacred in the life of the community.
People still gather there for spiritual events like weddings, funerals, and can be rented out to the community when not being used by the congregation. They can also be rented out to innovative ministries gathering during the week (like non-denominational Bible studies rent church spaces on Wednesday nights, for instance).
Most worshiping communities are small, and intend to be.
The clergy are NOT connected to one congregation at a time.
Most clergy already serve part-time (or they’re paid part-time, anyway). It becomes expected that clergy serve more than one community.
Some communities are worship communities connected to a building - some are online (or in-person) communities connected with innovative ministry.
Clergy (and other ministers) are already building online communities around their writing, podcasts, music, etc. They can start bringing these communities together - expanding ministry beyond the walls of the church (and outside the system).
Innovative ministries are how we grow in faith.
In the old church system, every clergy person (and lay leader) had to produce, develop, and lead the programs that helped foster members’ spiritual growth. They had to keep track of the spiritual journeys and life events of everyone. They had to be at every worship service, leading most of the parts.
Today, with so many ministry ‘specialists’, we can consciously ‘outsource’ some of the ministry to those who focus on it.
For instance, members of a congregation can all take the same online Bible study, and meet together in-person to discuss it.
The minister creating the Bible study can reach people across congregations (and beyond congregations), and the clergy person serving the community can mostly focus on worship and spiritual care.
They can even be the SAME clergy person!
We can go farther than ‘outsourcing’, actually - we can start to see how ministry travels back and forth beyond the walls of the church. And the membership of the congregation.
In fact, ‘membership’ takes on a whole new meaning…
People grow closer to God by belonging and participating
This is still true. The basics of the faith are still the same - and growing in faith is still the goal.
But ’Membership’ has many different meanings.
Members of congregations still gather in person - in the building - for worship and sacrament.
A different set of members may be part of the online Bible study - which overlaps with the membership of the congregation, and other congregations.
A different set of members may subscribe to a church’s blog, or watch their worship online, but never come to church in person. They may not even live locally.
And so on. Real networks of faith practice and formation can take place, organically or intentionally.
The innovation is already happening. We can find ways of making it happen on purpose - and in mutually sustainable ways.
Like…
Congregations can pay their clergy to spend some of their time developing innovative ministries - even if it’s not specifically for that congregation!
Some members of the congregation may listen to the minister’s podcast (for example) - but it reaches beyond the building and grows a community outside the church.
Congregations move beyond ‘this is our pastor, all his work is for us’ - to the idea that they are sharing the Gospel by supporting this work that builds community elsewhere, too.
Congregations (dioceses, denominations seminaries…) contract with ‘Cage Free’ ministers who provide formation, spiritual direction/counsel, technology assistance (like digital administration/finance), Bible resources, preaching, discipleship, etc. This way, all the Programs don’t have to be produced ‘in-house’ (which is a burden on lots of communities).
Instead of having an extra ‘half-time’ minister, congregations can contract with multiple ministry companions - each of whom is also working with other congregations/institutions, and/or their own digital or in-person ministry.
Clergy (and professional lay ministers) can specialize as ‘faith practitioners’ - teachers, writers, theologians, musicians, artists, etc. - who share their work in different places.
Clergy can serve one (or more) ‘worship and sacrament’ Sunday communities, serving their own ‘cage free’ ministries during the week.
There are so many ways this new kind of networked ministry can grow the church - and sustain ministers as they do their own re-imagination of how to share more Good News in more places and ways.
Ministry —> People —> the love of God —> JOY
Bringing the love of God more fully into a world that so desperately needs it right now.
At Free Range Priest, we’re reimagining ministry in the digital age.
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Hi Cathie,Your reflections on Steve Martin’s journey and finding joy in the ordinary really struck a chord—such a refreshing perspective on faith and life’s surprises. It made me think of the bigger battles our faith communities face, like the sobering warning “First the Saturday people, then the Sunday people,” which points to the threats against our Judeo-Christian roots. I just wrote this piece exploring why supporting Israel is vital to protecting these shared values. It’s a brief, compelling read. If it speaks to you, please consider subscribing for more!https://sleuthfox.substack.com/p/first-the-saturday-people-then-the
I love every bit of this, agree and am shifting my ministry strategy similarly!!!
Also, I too am inspired by and feel similarities to comedians, their craft and their approach to reach and evoke a response.
Nate Bargatze has created a community of his fans, making stadiums full feel like home.
I wrote about it here: https://open.substack.com/pub/theainc/p/whos-leading-you?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=46z5tq