In this episode, Ricky and Ben explore the influence of aesthetics, vibes, and tradition in church culture, emphasizing the importance of truth and biblical fidelity over superficial appeal. They discuss trends in church architecture, worship styles, and theological shifts, offering cautionary insights for believers navigating these cultural currents.
The Clash Vs. Podcast is available on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts.
All of us face the temptation to pick our church, our stream of Christianity, and our Christian channels based on vibes instead of truth. A recent small but growing move from low-church to high-church traditions illustrates this. No one is immune from vibe-based Christianity.
In the last few years I’ve noticed a small but clear trend: Christians from my world gravitating to older church traditions like Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, and high-church traditions like Anglicanism. One is the cool, youngish owner of a coffee shop. Another is a gifted musician. Another is a former sports influencer. They would all say they’re making these moves because their beliefs changed. I’m not so sure, or at least I’d raise a flag of caution.
In similar news, the latest church design trend is the old, historic church. Megachurches were once designed to look like the opposite of a church and could easily be mistaken for a shopping mall or music venue. People today want bell towers, stained glass, smells and bells, and high arches.
Last, in an age of AI, people are gravitating back to the old. People don’t want to read on screens, and physical book sales are up again. Even fashion influencers are using books as props in photo shoots. People want historicity and realness.
The vibes, as they say, have shifted.
But the danger is that when the vibes shift, sometimes our theology shifts along with it.
Veteran of the Worship Wars (i.e., the Vibe Wars)
In the 90s, as I began playing worship music, a war broke out around it. The “worship wars” pitted traditionalists, who wanted piano, organ, and hymns, against musicians wielding electric guitars and playing (gasp) drum kits. Churches split into traditional and contemporary services, and often split entirely into different churches.
Today, it seems strange but it’s a cautionary tale, because if you had dropped into one of those conflicts, you would not have heard people arguing about drums. On one side, you’d have heard people arguing for the value of mission: we must use contemporary tools to reach the world in our day, and being out of touch meant we didn’t care about the dying world around us. On the other side, you’d have heard people arguing for the value of tradition and warning against compromise: there were traditions in church history worth holding on to, and the church should never chase the world’s patterns or forms.
Yet in the end, I think much of what fueled those fights was subjective preference. Or, to use our modern language, “vibes.”
There’s a great paraphrase of Thomas Cranmer that goes like this: What the heart wants, the will chooses, and the mind justifies. In other words, sometimes we’ll like something and gravitate tow
The Vulnerability
Today people arguing for high church are arguing for historicity (we need to be connected to history), longevity (we need grounded denominations and churches), and beauty (we should add beauty to our faith and its traditions). But none of them are a primary reason to leave your church.
Those most vulnerable may be the artistic among us,like me.. Every personality has its own vulnerabilities, and this may well be ours. We’re unlikely to be in danger of angry theological diatribes on finer points of doctrine (thank goodness). But we are likely to be led by our artistic sensibilities into areas that are unsafe or unhelpful.
Now, there may well be particular truth-oriented reasons people are attracted to certain traditions. But let me be frank: I think very few people who grew up in evangelical churches have converted to Catholicism after a detailed study of transubstantiation or a well-reasoned argument for Rome’s view of Mary. Nor are most converting to Eastern Orthodoxy out of a passionate rejection of the filioque clause in the Nicene Creed.
Instead, I would venture to say there’s been a vibe shift,not all of it bad.
In an age of lite evangelical theology, people crave substance.
In an age of disposable plastic and ephemeral life, people crave history and a connection to it.
In an age of constant screens and ads, people want reality.
But vibes aren’t substance.
Church design isn’t a reason to leave your church.
A love for the smells and bells of high church isn’t a reason to change your theology.
This Isn’t Just About Worship Spaces
This vibes-based orientation applies more broadly as well:
The devotionals we read or listen to. Are we driven more by the aesthetics than by the content? There are some really cool-looking and cool-sounding devotionals out there, and I’m over here with the long-dead Spurgeon for the tenth year in a row.
The Christian podcasters and influencers we follow. Are we driven more by relating to the teacher and their style than by their presentation of truth? I sometimes wish the preachers at my church were bold and intense like Josh Howerton or Matt Chandler, but they’re mostly normal guys trying their best.
The books we read. Are we driven more by style than by substance? I once saw a gorgeously laid-out devotional, looked up the author, and saw red flags, but I wanted it anyway. (It looked so cool!)
The worship music we sing. Are we driven more by emotion than by truth? I know a pastor who jokes about a “guilty worship pleasures” list of songs you really shouldn’t like, and if I’m honest, I could probably come up with a list of my own.
The Fight for Theological Foundations in an Age of Vibes
Ephesians 4:14 gives the goal of Christian formation: to be mature and grounded enough “so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.” That’s the danger.
Here is the antidote, from 2 Timothy 1:13: “Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.”
I’m all for beauty, historicity, and tradition staying in the car as we drive down the highway. I’m all for aesthetics that amplify the truth. I just don’t think they should be driving. What should?
1) Our Statement of Faith: what the church believes. I love La Sagrada Familia, and seeing it was awe-inspiring. But the theology of Rome is full of error, and I’ll never convert. Jude 3 presses the necessity of a defined body of faithful teaching, and of contending and clinging for it: “Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.”
2) Our clear preaching of the gospel and the Word. I love a big, chunky, historic pulpit. I love a Puritan-style staircase leading up to it. I love southern preaching like H.B. Charles Jr.’s. But I would rather hear clear, honest preaching of the gospel and exposition of the Word than go to a church where I vibe better with the preacher. As Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 1:17, “Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.”
3) Our honest pursuit of the basics of the Christian life. I love a high ceiling with clear, beautiful buttresses. But I’m much more concerned with whether the people who worship under that roof honestly try to live out the teaching of the Bible in genuine Christian community. If I’ve found such a place, I won’t be easily dislodged. You’re looking for a James 1:22 place, where people strive to “be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.”
The Future Wars To Be Fought
I don’t know where the vibe will shift in 5, 10, or 20 years. But I do know it will shift.
There is a real fight in our generation: the fight for gospel truth. That’s the fight.
Do not spend your time fighting for the wrong thing.
Find a Statement of Faith that will anchor you.
Find a church that sings true songs and a preacher who will give you the Word clearly.
Find a group of people genuinely trying to live out the gospel.
Then stay. Sing. Pray. Listen. Invite. Repent. Lead. Grow. Age. Die well.
For when you stand before the Lord and give an account of your life, Jesus won’t judge your Christian life on vibes.
Neither should you.