Celebrities or Heroes

 Heroes or Celebrities 

 

Is it possible we have dropped the concept of heroes and now have celebrities in the church?

 

Joseph Hellerman in his book When the Church Was a Family, draws the following distinction.





 

Heroes:

These are people of the faith that lead the charge.  They are people we want to emulate.  We want to follow them—but more—we want to be like them.  Think of kids who play hockey.  If they are playing ball hockey, they wear their heroes’ sweater because the kid wants to be Austin Matthews the second. 

 

Celebrities:

These are people we are not capable of being—we “try to live our live through them” according to Hellerman.  “We do not emulate the character qualities of celebrities.  We cannot hope to be like them” (Hellerman, 2009, p 192).  Maybe we even -- kind of -- worship them?  We even buy all their books, listen to all their podcasts, and send them all our money!

 

Okay ready?


Is there a tendency in our church culture to see a person and say: ‘Wow I could do that!  I’m going to ask for help!  Training.  Equipping.  That person is serving God faithfully and is a great example—I could do that!’  Or are we more prone to say, ‘Wow!  Isn’t that person wonderful!  Gifted!  I could never do anything like that!  Let me just sit and watch them in action!  They are so wonderful!’

 

Again, to quote Hellerman, are we now suffering from ‘celebrity-ism’?

 

The end results?  If we have heroes—we are working, trying, seeking, we are doing something.  If we have celebrities we sit and watch, and watch, and watch…and admire.

 

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