The Church Bubble
I’ve always been fascinated by the metaphor of living in a bubble. It’s not a literal bubble – with the obvious exception of the “bubble boy.” How does one describe it? It seems to be a cultural phenomenon without tactile boundaries. To “live in a bubble” is more of a state of mind than a state of geographical location.
We’ve all seen this at work within groups of people. Whether it be Hollywood celebrities or a community living in abject poverty, it seems the culture reinforces beliefs about itself that would never stand up in the wide world. Celebrities aren’t infallible gods and impoverished people aren’t utterly powerless. But for some reason, this invisible bubble seems to keep those beliefs alive. It’s an insidious feedback loop where the bubble perpetually reinvigorates the inhabitants’ state of mind. The groups develop insider language and a herd mentality. Often, the bubble encourages a serious us vs. them mentality – which often engenders fear (and occasionally hate) of outsiders.
This phenomenon most concerns me when it occurs in the Church. You know, the infamous Church bubble. Honestly, I think it is most prevalent within American Evangelical churches. Not that other faith traditions don’t fall prey to this, too. However, when the bubble is at work in Evangelical churches, it draws the believer into a sub-culture with behavioral expectations and insider language. Religious beliefs get reinforced, but are often mixed in with unwelcome influences like legalism, guilt, pressure to conform, and often a not-so-subtle us vs. them mentality.
Obvious examples of toxic bubbles include rigid communities that operate like cults. They demand absolute conformity externally and internally. Most churches aren’t like this – thankfully! However, a more subtle form of the bubble can manifest in even the best of churches. It’s a slight insulation from the world – tipping their hand to an assumption that God wants them to be completely separate - holy. Or maybe worse, God wants them to identify with a very specific political ideology and stand with the righteous underdogs in a war against dominions of darkness. Hence, the bubble has spiritual justification. The bubble is what keeps the faithful from being tainted by the outsiders. Us vs. them.
My estimation is that this kind of church bubble has some positive and negative ramifications. I’m sure many of my friends who serve in churches with a bubble would gladly explain the benefits. I, on the other hand, want to point out three simple downsides:
Awkward Welcome: As hard as the megachurches have worked on making their environments feel welcome, they can only go so far. They pour money into marketing, train teams of greeters, and give intentional effort to hospitality. However, they have something working against them: the bubble.
A bubble represents a shift in cultural environments like walking through a threshold into another realm. No matter how friendly the bubble is, it immediately sets the visitor at disease. Imagine going to a foreign country and being greeted by a smiling family. Their enthusiastic welcome feels nice, but it also feels off. Now that you have crossed the line into their cultural bubble, there is a gentle pressure to stay - and to conform. Eat what they eat, and don’t complain. Wear what they wear, and don’t ask questions. Talk like they talk, and don’t worry about the queasy feeling you get when their plastic smiles draw you deeper into their sphere. The question I have always wondered since I was a boy is this: “is it really loving to pressure someone else to be more like you?”
Evangelistic Amperage: We can try and fight the us vs. them mentality all day long by quoting Jesus’ “love your enemies,” but if the church culture is built on the understanding that we are guarding ourselves from the evils on the outside of our high walls of religion, than those efforts will likely end in futility.
Still, Evangelical churches will never give up on reaching out. It’s in their name. Evangelism is their culture. So despite the subtle us vs. them mentality, they reach out of their home base and attempt to connect with potential converts. This creates a tense dynamic.
People don’t feel free to simply engage in meaningful relationships. They feel an invisible urge to either shrink from conversations with non-Christians or they turn into brass salespeople driven by a moral obligation to “witness.” In short, they get weird. They literally don’t know how to talk about their faith because they’ve only been trained to think and talk about it with insiders. With bubble folk.
Wouldn’t it be much more effective (and biblical) if Christ followers engaged the world with no strings attached? Loved unconditionally? Conversed naturally and authentically? And what could hinder this goal more than training people to live bifurcated lives – one in the world, and one in the bubble?
Spiritual Superiority: I was at a church recently that is admirably inclusive. However, I heard multiple messages about the “specialness” of their community and how people cannot find this experience of belonging elsewhere. Honestly, it felt like the marketing tactic of creating psychological scarcity so that people would be afraid to leave.
This is the sort of sordid consequence of the bubble. The Us vs. Them mentality engenders self-aggrandizing - a unique mixture of egoic Kool-aid that we willingly drink…and encourage others to drink. Nothing feels better than feeling better than other people. When people are struggling with their sense of self-worth, the quickest way to gain compliance is to offer moral superiority. “We know the truth.” “We are Bible-believing.” “We are _______.” It’s the dirty secret of leadership. Most of it is actually just manipulation.
As you might guess, I hate the Church bubble. And while it takes energy and intentionality to dismantle it, the results are welcome. Now you can come to a gathering with your faith community and it feels no different than how you live your life at home, at work, while playing golf, or eating at a restaurant. And when you engage people, you don’t feel pressured to spout Bible verses or talk about your church. Your spirituality is just part of who you are. And if those topics do come up, you can talk about them without nervously gulping or relying on proselytizing sales tactics.
Bubbles make sense for children. They aren’t ready for the complex world, yet. However, I would hope adults might have the skills to venture outside the bubble and breath the air of the real world - God’s world. Be warned though, this might make it harder to create thoughtless mass of people who conform to a bunch of arbitrary rules.