Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Careers, Workplace and Religion
Why Are There So Few Mainline Celebrities?

Why Are There So Few Mainline Celebrities?

Last updated on: June 8, 2017 at 7:05 pm by Guest Contributor

Why Are There So Few Mainline Celebrities? 2017-06-08T19:05:14-05:00 Guest Contributor

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

LA6G5137 President George W. Bush and Mrs. Laura Bush are seen during a prayer holding hands with former President Bill Clinton, right, and Rev. Robert Schuller, left, at the homegoing celebration for Coretta Scott King, Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2006 at the New Birth Missionary Church in Atlanta, Ga. White House Photo by Eric Draper

The chilly relationship between mainline Protestantism and the popular marketplace has become a stable feature of the former’s self-understanding. Reprinted from Faith&Leadership.

By Kate Bowler

Millions of Americans once tuned in to see Will Willimon preach at the Crystal Cathedral for the “Hour of Power,” one of the most prominent Christian programs at the height of the televangelism era and an icon of modern faith. They watched him ascend one of the most famous pulpits in the country, clear his throat and gravely thank the host, the always-smiling Robert Schuller.

It was a bizarre little piece of theater, which Willimon was loath to do, because Schuller wasn’t even there. The famously showboating host had other places to be, and Willimon was required to thank an empty chair. Later, Arvella Schuller (Mrs. Robert Schuller) would splice in video of Schuller nodding sagely in acknowledgment.

“But you’re famous, Will!” I protested when he told me.

“I’m not famous,” he said wryly. “I’m mainline famous.”

Willimon is the author of 70 books who has lived many lives — as a bishop, a preaching professor, an editor-at-large of The Christian Century and the dean of Duke Chapel. He has dined with Billy Graham and Desmond Tutu. Willimon is a household name in the United Methodist Church. And he is right.

No one seems to call anyone famous in the mainline church.

As a historian of the largest churches and ministries, I have been grappling with this conundrum: why are there so few mainline celebrities? And when I find them, why don’t they want to be called celebrities?

I have spreadsheets of the largest mainline churches in every denomination — Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian, Episcopal and so on. Even with plenty of mainline megachurches, there are few familiar names among them. Today’s era of increased concentration of people in big churches is not necessarily creating the same model of self-promotional leadership that has made Joel Osteen or Steven Furtick into recognizable faces.

I recently spoke to a young pastor of a Presbyterian megachurch about the advantages of becoming a star.

“I am not interested in becoming a celebrity,” he said. “Even that word makes my skin crawl.”

Mainliners did not always feel that way, especially about one of the most important vehicles for fame: television. Mainline preachers had been staples of religious television in the postwar period until the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) changed the rules that subsidized their airtime in the 1960s and 1970s.

It was religious conservatives who outbid them in the years that followed, willing to pay higher and higher prices for the exposure that television would bring. Gradually, televangelism became equated with a certain kind of theology — a form of Pentecostalism known as the “prosperity gospel” for its assurances that health and wealth would come to any righteous believer.

All the largest Christian television networks were owned by prosperity preachers (except, of course, the Catholic network owned by an unforgettable entrepreneurial nun in Alabama named Mother Angelica). Televangelism was thought to be slick, credulous and fun, while mainline culture still sought to be unvarnished, respectable and serious. Not to mention that no mainline pastor would dare to imitate Jim Bakker’s powder-blue suits — not even to jazz up the Easter morning breakfast.

Anyone who has ever seen a Catholic priest break out his guitar to sing “On Eagle’s Wings” knows that every American religious tradition has cultural episodes of trying to appear more relevant. But the chilly relationship between mainline Protestantism and the popular marketplace has become a stable feature of the mainline’s self-understanding. The more that evangelicals and Pentecostals dominate megachurches, television, publishing and almost any other means of gaining fame, the more that mainline pastors seem disinclined to enter the fray.

There are many good reasons for the mainline concern about the trappings of celebrity. The model of charismatic leadership embodied in most megachurches has raised questions about the effects of allowing the standards of the entertainment industry to dominate church life. Mainline megachurches are also wary of the pitfalls of limited governance that can lead churches to stuff their boards with friends and family members.

Perhaps the deeper ambivalence in historic Protestant denominations is also about what it would mean to try again and perhaps fail. The popular marketplace is dominated by those who master new media and know how to use a hashtag. It is ruled by “pastorpreneurs” who are willing to forgo a little decorum if it means bigger audiences. It relies on skills that are not typically encouraged in seminaries or built into pastoral calls. There is a little bit of pride that must be set aside to join the people who are willing to be both a pastor and a brand.

Sometimes, being mainline famous means you must be willing to climb into an unusual pulpit, stare into an empty seat and thank it for being there.

Kate Bowler is assistant professor of the history of Christianity in North America at Duke. Her first book, “Blessed: A History of the American Prosperity Gospel” (Oxford, 2013), traced the rise of Christian belief in divine promises of health, wealth and happiness. She researched and traveled Canada and the United States interviewing megachurch leaders and everyday believers about how they make spiritual meaning of the good or bad in their lives. She has written widely in scholarly journals such as Religion and American Culture and popular venues such as CNN, The Huffington Post, and The Globe and Mail on topics ranging from the prosperity gospel’s music, gender politics, economics and political theologies to its racial and denominational differences.

Image: public domain, White House photo

Previous Post

June 2, 2017

Entrepreneurship and Escaping Ennui

Next Post

June 16, 2017 We Have to Dare to Preach the Gospel

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Art Audio posts Bible and Work Book Review Books Budgeting Calling Common Good Community Development Conferences Discipleship Economics Entrepreneurship Ethics Faith and Family Faith and the Marketplace Faith and the Workplace faith and work History of Work and Vocation Leadership Local Church Meaning New Blogger News Prayer Relationships Seminaries Theology of Work Uncategorized Video posts Vocation Worship Resources

Select a Month April 2026 October 2025 September 2025 July 2025 April 2025 January 2025 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 May 2024 March 2024 February 2024 December 2023 November 2023 August 2023 July 2023 April 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 May 2022 April 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 June 2021 May 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 January 2020 December 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 April 2018 March 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

How many stones did David take to fight Goliath?

Select your answer to see how you score.

3 7 4 5