The sound of rebellion: Rock 'n' roll, the gospel and the movement the church needs

Rock and roll didn't come from nowhere. It came from the blues, which came from the gospel songs sung in the fields during slavery. It crossed the Atlantic, bounced off post-war England, came back to America even bigger, and kept evolving and Led Zeppelin turned it into something visceral and enormous and still traceable back to its roots.

Joel, Stu and Tim are continuing the movements conversation. This week the thread runs from the Blitz to the Beatles to the Sex Pistols to the question every church leader needs to sit with: when does contextualising the gospel become syncretising it? And how does the church remain a movement without losing the gospel?

Stu's honours thesis on the social implications of strategic bombing. Tim's contextualization sessions at YouthWorks Conference. Christopher Watkins on flour in a baked cake. John Stott on hippies looking for all the right things in the wrong places. And Ecclesiastes 3:11 — God has put eternity in the hearts of men.

Discussed on this episode
Becoming Led Zeppelin
Christopher Watkins - Biblical Critical Theory
Pete Ward - Liquid Church
Adam Smith - Four Stages of Society
Chess Records

Previous episodes in this series:

New Wine, Old Wineskins
From Consumer to Contributor

Timestamps

00:00 Welcome — Led Zeppelin documentary and favourite songs
04:00 Stu's honours thesis — the Blitz and strategic bombing
07:00 How Britain baited Hitler into the Blitz
10:00 Post-war America and the roots of teenage rebellion
13:00 Blues, rhythm and blues, rock and roll — the gospel root
16:00 Port cities as the internet — records crossing the Atlantic
18:00 The transatlantic bounce — Beatles, punk and amplification
20:00 Tim's bridge — contextualisation and why the gospel travels
23:00 Flour in a baked cake — Christopher Watkins
25:00 The missionary who wouldn't baptise until they learned to farm
27:00 The Scottish Enlightenment and how it corrupted the mission
29:00 Rock and roll as syncretism
31:00 The Reformation as movement
33:00 Friendship ecclesiology — contextualisation not export
35:00 Can the church preempt a movement?
38:00 Pete Ward — being with people where they are
40:00 Ecclesiastes 3:11 and John Stott on hippies

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Thinking and doing church a little differently...