Before I reply, I should begin by again affirming that I am not for a moment accusing the PCRT of all these faults, much less the speakers at it. it’s just that there was a sense of some of this there that has made me reflect more on the way we tend to do conferences and why we do them in the first place. its too easy to use a blog to havea go and offer a criticism from the sidelines. That’s not what I am trying to do.

However, I think you are right, scale is not the important thing. What matters is a simplicity that reflects the centrality of the cross and allows the gospel to come to the fore, not just in the themes we address and the manner in which they are addressed, but in the whole atmosphere and style of the music, the singing, the venue, the language of the speakers the agenda of the conferences, the avoidance of the cult of celebrity etc.

It is too easy to want to be impressive. I struggled with the PCRT (compared, say, to Twin Lakes- which was excellent on this point) because, while the preaching certainly was cruciform in content, the conference itself didnt feel that way to me. My problem is that the cynic in me wonders how many folks today would be attracted to an event that reflected the cross in its style as well as its message. Such an event wouldnt seek to wow us with grandiose music. It wouldnt seek to pack em in by getting the hottest stars in our reformed firmament, merely because they are ‘names’. It would focus on the sung praise of the people of God, the clear exposition of the Word of God, and keep all urges to ostentation and grandiloquence thoroughly supressed.

But how very dull! The cross remains an offence and a stumbling block and we are constantly driven to help cross shaped church life along with a few finishing touches of our own. As reformed folks, we’re great at bashing seeker sensitive churches for overlooking the expository preaching of texts of scripture in favour of pyrotechnics and gimickry. We’re proud that we focus on the preaching of the word and the ordinary means. But we reformed can, I fear, fall into the very same trap even while rightly focussing on preaching and the ordinary means by insisting on packaging them in a certain way- with an impressive, wow-factor presentation, all be it with a classical rather than a CCM flavour. When we ‘glam up’ our ordinary means ministry we fall foul of the same criticism we level at the seeker sensitive guy. I am pleading for a return to cross shaped ministry as well as cross centred preaching. The Puritans talked about the ‘plain style’. That is what I think we need to recover, and what the cult of celebrity is in danger of obscuring.

it doesnt mean we should put up with artistic mediocrity or aesthetic claptrap. We should pursue excellence. But excellence needs restrains. Our praise and our language and the ethos we develop all must serve and reflect the cross. We want people to be in awe of God for the sake of the gospel of Jesus Christ, not the choir, the organ or, dare I say it, the band, not the Latin I know or the jokes I crack. My communication skills must be subservient to the message I communicate. I dont want reformed groupies looking for my autograph on the dust jacket of my latest book. I don’t want to be a name that pulls em in at a conference. I want Christ and him crucified to pack em in and send em out.

And, just to demonstrate the prevalence of the very demons I seek to exorcise, as I write this I am moved to say, if only that last were more true of me!