Batman is the Problem with The Church – Why Pastors Have to Stop Wanting To Be a Hero
The Church doesn’t need people to be Batman. It requires everybody to live out who and what they have been called to be. The Church requires a full mobilisation of its members, not only a select few heroes.
Batman is the problem with Gotham City. He is out there fighting crime, forcing criminals and super villains to become increasingly powerful and resourceful. And because he does not permanently remove the threat, they can always come back.
Batman Is Cause and Symptom
Batman is a symptom of Gotham’s problems, but he is also one of the causes. Because of him, people stop investing in the police. They accept the narrative that violence and force are the answer to problems in society. And ultimately, Batman becomes necessary to maintain the balance between crime and legality in the city.
Batman just ends up making everything in Gotham worse. But Bruce Wayne could actually change things. A multi-billionaire with huge social influence could completely change the city. He could fix education and public transport, fund universal healthcare, set up trusts and charities, provide debt relief, employ the unemployed and house the homeless.
Instead, he spends millions on military research, secret underground bunkers, and gadgets, vehicles, and suits. Bruce Wayne chooses to be Batman not because it genuinely makes a difference to the city, but because it allows him to accept his alter ego. Except Bruce Wayne ends up being the alter-ego, and Batman becomes the reality. Bruce Wayne enjoys being Batman because of how it makes him feel, because of the responsibility that comes with it, because he feels important, and because he feels he is actually making a personal difference.
Because of his personal bias and need for personal satisfaction, Bruce Wayne sacrifices the possible future of Gotham on the altar of his personality and need for personal fulfilment. Batman needs to retire, and Bruce Wayne needs to actually spend some money on Gotham and not on toys and cars.
Pastors Want To Be Heroes
The problem is actually the same for the church. People love being Batman, and no one wants to be Bruce Wayne. What do I mean? People put personal satisfaction above personal responsibility. For Bruce Wayne, that means becoming Batman and putting on a suit. For the church, that means coming to worship for what you get out of it, and then doing nothing for the rest of the week.
In the book I’m reading at the moment, there is a wonderful image about this. The author says to imagine a factory where 95% of the employees don’t actually do any work, just watch the other 5%. The factory would collapse pretty quickly. The same is true for the church. What happens when so few members of the church actually want to evangelise, engage in mission, pray for their neighbours, feed the hungry, or love the unloved is that the church eventually dies.
Why does this happen? Not just because some people don’t want to accept the responsibility that Christ demands of us. It is because our worship has become something that perpetuates and supports people’s desire for personal satisfaction over responsibility. The way we worship together on a Sunday makes it possible for us to live the other six days in a way that does not match the calling and responsibility of discipleship.
On Sunday, we feel a sense of belonging; we share together in songs and prayers; we have a chance to gossip and bitch about each other; and we are told that we are loved and valued. Maybe we’re given a challenge to try during the week, or we are called to repentance and mission, but there are no rewards for doing so and no consequences for ignoring it. We just go to church, get what we want out of it, feel vindicated in who we are, and so can carry on the rest of the week, ignoring what God is calling us to do. And we can do that because we have abdicated our responsibility to a selected few who are employed, ordained, or recruited as volunteers, so that we do not have to actually do the work of the Gospel.
We want to be Batman and take personal responsibility for getting things done. Or we want someone else to be Batman and do it for us. The thing is, God and the Chuch don’t need Batman. We need Bruce Wayne. We need people who are willing to act to change things, to work towards them, to give people a chance to participate and work together, and to use their resources, skills and talents to accomplish the task rather than making themselves into a hero.
When we want to be Batman —or want others to be Batman —we actually harm the Church. The Church doesn’t need heroes; it needs partners. It needs people willing to give their time and resources to its work. It needs people who are willing and eager to take personal responsibility for the work of the Gospel in helping others to know Jesus.
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