Christian Nerds Unite! August 31, 2009
Posted by Dan R. Dick in Church Leadership, Pastoral Ministry, Personal Reflection.Tags: Church Leadership, Cultural icons
15 comments
Until a few years ago, I hid a shameful secret. I read comic books. Oh, sure, when found out by others I would try to ennoble my guilty pleasure by calling them “graphic novels,” but the honest truth is I love immersing myself in the Marvel and DC universes whenever I can. The reason I am no longer secretive or ashamed is simple: I am not alone. I have been amazed to find out that a large number of clergy and laity leaders in our church are comic book nerds JUST LIKE ME! For many church leaders, Spider-Man, Batman, Wolverine, Spawn, and Wonder Woman provide as much inspiration (if not more) than Wesley, Borg, Wright, and Warren. (Though some seem to think that Rick Warren wears tights, a cape, and can fly…)
At a gathering of young pastors in 2005, I asked over 100 men and women under the age of thirty about their leisure pursuits. Not surprisingly, almost everyone named listening to music as a leisure pursuit, but what I found interesting was the number of pastors who read comics, science fiction, and fantasy (and watch films of the same types). Better than 8-out-of-10 read some form of comic/graphic novel on a regular basis. When I shared this information with a district clergy gathering (of mainly 50+ year-olds) I was surprised to find that about 60% of that crowd indulged in comics or fantasy. Add in the Harry Potter/Twilight phenomena and the number goes even higher. It is surreal to sit at table with a bunch of fellow-greying haired contemporaries talking about Green Lantern, the X-Men, Daredevil and Hellboy. Even darker titles like Preacher, 100 Bullets, Y: The Last Man, and The Walking Dead have a solid audience in religious leaders circles. Like me, most of the other pastors — both male and female — I have spoken with keep comic reading to themselves as a “dirty little secret.” “I would literally die of shame,” shared one woman, “if my parishioners knew I read comics.”
