I WAS A TEENAGE CHRISTIAN
Katy Brand. Soho Theatre. January
Katy Brand’s set from last year’s Edinburgh Festival will go on nationwide tour from May.
She shows, in a masterful display, the danger of church that does not make the gospel central. As a vulnerable 13-year-old she is evangelised into a local church in which charismatic gifts are prominent and the worship band central. She is drawn into a world of worship services, youth meetings, festivals and activity. She desperately wants to be part of those seen as the movers and shakers in the church and is told she has the gift of prophecy.
All this makes her confident and happy, but she is not prepared by the leadership – which comes across as bizarre – for making her way as a young Christian in this world. Indeed, the lack of any mention of repentance, baptism and faith in Christ makes one wonder if she had ever heard the gospel. Worse still, she is told not to ask questions about her faith. The first Harry Potter book is dismissed by the leaders as occultic and needs banning, rather than being a helpful opportunity to analyse a cultural phenomenon from a Christian perspective. When she wishes to go and study Theology she is fed stories of the many who lose their faith doing so.
The final disillusioning experience comes at a summer festival and involves an attempted exorcism, where she conjures up an experience of speaking in tongues, although she did not have the gift. This finally empties her of commitment.
Losing her faith
Her departure is similar to those who leave cults behind as she heads off to university to ‘lose her faith’. Her experience reminded me Is God Still an of Cole Moreton’s book Englishman, where he shows how experience-soaked Christianity has led many into disillusion with the church because it cannot keep repeating the spectacular (Matthew 7.21-23).
If the show comes near you, go and see it, pray for Katy, but weep at the neglect of biblical discipleship in our day.
