Letter from Charlie Lowell of Jars of Clay answering some important questions from fans.
We are aware that some of you are concerned about our live show and our lack of "preaching" or testimonial. I would like to address some of these issues in the hopes that you would understand more clearly the vision that Jars has been given, so that we can better support each other. Let us make it our collective goal to further the Kingdom of God and to glorify Christ.
We are thankful that you have concerns about Jars' effectiveness and care enough to take time to email and ask questions. Jars of Clay certainly has made many mistakes over the last 5 years and we will not even attempt to justify all of our actions and decisions. In fact, it is through our often
foolishness that we are once again humbled and reminded that it is only in our weakness that God can fully use us. We know that not everyone will understand and support our vision, but it is our hope that you would pray about these issues.I will first address the issue of no altar calls or preaching at a Jars show. We have never felt comfortable stopping our show to give an invitation to Christ. This is certainly not because we are ashamed of our faith. The message of the gospels is communicated best through our songs that the Lord has given us. "Love Song for a Savior" is a simple song of worship and desire to love Christ more dearly. "Unforgetful You" addresses our wandering, unthankful hearts in the midst of God's unchanging, unswerving love and grace. "Worlds Apart" is a prayer to tear down our pride and see only our need for the Cross of Christ. These songs communicate the Gospel more clearly than we could ever do through a testimony or an altar call. Music has such a powerful way of cutting through our noisy hearts!
Perhaps I should define the mission or purpose of Jars of Clay.
We see much of our role as building bridges between the church and the culture. We do this by developing relationships with mainstream promoters, radio stations, bands, audiences, even Hollywood. We hope to be visible in the culture, serving and loving the people that we come in contact with. Just this past December, we were invited to play at a Christmas concert for a pop station in San Diego, along with Duran Duran, Jewel, Melissa Etheridge, and Big Bad Voodoo Daddy. Our version of 'Drummer Boy' was their second most requested song that month! It was a long tough day, but we were more aware of our purpose that day than we have been in long time, and the Lord met us in our weakness that night. These are the kind of opportunities that we really long for.
The second role of the band is found in our lyrics. We want to use a language that the world can understand and relate to, not just 'Christianese' jargon that our Christian culture has adopted. Through our lyrics, we hope listeners will chew on tough issues, and ask big questions- like, What is faith?, Does God really forgive ALL my sins?, How does my pride keep me from accepting God's love?, How do I maintain any foundation in a culture that bombards me with so many distractions? When Jesus spoke, many times He used practical, everyday examples that His culture could understand, in order to get them asking the real questions that lie underneath. Many of our lyrics fall in this type of approach.
The fact that we do have some percentage of non-Christian listeners is really what drives us as a band. We don't want to simply be a Christian band that plays for youth group functions in churches. Our passion lies in reaching a broader audience- holding one hand on to the church and the other hand extended to the culture. We call it 'ground-softening'- getting people to ask foundational questions that they can eventually base a decision for Christ on. "I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow" (1 Cor. 3:6,7). This is a long process and should not be rushed or based on emotion or persuasion. We feel like it would be unfair and perhaps even manipulative to get people to come see our concert and then try to convince them to make a decision for Christ. Not to illegitimize this type of evangelism- some of our close friends and role models have been given this calling. However, many of the people that are drawn to our music have already been hurt or manipulated by the church. We must trust Christ and His timing to draw hearts to Himself.
This type of ministry is unique in that we don't get to see immediate fruit from it because it is a long process. But we are confident in our calling, and do hear amazing stories of how God chooses to use our music to touch weary people. He certainly doesn't need Jars of Clay, but we are humbled that he sometimes chooses to work through us. One thing we are learning in this season is that it is not what we do onstage that matters, or even what our songs are about, but whether we invite the Spirit of God. This is when real power comes- when we surrender what we can or can't do, and get out of the way so that the Spirit can invoke and convict. The great irony of being a Christian performer is that we are onstage, looked up to and applauded, while the true calling of a follower of Christ is to die to self and deny our pride. Paul talks of this in 2 Cor. 4:10-11. "We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body."
Having said all of this, I think the biggest fruit of God's work in our lives is seen in the relationships between the four of us. What good is any of this if I am not laying down my life for Dan, for Matt, for Steve? This is what really excites me- to watch the Lord growing us up and showing us how much we need to depend on Him to serve one another. Anything that God chooses to do beyond this- through the music, at a pop radio festival, on the bus with our crew- is icing on the cake.
I hope these thoughts give you a broader picture of what Jars' is doing and why. We covet your prayers as we struggle on this journey, and invite you to continue to ask questions of us, even as we ourselves ask very similar questions. We believe that it is through this continuing wrestling and restlessness that we will grow deeper roots and bigger hearts.
May we all open our eyes just a little wider as we watch our God work in wonderful, mysterious ways!
Only because of His abundant love and mercy,Charlie Lowell
jars of clay
ii corinthians 4:7
"And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ- to the glory and praise of God." (Phil. 1:9-11)