Purpose-Driven Consumers and Spiritual Discernment
Earlier today I sent an email to a magazine company, letting them know that I would no longer be reading their magazine because they had failed to meet my needs. This company, like all others, exists to fill a need, actual or perceived, in the lives of consumers. When a company no longer fills such a need consumers will no longer pay for their products. So, overly-idealistic as it may be, I informed this magazine today that they are no longer meeting my needs, in the hopes that this may change the way they go about their business in the future. If enough people join me, it’s possible change will result. This, from what I can recall of my high school economics class, is basic capitalism. Businesses are businesses, and this is the way they operate.
But this is not the way things are supposed to work in the church. If you have been around for the last couple of weeks you will know that I’m not a fan of the purpose-driven, seeker-sensitive church model. These churches have forsaken, at least to a certain degree, the principles of ministry taught in the Bible and replaced them with supply-and-demand capitalism. This makes worshippers into consumers of church, which in turn creates a whole host of problems, theologically/biblically and practically. I’d like to highlight one problem in particular, one which I think is perhaps the most glaring indictment of the seeker-sensitive model: when worshippers become consumers of church, they posses the same power that I have when I tell a magazine they must change to retain my business. In other words, those in the pews dictate what comes out of the pulpit. In our society this may not sound like a bad thing; after all, we’re in favour of egalitarianism. Upon further reflection, however, the ridiculousness of this situation becomes clear.
God has equipped each of his people with different gifts and abilities. Some people have a servant’s heart–they love doing things behind the scenes and don’t care to be acknowledged for their efforts. Other people have been given a friendly, outgoing nature which allows them to make people feel welcomed immediately. God has given others knowledge, depth of insight, and discernment to guide and govern his church. It only makes sense that those with such qualifications lead the church in making difficult decisions about the style and content of the worship service, among other things. Paul commands as much in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1-2. Specifically, Paul says that elders (or overseers) ‘must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that [they] may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it’ (Titus 1:9). It is the elders, those who match up to a standard which is incredibly humbling when I consider that I myself am measured against it (see 1 Tim 3:1-7 and Titus 1:5-16), who are entrusted with this task, not just any Christian, and specifically not ‘weaker’ Christians.
Yet the seeker-sensitive model turns the biblical mandate on its head. Instead of using their wisdom to organise the worship service such that God’s glory is pre-eminent, leaders of these churches have pandered to the desires of those least qualified to be making such important decisions. The service is not designed primarily to spur and enable people to worship; it is designed so as to make everyone feel comfortable. As much as possible is done to make people happy, so the church doesn’t receive letters from people like me informing them that we are taking our seat-filling, dollar-giving selves elsewhere. These churches know words like ‘repentance’ and ’sin’ will drive people away if used too often; they are convinced that no one today knows what ‘thee’ or ‘thou’ mean; they have the marketing research to prove that people simply will not stay at a church with bad music. And so they tip-toe around the great truths of the Bible and forsake the rich tradition of the church when they should be saying, ‘look, we know this doesn’t make sense and is completely foreign, but there are life and death truths at stake, so we’re gonna give it to you straight’.
The seeker-sensitive model is completely backwards. It places those least-capable of making spiritual decisions in control of the worship of God. It tells more mature Christians to stand aside and figure out how to survive on a spiritual Atkins Diet. And it encourages all of us, not to strive for the ideal, but to let the ends justify the means. Whether or not this method is actually effective is highly questionable; whether or not it is permissible to the Word of God is not in question at all.
So what do we do? Well, if you’re in a church that views worshippers as consumers, I say write the letters, talk to the powers that be, and tell them what you really want is for them to not care about your opinion so much. Tell them you want the law and the gospel, plain and simple. At the interpersonal level those who are more mature, discerning Christians have to be willing to point our friends and family who are less so in the right direction.
I remember once in high school I succeeded in getting a friend to come to an ‘evangelistic’ play at church with me. There was no real substance; not even enough to stimulate conversation afterwards. I now wish I had taken him to a worship service where the gospel was proclaimed clearly and boldly, in its full offence. I had already accomplished the hard work of getting my friend to come to a ‘church’ event with me; why did I waste it? I’m sure I thought I’d start him off easy and he’d move up to the weightier stuff. Well, he never came back. It’s not that he was put off by it, he just left for college. And we haven’t spoken since. He didn’t know what he needed; I did, and didn’t get it to him. I don’t despair because I know that God is sovereign and I am not capable of thwarting his will. Still, I also know that he requires my best (and quite a bit more).
I pray that God would still draw Mike to himself, as well as other friends I’ve let down by pandering to their desires. We don’t have a product to sell, we have a great gospel to proclaim. I think that about sums it up.
April 22nd, 2005 at 8:33 am
Good post. And the last bit was good, too, and very convicting. I cringe to think how many times I’ve lost this opportunity myself, and probably still lose opportunities to this day by watering down the gospel.