Gene Veith noticed a new phenomenon: Liberal churches turn to advertising.
Another ad shows children reading books and asks, “What if church was a literacy program for homeless children? Would you come?”
What if church was about worshiping and learning about a holy and sovereign God? A radical idea, I know.
What really offends me is the “get some butts in the pews” attitude, as though church needed to be popular in order to be considered successful. That’s defining success in an entirely worldly fashion. I realize that counting attenders is an easy metric to quantify, but when you dumb it down in order to fill the seats, at some point it stops being church. Willow Creek was hailed as a great example of modern revival for its success at getting butts in the pews via it’s “seeker” friendly services… right up to the point that they realized they were abject failures at the actual mission – to create disciples.
We made a mistake. What we should have done when people crossed the line of faith and become Christians, we should have started telling people and teaching people that they have to take responsibility to become ‘self feeders.’ We should have gotten people, taught people, how to read their bible between services, how to do the spiritual practices much more aggressively on their own.
Oops! What’s the point of filling a church with benchwarmers, or in turning a church into a community organization where people perform service in order to fulfill their own moral code instead of for the glory of God? We have a country full of people and groups intent on self-gratification. If the church is no different, people may as well sleep in on Sundays.
This raises an interesting question; why do we have the local church?
Just like the denominations mentioned may have missed the point, I also think that many times Christian churches have oversimplified the point of church services to only worshiping and learning about God.
Ultimately, in a Christian church, the major point should be ushering people toward a personal relationship with God, and not having a religious experience. Here lies the problem. If that is the only mission of the local church, those who achieve that personal relationship may no longer have a reason to attend. They are the same individuals who don’t need the church to be a Christian, watch christian ministries at home, treat church selection like shopping for auto insurance, or, my favorite, feel they are now qualified to start their own church. I almost can’t blame these people. However, the Bible instructs us to fellowship. Why? See Hebrews 10:23-25.
I have come a place in my Christian life that I no longer attend church services to be served all the time (the Word of God, communion, hearing the choir, etc). I don’t think anyone should remain a “bench warmer” all their Christian life. As a musician and minister of the word, I understand that my role in the church is also to be the servant. Of course this also transitions into my life outside the local church.
I believe that every Christian starts out being the one that is served. However, pastors, for example, come to church mainly not to learn more about God or to worship God (they should be doing that all week anyway) but to become a servant to the local body. Everyone else in the church should be a healthy balance between the two based on their maturity.
I think the real problem is that ministries get “lost in the sauce” when it comes to reaching people. The intentions start out being good. However, when churches start looking to have quantity rather than quality ministries, ministries forget to point people to God. On the other hand, some people don’t know how to deal with ministries that point them to God.
Let’s face it, God does approve of good works in addition to our faith. One without the other is no good. With that said, I have no problem with a church’s mission going beyond worshiping/learning about God provided that it is still the major point and is not forgotten. I see no justification in spending millions of dollars advertising a denomination. The people attending should be all the advertising necessary. Or have we forgotten that it is the people and not the building that are supposed to be reaching the world.
Agreed, God approves of good works in addition to our faith. But the purpose of those good works is not for the works themselves, or for the sake of the people benefiting from the works, or even for the sake of those doing the good works. The purpose is to glorify God. Churches which glorify themselves for their service, as these advertising churches are doing, are like the Pharisee praying loudly and publicly – it negates the whole act. Service is a symptom of Christianity, not the faith itself.
I have raised more than a few eyebrows by stating that the church is full of people who are going to hell. But, they are … especially in churches that are more focused on getting butts in their pews than educating their members regarding the Bible, discipleship and Christian living.
It is the same with “decisions” for Christ. How many of those “decisions” equal a person who will remain in the local church and actually “feed” and “serve”? Not many.
And, it is not just liberal churches using advertising and it isn’t a recent thing. This has been going on for sometime now, unfortunately.
Angel´s last blog post..In Need Of Prayer
It’s a mistake to assume that bad Christians are going to hell. See1 Corinthians 3:11-15; 1 Thessalonians 5:6-10; 2 Timothy 2:13; 1 Corinthians 11:27-32; Romans 8:33-38.
I don’t think bad Christians are going to hell, but I agree with Angel that a lot of church attenders are going. Not because they are bad Christians but because they are not Christians at all. They are just superficially, culturally “Christian” in the sense that this is the crowd they run with – church may as well be the country club. But their hearts have not been changed a la Ezekiel 36; they still have that heart of stone no matter what their outward behavior is like.
Exactly, Laura! My grandmother used to say that sitting in a garage doesn’t make you a car and sitting in a church doesn’t make you a Christian. A lot of people go to church for social reasons. They aren’t saved. They definitely aren’t sanctified. They have no fruit. They are there because it is the socially acceptable place to be and that is where they network.
Angel´s last blog post..In Need Of Prayer