I just came across a pretty good article by Bob Burney called, Are We Reaching the Lost or Rearranging the Chairs? In it he connects the dots among three pieces of news: one is a Washington Times article on the growth of Islam in the U.S., another is a Boston Globe article in which business people, psychologists and surveys bemoan the narcissistic nature of those entering the workforce, and a third is an article in Outreach Magazine on the growth of megachurches around the country and the megatrends they have in common. I think he has some interesting observations. I think the key issue centers around the supposed growth of megachurches and Christianity in general, yet the constant decline of Christian influence on the culture in general and on individuals specifically.
Burney states, I am absolutely thrilled that we have so many evangelical churches in America that are growing. I have nothing against the current megachurch trend just so long as these churches are actually biblically-based congregations. Unfortunately, however, all of the attention the megachurch trend receives sometimes gives a false view of what is actually happening, spiritually, in our country.
The statistics vary from poll to poll and study to study, but all agree on this: church attendance is not increasing in America. It is either staying steady or declining. Evangelical Christianity is not on the rise. Several studies in the past few years have indicated that at least 80 percent of all church growth, including and especially the megachurches, is “transfer” growth, not evangelism. In other words, we’re merely moving bodies from one church to another. Too often in today’s consumer oriented culture this simply means many smaller churches in a particular community “go out of business” and merge into a bigger church.
I think what he is saying is true. Now, at least in the greater St. Louis area, I see dozens of church plants popping up everywhere. And a single visit or cursory glace at their websites on demonstrate that they are all closes of the Rick Warren Purpose-Driven paradigm. They all do the same thing. Look what else he states.
At the risk of painting with too broad a brush, it seems that much of the growth in some churches has come from a seeker-sensitive mentality that works to give people anything and everything they want. The program of the church is built on “felt needs” and desires. You do a survey, find out what people want and you give it to them in order to fill seats with warm bodies. It’s the Wal-Mart syndrome. When Wal-Mart comes to town most of the “Mom-and-Pop” shops end up closing-they simply can’t compete. Today’s megachurches can have this same monopolizing effect.
Do you see the line connecting this “dot” with the article lamenting our narcissistic culture? Is it possible that in our zeal to build bigger and bigger churches we have unknowingly fed the narcissism of our age? Is it possible we have become part of the problem rather than leaders in administering the cure? For centuries the cry of the Church was “come and die with us.” Too often today our battle-cry seems to be more like, “come and let us entertain you.” For a vast swath of evangelicalism, the true meaning of the Cross has been lost.
This hit me like a ton of bricks. I think he is absolutely right on here. Back to my observation about the dozens of church plants in my area, they are all alike. They are all clones of each other. They appeal to people based on their immediate and physical felt-needs and desires, but never (or I should say rarely) address the real need of sin and separation from God, and the consequential judgment of God. People need to be reconciled with a Holy God, and the only way we can do that is through the gospel of Jesus Christ.
I think we as evangelical Christians have indeed contributed to the narcissistic nature of not just young people but all people in our present age. We have come to the conclusion that we ourselves can grow churches, and we do that by appealing to a person’s base, selfish needs. We appeal to their pride: I am going to the biggest and best church around with all kinds of resources, and who does everything in total excellence. Look how good we are. We appeal to selfishness: Look what we can do for you. We have everything you need to be happy and satisfied here. We are here to meet your every need. The problem is that the gospel somehow and somewhere gets lost in all of the hoopla of the modern church. We are so busy trying to please men that we lose sight of trying to please God. Look at the megatrends of the top 100 growing churches. They all focus on man and none of them focus on the gospel.
My prayer and cry is that the evangelical Christian church must refocus itself on God, the Cross, and on the Word. Paul in Galatians 1 states, 6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel- 7 not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. 10 For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.
The Christian church must preach the truth to a world that desperately needs this truth. This is the one unfelt-need that all people have that we must first address before we can do anything else. Our purpose is not to meet everyone’s felt-needs of esteem, wealth, health, or any other physical, mental, or emotional need. Those are good, but they are not primary! Our primary purpose is to meet spiritual needs, namely the condition of the soul before a Holy God. Christ has commissioned us to go and make disciples. Our job is to preach the Word and the gospel to all people. Only after we do that can we meet the other needs of the people. We must never compromise the gospel and Word of God with meeting earthly needs. We should meet earthly needs, yes, but not at the expense of the gospel.
When we make this compromise, the impact is obvious. Look around.
