Yesterday at church I was privvy to three conversations that haunted my dreams after I went to sleep last night. 1. A young couple who’ve been coming to our church said they chose us because they “didn’t like the worship” at the church they previously attended. 2. The same couple said they visited another church in town where a female attendant told them, “We discourage babies in the auditorium. You can watch the service on a TV in a family room.” 3. I overheard two people talking about how to do evangelism–exploring the question of culture– is our town similar enough to Minneapolis to emply some strategies that have been used there?
Is there a common thread here? I think so. I think all three remarks reflect the way we’re training people to be consumers instead of disciples.
In the first instance, although the remark seems to reflect positively on my church, it reflects badly on evangelical Christianity in general. The couple seems to equate “worship” with the music–specifically, its style and/or quality. That misconception is not the subject of this post, however. But when music becomes more important in choosing a church than the church’s relationships, mission, teaching and equipping, there’s something’s wrong in what we’re training people to look for.
The second remark reflects badly on the church this couple visited. That church is training people to expect a quiet, sanitized experience where the music and sermom are polished and free of distractions. I couldn’t help thinking about the many scriptures Paul wrote about maintaing order in worship. I don’t recall him saying anything about keeping infants out of the assembly.
The third conversation, to be fair, was one from which I withdrew because it wasn’t appropriate for me to insert my two cents. There was some background information unavailable to me and the setting wasn’t conducive to catching up on the details. But I couldn’t help wondering about our view of evangelism–it seems to be similar to our view of church. We’re thinking of people as consumers rather than disciples.
Maybe it’s not our fault. That’s the culture we live in. That’s what people seem to respond to.
But it doesn’t seem to be very effective.
Case in point. The other night, my husband was flipping through channels and there was Joyce Meyer giving a talk in an auditorium that looked bigger than Jack Trice Stadium. She was telling the people a lot of stuff they really wanted to hear about God’s power in their individual lives. There were easily 20,000 people in attendance. I told Scott, “When I see that many people who profess to be believers gathered in one place, it makes me wonder why our Christian witness has had so little impact on the world. Am I crazy to wonder about that?”
In general, I don’t think we’re doing a very good job at giving people a vision for the church. I believe the church should be the visible announcement that Jesus is Lord and this is how it looks where God is in charge, to paraphrase something N.T. Wright said.
Instead, most churches are operating as if culture, consumer behavior and our individual tastes are in charge. Give us what we want and we’ll come to your church.
Keep reminding us that we’re saved, and that’s all we need, and we’ll fill your seats.
And then we’ll go on back to our private lives and we’ll struggle for the rest of the week to be faithful, and we’ll wonder how to make sense of a gospel that seems so ineffective in the real world–as if Jesus didn’t defeat the powers with his life, death, resurrection and ascension. But we console ourselves that it’s all going to turn out okay, if we can just muddle through until we get to heaven.
Maybe if we had a different vision for the church, evangelism would take care of itself. And we’d be training people to be disciples and not consumers.
Posted on January 28th, 2008 by Kathy
Filed under: Monday's Church
Kathy,
You make some great points here. Unfortunately I see myself a little bit in #1. I’m still searching for a church and have not gone back to a few I’ve visited because I didn’t care for the musical style. I like traditional hymns and not the super-charged music that some of them played. For the sermon, I’d just like to hear the true gospel preached. Although there are several folks on TV who are “packing ‘em in” every week, I don’t hear the true gospel being taught there (for the most part). I’m not sure where that places me and if I fit the stereotype of a “consumer”. Maybe I do…I hope not.
We were talking about reading lists last week and I came across another book called “Stop Dating The Church” by Joshua Harris. It looks interesting. Maybe I need to read that one next
Spot on.
But it’s not a side-effect, or an error in technique. It’s a completely predictable unintended consequence. When churches work to differentiate themselves from one another, comparison and selection are reinforced. That process of differentiation is the essence of protestantism, though, in that we denominate first, ask questions later.
Until we establish a culture of attending the church closest to our homes, and selecting only when that church is provably dead, this problem will continue to accelerate.
I’ve linked to your post and replied on my blog. Couldn’t decide whether to just answer here or blog about it. Fingers crossed that I don’t attract too much antagonism for my reply!
I think a lot of churches are confused about why people don’t go because they are part of the “in” group and cannot see the p.o.v. of those on the outside. It took me 20 yrs to accept Jesus as Savior because I can’t stand most of the Christians I know. Can’t stand them!! Few people are more exclusive and cliquish than the believers I have lived by and worked with as an adult. I home schooled both my boys through junior high school and overall it was a positive experience except for the nasty, self-righteous Christian home schooling families who think everyone outside their denomination is morally polluted. We had no problem chatting up Mormons or atheists or Jews, but if someone had on a tshirt with a Bible verse on it, we knew we’d get the stink eye.
I have been friends with lots of Mormons and several of them converted to the Church. Now, why would someone choose a church that teaches the Indians are descended from Jews and God has a human body and lives near a star called Kolob? Because they were literally loved into that church and then they love other people into it. I have yet to see that happen with any Christian I have ever known.
Kathy,
Nice post. Good points.
If I might re-iterate what I understood to be your primary point, it seems that you’re stating that Christian consumerism is a reflection of American culture and a sign that the American Church is not doing an effective job of teaching its membership to obey all that Christ commanded.
I think that this is largely true. If American Christians really were obeying all that Christ commanded, there would not be a culture of consumerism (or, for that matter many other problems so prevalent in the American Church). For me, then the questions I must next ask are, “Am I obeying all that Christ has commanded? What needs to change in my life?” and “How can I be a part of teaching others to obey all the Christ has commanded? What needs to change in my life?”
Thanks for raising these questions!
Oh, and Jennifer, I’m so sorry that you have had that experience with cliques! I know it to be a problem that keeps rearing its ugly head in the Church — even in the first century Paul had to warn the church in Corinth about these things! I just prayed for you and your church. I hope that things will change.
[…] Beyondwordsworth talks about consumer mindsets she has encountered in Christianity, which she thinks are rooted in how we practice church: A young couple who’ve been coming to our church said they chose us because they “didn’t like the worship” at the church they previously attended…But when music becomes more important in choosing a church than the church’s relationships, mission, teaching and equipping, there’s something wrong in what we’re training people to look for. […]
[…] Kathy at Beyond Words is discussing consumers versus disciples. […]
Joe, thanks for your thoughts. Could you elaborate on what you mean by “the true gospel”?
Codepoke, it sounds like you’ve put some thought into neighborhood churches. Would you mind sharing what that might look like?
Pam, thanks for the link. Your posts bring out some challenging thoughts, too.
Jennifer, your story is chilling and heartbreaking, and I’d like you to e-mail me privately and tell me more about yourself. I’m praying for you and I hope you’re in a loving church now.
Tony, I’d be interested in the answers to those questions you ask. And how do the answers move from being an individual response and a corporate (body of Christ) response?
Mr. Pages, thanks for the link. There’s a lot of good stuff and stuff to link to at your site!
[…] for the thoughtful comments and links to my previous post. I plan to do a follow up post tomorrow. In the meantime, be thinking about the question in the […]
[…] case this looks like the wrong title for the post I promised in follow-up to Monday’s, please bear with me. There’s a connection, I think, between spiritual disciplines and the […]
So, to answer my own questions.
As pertains to my own obedience, I am currently deficient in my time spent pursuing the disciplines of prayer, fasting, and sacrifice. I am making steady progress in the disciplines of studying the scriptures, serving the needy, and pursuing community.
As it pertains to those around me, I must work to help my family (wife and kids) engage in aspects of Christ’s disciplines. At the turn of the year, we made an evaluation of where we were, and what needed to change. We have consequently adjusted our daily routine to ensure that both parents were getting more time in the Word. This should also afford me more opportunity to serve my family sacrificially by getting up earlier and watching the kids while Kirsten gets in a “quiet time”, but I have not been terribly successful in that aspect.
I can also step up my engagement of fellow church members to pursue th spiritual disciplines together. For me, I think that this looks like inviting another guy to go on a prayer walk with me, or to come over with his kids so our wives can get out and have some undistracted prayer time. It also looks like offering the advice of pursuit of a Christ-like lifestyle (not just WWJD decisions) during small group meetings and other times of fellowship.
As to how all this works at the whole-church level, I think that it takes individuals doing things similar to what I suggested that I need to be doing, though I don’t think that list is anywhere near comprehensive. I also think that there is a burden on those who shepherd the local church to be mindful of how the church is obeying Christ in the day-to-day activities and disciplines and speak correction, arrange the church schedule, and lead in other ways (again, nowhere near comprehensive list) to help bring the flock as a whole back to where it ought to be.
All this is in my humble opinion, and may be entirely wrong. I’m subscribed to the comment feed, so I can keep interacting over these topics.
Thanks, Tony, for your description of what the disciplines look like in your life and your family’s. Since you’re following the comment feed, I’m going to ask you to clarify the disciplines of sacrifice and pursuing community. I think you have a lot of wisdom to share in these areas, but we need to break it down so others can know what you mean by those terms. I hope others will interact with you here!
[…] 1) Beyond Words - Kathy has been writing about “How the Church is Training Consumers instead of Disciples.” Unfortunately, I see some of that in myself as I’m still on my own search to find a church home. Check out her post on it here. […]
Disciplines of Sacrifice (personal definition): Regular acts of intentionally going without something for the benefit of others.
Disciplines of Pursuing Community (personal definition): Regular acts of initiating contact, comraderee, and conversation with others in my social circles with an emphasis on fellow believers.
Those were both somewhat abstract definitions, so here are some personal examples of what I mean.
In my life the deficiency of sacrifice is exemplified by the fact that I can see a pattern of selfishness, comfort seeking, and greed. I would have a very hard time freeing up an extra 5% of my monthly budget for charity, yet if you add up luxury items in my lifestyle (cell phone, nice coffee, beer, overeating, among others) it would more than cover that 5%. I also probably spend too much time entertaining myself with the Internet, and there are so many better things that I could do with that time. So, I think that I need to start saying “No.” more often to items that are simply luxury so that I can intentionally set aside money for helping others — I’ve currently got my eyes on a Lego Mindstorms set for the Southside Boys & Girls Club. I also need to set and stick to a time budget for my Internet entertainment.
As far as pursuing community, some concrete examples from my life follow. I’ve been trying to call other guys to see if they want to join me when I’ve had a project that needed to be worked on — fixing the car, shopping for a car, and putting plastic on the windows. Often after a project, then we’ll all sit down to dinner together (typically including all families involved). We’ve also initiated a date-night swap with another couple in our church — we take turns watching each others kids so the the other couple can get out. We’ve also prioritized attendance at church small group meetings, prayer meetings, and retreats.
I hate tooting my own horn, so I hope nobody hears me doing that in the previous paragraphs. That said, I also hope that what I wrote provide some concrete examples of those disciplines — disciplines that are among several that are necessary for truly following Jesus and being transformed from a worldly creature (including consumerism) to a picture of God in my community.