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"Take
Heed" Ministries
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Cecil Andrews, PO BOX 13, Ballynahinch, BT24 8AL, Northern Ireland. Telephone/Fax 028 9756 5511. E-MAIL - takeheed@aol.com WEB-SITE - http://www.takeheed.net |
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IS ‘WILLOW CREEK’ THE ‘WAY TO GO?’
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As I prepare this article,
REACH THE UNCHURCHED
BUILDING A CONTAGIOUS
CHURCH
SPEAKERS
LEE STROBEL
(Author
of ‘The Case for Christ’)
MARK MITTELBERG
(Evangelism
Director of the Willow Creek Association)
Many pastors and churches are being urged
to adopt the strategies used apparently with great ‘success’ at the Willow
Creek Community Church in America whose Senior Pastor is Bill Hybels.
In the providence of God I received just
today a newsletter issued by an apologetics ministry in
Religion Analysis Service
and as a result I was directed to the writings of
Pastor Gary E Gilley.
Set out below is the substance of 4
articles that he wrote on this current trend of ‘user friendly’ or
‘market or purpose-driven’ churches.
I commend and endorse his writings as a
timely
warning in the spirit of our ministry ‘motto text’
“Take heed that no man deceive you” [Matthew 24:4]
Cecil Andrews
‘Take Heed’ Ministries
THE
by
PASTOR
GARY E GILLEY
of
www.svchapel.org
At the first tee,
with great optimism and hope, I take a mighty cut at my Top Flight #2. I
eagerly look up, fully expecting to watch that little white ball soar 250 yards
straight up the fairway, only to find that I have hooked it into the woods on
the left. Determined not to repeat such an "uncharacteristic"
performance, I correct my swing a bit at the second tee only to slice the ball
into the water on the right. By the third hole, I’m sure,
I have all the bugs worked out. Taking a swing that Tiger Woods would envy, and
that blows leaves off trees fifty yards away, I am amazed to find that I have
topped the ball, causing it to dribble harmlessly almost to the ladies’ tee
about twenty-five yards away. Frustrated, fully humbled, and deciding that
keeping score would be a bad idea this round, I slump to the next tee. With no
expectations and few hopes I leisurely drive the ball. To my utter amazement it
is straight and long. Ah, I am back to form, I surmise. I am myself again —
until the next shot. Oh, the joy of golf. And I took this game up to relax!?
The church, as
observed throughout its history, reminds me a lot of my golf swing. She is
constantly going from one extreme to the next, over correcting, coming up
short, searching, and frustrated. Occasionally she gets it right and drives one
down the middle, but repeating that feat is rare and soon she is slicing again.
Take the church
growth movement for example. Having watched a large segment of the church
become content with short yardage and lousy scores, some decided that there had
to be a better way. The church was not penetrating society; she was not pulling
in the masses; she was not making a significant impact for the gospel. It was
not that the church leaders didn’t care, it was, it seemed, that they lacked
the "know-how," the tools, to effect change. The gospel was still
"the power of God for salvation" (Romans 1:16), but it was being
rejected out-of-hand by too many. What was needed, apparently, were new methods
to reach the lost, new techniques to promote the church, new packages for the
gospel message. People, we were told, were not rejecting the gospel or Christ;
they were rejecting our out-of-date, unappetizing forms, philosophies, and
methods.
It is these
pronouncements that we want to examine together. We will say up front that the
church growth (or market-driven, or seeker-sensitive) experts have gotten some
things right. They are calling for excellence rather than shabbiness;
aggressive evangelism rather than indifference; direction and purpose rather
than aimless-ness; innovation and creativity rather than traditionalism;
dedication rather than slothfulness. In all of these things we commend them. On
the other hand, much like my golf swing, they have over corrected in important
areas. These areas demand careful probing and biblical realignment.
While we will
examine the writing of various individuals who speak for the market-driven
movement, we will focus often on the two flagship churches: Saddleback Valley
Community Church in Orange County, California, and Willow Creek Community
Church near Chicago. These churches serve as the models that are reshaping the
way we "do church" today. As a matter of fact, many refer to these
churches and their clones as "new paradigm churches." Churches all
over the world, even those who would claim to reject the church growth
movement, are imitating the many methods promoted by Saddleback and the
"Creekers." Others have written about church growth, but these two
churches have made it work, and for their success they are idolized and adored
by the modern evangelical community.
There are numerous
things about the market-driven church growth movement that are disturbing, and
we will examine these in detail later in other papers. However, at this point
we need to ask some questions: What exactly is a new paradigm church? How do
they work? How do they differ from more traditional churches? What are they
doing right? Why are they growing? And what can we learn from them?
First, we must
distinguish between megachurches and new paradigm
churches. Megachurches are defined as those with
average worship attendance of 2000 or more, but these behemoth churches come in
all shapes, stripes and forms. Some are centers of
great preaching and teaching, some are charismatic, others are little more than
social clubs. New paradigm churches, on the other hand, are identified by a
philosophy of ministry intentionally designed to effect numerical growth. In
their church growth methodologies more attention is paid to market strategy,
business techniques and demographics than to New Testament instruction. This is
not a criticism at this point (although we will critique these tactics later),
simply an observation. Read the leading literature from the pens of the church
growth experts (e.g. The Purpose Driven Church, by Rick Warren of
Saddleback; Marketing the Church, by George Barna
and Inside the Mind of Unchurched Harry, by
Lee Strobel) and you will find bucket loads of marketing
techniques and only passing references to the book of Acts (the divinely
inspired church growth manual) or any other Scripture for that matter.
An interesting
article, just the type that shapes the new paradigm system, is found in American
Demographics magazine (American Demographics, April 1999,
"Choosing My Religion," pp. 60-65, by Richard Cimino
and Don Lattin). Several statements from the article
are worth quoting since American Demographic seems to have its finger on
the pulse of Americans’ wants and desires. According to this article people
today claim they are:
into
spirituality, not religion. . . Behind this shift is the search for an
experiential faith, a religion of the heart, not the head. It’s a religious
expression that downplays doctrine and dogma, and revels in direct experience
of the divine — whether it’s called the "Holy Spirit" or "cosmic
consciousness" or the "true self." It is practical and personal,
more about stress reduction than salvation, more therapeutic than theological.
It’s about feeling good, not being good. It’s as much about the body as the
soul. . . Some marketing gurus have begun calling it "the experience
industry" (Ibid., p. 62).
"Congregants,"
the authors believe, "care as much about a church’s childcare services as
its doctrinal purity, pay more attention to the style of music than the
pastor’s theological training" (ibid.). If these things are true, how
should the church react? Church marketing consultant Richard Southern
encourages us to have "an essential paradigm shift in the way church is
done, putting the needs of potential customers before the needs of the
institutional church. Baby boomers [the inevitable target of new paradigm
churches] think of churches like they think of supermarkets, they want options,
choices, and convenience. ... Numerous surveys show that Americans are as
religious as ever — perhaps more than ever. ... But what is on the decline is
Americans’ loyalty to particular denominations or traditions. ... In 1958 only
1 in 25 Americans had left the religious denomination of their upbringing.
Today, more than 1 in 2 have left or switched. … Protestant megachurches
have become the evangelical answer to Home Depot, marketing such services as
worship, child care, a sports club, 12-step groups, and a guaranteed parking
place" (ibid., p. 63).
The natural
outcome of church leaders, who pour over such literature, is that they begin to
use, "computerized demographic studies and other sophisticated marketing
techniques to fill their pews" (ibid., p. 62). And the good news is that
it does not matter what a given church believes, for "anyone can learn
these marketing and outreach techniques. You don’t have to change your theology
or your political stance" (ibid.). Springing from this fountain of demographic
"truth" is a whole industry of experts to teach church marketing
techniques. One such expert is Christian A. Schwarz, who is the director of the
Institute for Natural Church Development. Schwarz claims that between 1994 and
1996 his organization conducted "the most comprehensive research project
about the causes of church growth that has ever been conducted in the Christian
church. . . More than 1000 churches on all five continents took part in this
study" (The ABC’s of Natural Church Development, by Christian A.
Schwarz).
From this mountain
of research Schwarz has observed eight characteristics of growing churches.
These are: empowering leadership, gift-oriented ministry, passionate
spirituality, functional structures, inspiring worship, holistic small groups,
need-oriented evangelism and loving relationships. Some of these qualities we
will examine more closely later, but at this juncture there are two things that
draw our interest. Schwarz claims that these principles work in any type of
church anywhere in the world, and secondly, that if all characteristics are
present these principles will work every time. "Every church in
which each of the eight quality characteristics has reached a certain level. .
. is a growing church. There is qualitative value — which can be shown in exact
statistical terms — beyond which a church will always grow" (ibid., p.
23).
One quality
especially important to today’s growing churches is enthusiastic worship
services. Schwarz asks his readers, "Is the worship service an inspiring
experience for those who attend it? It is this area that clearly separates
growing from non-growing churches. People who attend inspiring worship services
unanimously declare that the church service is — and for some Christians this
is almost a heretical word — ‘fun’" (ibid., p. 14).
Growing churches
are creating an atmosphere, an environment of fun. So fun has replaced holiness
as the church’s goal. Having a good time has become the criterion of an
excellent, growing church, since fun and entertainment is what church consumers
want. Yet Scripture references encouraging churches to become havens of fun
are, as one may suspect, sadly lacking.
Let’s play "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire." For $500,000: Which church was a growing church in the book of Revelation; the church at Laodicea (Rev. 3:14-22), which saw itself as rich and wealthy and in need of nothing; or the church at Smyrna (Rev. 2:8-11), that was described as poor, in tribulation and facing great persecution? Need a "lifeline" you say? Here you go: God said of the Laodicean church that He would spit them out of His mouth, but of the Smyrna church that they would receive the crown of life. Confusing, isn’t it? The obviously growing church did not please God, while the struggling one did. This is something worth pondering as we press on.
Trying to identify
new paradigm churches, as far as doctrine or denomination is concerned, is like
trying to nail Jell-O to the wall — it is a slippery proposition at best, and
impossible at worst. They must be identified on the basis of philosophy of
church growth, as outlined above. Setting the agenda for new paradigm churches
is Willow Creek and their quasi-denomination, the Willow Creek Association. The
WCA is a loose association of hundreds of churches that have shown an interest
in the method and philosophy of church growth as espoused by Willow Creek
Community Church. All members of WCA claim to be evangelical, but are as
diverse as Presbyterian, Lutheran, Baptist, Methodist and Pentecostal. In many
communities, including ours, both evangelical and liberal churches are members
of the WCA. The new paradigm churches are united not by doctrine but by
philosophy, a philosophy based on market-driven principles.
But is a
market-driven church so bad? After all, a lot of people seem to be getting
saved and they’re really "packing ‘em in."
Rick Warren puts a positive spin on new paradigm philosophy in his very popular
book The Purpose-Driven Church. Describing the ministry of Saddleback
Valley Community Church, Warren ably demonstrates that many church growth
principles are simply commonsense on the one hand and purposeful, aggressive
leadership on the other. Many of Warren’s suggestions are excellent. Churches
should pay attention to cleanliness and attractiveness, where people are going
to park and how new people are going to feel walking through our doors. We
should strive for excellence and do our best to communicate God’s truth. And we
should want to grow — in the right ways. Warren states, "Every church
needs to grow warmer through fellowship, deeper through discipleship, stronger
through worship, broader through ministry, and larger through evangelism"
(The Purpose-Driven Church, by Rick Warren, p. 48).
Who could argue
with that? And who would debate the need for churches to know why they exist
(their purpose), channelling their energies in that direction rather than
wandering aimlessly as many do? And what about evangelism? Warren and the new
paradigm churches are geared to reaching the lost. While many churches are wasting
precious energy fussing over the color of the drapes
in the foyer, the Saddlebacks and Willow Creeks are focusing their attention on
bringing unchurched Harry and Saddleback Sam to
Christ. You can’t help but admire that kind of emphasis. To this end, Willow
Creek, in particular, has made it a passion to understand the unsaved around
them (unchurched Harry and Mary) in order to more
effectively communicate the gospel.
Willow Creekers
know Harry’s interests and passions, his goals and his hang-ups. They understand
how his mind works and are doing all they can to make Christianity relevant.
Churches that are growing are doing so primarily because they are focusing
attention on the lost and visitors. They are churches that have not become
in-grown and comfortable. None of these things are wrong; the problems are in
the details. Having detoured around the Bible, the new paradigm churches often
look to other sources to develop their systems. Perhaps no single source
carries as much weight in the "seeker-sensitive" church than George Barna and his Barna Research
Group. Barna, the church counterpart to George
Gallup, has ignited a number of fires in Christian circles with his books such
as The Frog in the Kettle and Marketing the Church. In his more
recent book Church Marketing, Breaking Ground for the Harvest, Barna declared that he, and his types, have won the
ideological battle over the issue of marketing the church (p. 13,14). That is,
only a few old-fashioned stick-in-the-muds still question the validity of the
market-driven strategy. Marketing, by the way, is defined by Barna as "a broad term that encompasses all the
activities that lead up to an exchange of equally valued goods between
consenting parties."
In other words,
"activities such as advertising, public relations, strategic planning,
audience research, product distribution, fund-raising and product pricing,
developing a vision statement, and customer service are all elements of
marketing. When these elements are combined in a transaction in which the parties
involved exchange items of equivalent worth, the marketing act has been
consummated" (p. 19).
Barna assures us that churches
sell (or market) their product the same way Wal-Mart sells shoes and Sears
sells tools. But what is the church’s product? What are we trying to peddle to
consumers? This has to be thought through carefully, for unlike shoes and tools
that have great attraction for some consumers, the gospel is repulsive,
foolishness, to the unsaved (I Corinthians 1:18-23).
How do we market
such a product? By changing the package. Note the subtle bait and switch in Barna’s philosophy,
Ministry, in
essence, has the same objective as marketing — to meet people’s needs.
Christian ministry, by definition, meets people’s real needs by providing them
with biblical solutions to their life circumstances (p. 21).
By repackaging ministry, including the gospel message, as we will see, Barna has made it attractive. If we can convince people that Christ died to meet their needs, they will line up at our doors to buy our product. But is this the gospel message? Has Barna merely repackaged, prettied up, the gospel "product" or has he gutted it of its purpose and value? An important question upon which so much hinges — a question worthy of much consideration in our future papers.
David Wells
bemoans concerning the new paradigm church, "Much of it…is replete with
tricks, gadgets, gimmicks, and marketing ploys as it shamelessly adapts itself
to our emptied-out, blinded, postmodern world. …
There is too little about it that bespeaks the holiness of God. And without the
vision for any reality of this holiness, the gospel becomes trivialized, life
loses its depth, God becomes transformed into a product to be sold, faith into
a recreational activity to be done, and the Church into a club for the
like-minded" (Losing Our Virtue, by David Wells, p. 180). Damaging
accusations; are they true?
The standard
rhetoric coming from new paradigm churches is that they teach the same message,
the same gospel, as the more traditional evangelical churches, they differ only
in methodology and philosophy of ministry. Lee Strobel
(former Teaching Pastor at Willow Creek Community Church) writes,
"Objections [to the market-driven church] generally relate to the method
that’s used to communicate the Gospel, not the message itself, and consequently
we’re free to use our God-given creativity to present Christ’s message in new
ways that our target audience will connect with" (Inside the Mind of Unchurched Harry and Mary, by Lee Strobel,
p. 168). This is simply not the case. While some of the methods may disturb us
it is their message that is of real concern. In Part 4 of this series we will
demonstrate that while the new paradigm churches have dressed their gospel in
the gown of conservative evangelicalism, it is in reality a masquerade, a
costume, that disguises a gospel message that would have been unrecognizable only a few years ago. For now we need to
examine the methodologies for which the new paradigm churches have become
famous: their market-driven strategies. After all, that the new paradigm
churches are most often known by the handle of "market-driven" is not
without reason. We have chosen not to use this label exclusively because these
churches are unique in other ways as well, but their market-driven approach is
certainly their outstanding feature.
What Is a Market-Driven Church?
Some within the
market-driven church would cringe at being called such. They would rather be
hailed "purpose-driven" (so Rick Warren’s influential book The
Purpose-Driven Church), or "seeker-sensitive" (a.k.a. Bill Hybels). But others such as George Barna
(the most highly regarded marketing researcher in evangelicalism) pull no
punches. In works such as Marketing the Church and A Step-by-Step
Guide to Church Marketing, Barna outlines for
pastors who have not had the privilege of a graduate course in marketing (A
Step-by-Step Guide to Church Marketing, p. 15), just how it is to be done
in the church. As to the debate within evangelical circles concerning
marketing, Barna declares it to be over and the
marketing gurus have won (p. 13-14).
If this is true
(and as one visits churches all over the country from liberal to conservative
and observes their mimicking of market-driven principles one would have to
agree that Barna has a good case), what exactly has
been won (or lost, depending upon your view)?
Barna defines marketing as "a broad term that encompasses all of the activities that lead to an exchange of equally valued goods between consenting parties." Barna moves on to give supposed examples of marketing in Scripture, including examples of marketing the gospel (cf. pp. 20,23,77). Unfortunately, in order to support his marketing strategy from Scripture, he must twist its meaning. For example, Barnabas is given as an example of a marketing strategy (p. 23). Barna writes, "Barnabas successfully tackled a tough marketing or "PR" assignment when he overcame the early disciples’ fear of Paul, convincing them he was no longer a persecutor of the church" (Acts 9:26,27) (p. 23). Jesus also owed His fame to marketing, according to Barna (p. 23), because word of mouth is "the world‘s most effective advertising." By his definition, all proclamation of any Christian message is an act of marketing. He is then saying that all churches market, but some do not know it; the new paradigm churches simply have taken marketing to a new level. But the marketing philosophy is a very different approach from the methods found in Scripture to spread the good news, as I hope to demonstrate in these papers, but for now look at his definition of marketing. Is the gospel marketable by this definition? Is the gospel the "exchange of equally valued goods between consenting parties?" Let’s see. The gospel is offered by grace (undeserved favor) and received by faith. In the exchange God gets us, we get Him (equally valued goods?). In the exchange we receive the righteousness of Christ, He takes our sins upon Himself (equally valued goods?). The market process breaks down in its very definition when the "product" is Christ.
But is Christ the
product of the market-driven approach? Barna would
say yes but note his explanation: "Ministry, in essence, has the same
objective as marketing: to meet people’s needs. Christian ministry, by
definition, meets people’s real needs by providing them with biblical solutions
to their life circumstances" (p. 21). Although not so stated, I am certain
if questioned Barna would say we meet people’s real
need by bringing them to Christ (please keep in mind that "ministry,"
to the new paradigm churches, which have become evangelistic centers, means their efforts to bring Unchurched
Harry to Christ). But is the purpose of the gospel to meet the felt-needs of
people? Is that why Christ came? We will study this subject in detail in our next
paper but at this point we must at least strongly protest such an understanding
of the gospel.
The gospel is not
bringing people to Christ in order to meet their felt-needs. According to
Scripture the gospel is the good news that lost sinners can be forgiven of
their sins and receive the righteousness of Christ in exchange. This is
the real need of humanity, the need for which Christ died. The new paradigm
church would have no problem agreeing that Harry’s true need is salvation from
sin. But they do not believe that Harry will respond to such a gospel unless we
dress it up with other enticing offers. Felt-needs is the porthole, they
believe, through which Harry is reached in order that his true spiritual need
is met. According to their marketing research Harry is not interested in truth
(Inside the Mind of Unchurched Harry and Mary,
by Lee Strobel, p. 56); therefore, he does not react
well to "Thus sayeth the Lord" (Ibid., p.
50). And Harry is not interested in the future (including heaven) (Ibid., p.
57); therefore reaching him through concern for his eternal destiny is futile.
What Harry is interested in is feeling better about himself. He is asking,
"What can help me deal with my pain" (Ibid., p. 56); he
is interested in "his marriage, his friendships, his
career, his recovery from past pain and so on" (Ibid., pp. 58, 59).
Unchurched Mary, for her part is attracted to
churches, "Where women have access to leadership and influence"
(Ibid., 76), (i.e. an equalitarian approach). If we are to reach this generation
we must then "market" the gospel as something that works (i.e.
relieves pain and provides happiness).
"The most
effective messages for seekers are those that address their felt-needs"
(Ibid., pp. 213-214). However, this approach is not drawn from Scripture, it is
drawn from market research, and the latest in pop-psychology. No one denies
that there are many benefits to the Christian life, but these benefits must not
be confused with the gospel. The gospel is not about helping Harry
feel better about himself and his circumstances; it is about
his rebelliousness against a holy God who will ultimately condemn him to hell
if he does not repent and trust in Christ for the forgiveness of his sins.
The distinction between the market-driven approach and the biblical approach
lies largely in understanding this fundamental difference.
Market Evaluation
Given the obvious
fact that market-driven methodology works (almost all of the biggest and
fastest growing churches in America have hopped aboard the market-driven
train), and granted that we are a pragmatic people who worship at the feet of
the goddess success, what serious flaws could be found in the movement? Below
are some things to consider.
Big
is good, small is bad; or where have all the people gone?
Most churches in
America are small. Fifty percent of churches average fewer than 75 attendees on
any given Sunday and only 5 percent attract more than 350 according to Barna’s surveys. These statistics are not denied: it’s
their interpretation that is in question. Church growth gurus use these figures
to prove that the church has lost its edge – she is not making a significant
impact on society. But is this the case? David Wells shares his thoughts,
"A century ago, in 1890…the average Protestant church had only 91.5
members, not all of whom would have been in attendance on any given Sunday; a
century before that, in 1776, the average Methodist congregation had 75.7
members. It seems to be the case that our churches today are about the same
size as they have always been, on average, and the supposition that we are now
experiencing drastic shrinkage needs to be clearly justified before it can be
allowed to become the premise for new and radical strategies" (God in
the Wasteland, by David Wells, p. 78). As a matter of fact, church
attendance in 1937 averaged 41% of the population, whereas it was 42% in 1988,
(close to 50% in the late 50s and 43% in 1999 according to Christianity
Today, July 10, 2000, p. 20), leading Wells to comment, "Barna’s efforts to make megachurches
the benchmark of normality and then to argue that churches of conventional size
are failures is simply unwarranted and wrongheaded" (God in the
Wasteland, p. 79).
It doesn’t take a
mathematician to realize that if the percentage of Americans going to church
has remained constant, yet megachurches are popping
up almost weekly, then the giant churches are largely being populated by folks funneling in from small churches. Just as Wal-marts are killing mom and pop department stores, chain
restaurants and groceries are doing the same in their respected venues, and the
Mall has demolished "downtown," so the megachurches
are doing a number on the small church. But large does not necessarily mean
better, and when all the numbers are tallied, overall church attendance (on a
percentage basis) is not increasing despite the methods championed by these megachurches.
Who
needs God, we have a program?
We are certainly
in danger of reductionism, but when such faith can be held in the marketing
methodology, little room is left, or needed, for faith in God. In what has to
be one of the most blatant examples of the self-sufficiency of marketing is the
claim that the salvation of souls has a price tag. Barna
suggests that a church might set an objective to "lead 50 baby busters to
Christ this year, for under $5000 in program expenditures" (Barna, p. 170). So for $100 per head we can bring people to
Christ. The need for prayer and trust in a sovereign God becomes questionable
when we can statistically figure what it costs to bring a soul to the Lord.In Barna’s defense this "souls/dollar" strategy is not new.
Both Charles Finney and Billy Sunday could predict to the penny what it cost to
win a soul, their cost however ran between $2 and $3 a head – quite a bargain
as compared to today. But of course if you factor in inflation you can
apparently still win a soul pretty inexpensively.
Or take the church-growth consultant who boldly claims that "five to ten million baby boomers would be back in the fold within a month if churches adopted three simple changes: 1. Advertise 2. Let people know about "product benefits" 3. Be nice to new people (See Dining with the Devil, by Os Guinness, p. 38). The belief in the omnipotence of marketing techniques is changing the nature of the church.
The
Consumer is King
The premise of all
marketing is that the consumer must be pleased; he must be kept happy; he must
be given what he needs, or has been programmed to think he needs, if we are to
succeed. This premise works very well for say, McDonald’s, but can it be
adopted by the church? Certainly it can, but is not the church, and more
importantly, the gospel message, altered and distorted in the process? Listen
to these words by Wells, "The fact is that while we may be able to
market the church, we cannot market Christ, the gospel, Christian character, or
meaning in life. The church can offer handy childcare to weary parents,
intellectual stimulation to the restless video generation, a feeling of family
to the lonely and dispossessed – and, indeed, lots of people come to churches
for these reasons. But neither Christ nor his truth can be marketed by
appealing to consumer interest, because the premise of all marketing is that
the consumer’s need is sovereign, that the customer is always right and this is
precisely what the gospel insists cannot be the case" (Wells, p. 82).
Even the New
Yorker sees a problem with today’s audience-driven preaching, "The
preacher, instead of looking out upon the world, looks out upon public opinion,
trying to find out what the public would like to hear. Then he tries his best
to duplicate that, and bring his finished product into the marketplace in which
others are trying to do the same. The public, turning to our culture to find
out about the world, discovers there is nothing but its own reflection. The
unexamined world, meanwhile, drifts blindly into the future" (As quoted by
Guinness, p. 59).
But
What if the Consumer Changes?
The following two
quotes are worthy of pondering: "He who marries the spirit of the age soon
becomes a widower." "To be always relevant, you have to say things
which are eternal" (Guinness, p. 63). What happens when the fickle
consumer changes his interests, or develops new wants, as he inevitably will?
Will today’s cutting edge pastor suddenly find himself stampeded by the herd
tomorrow? In order to avoid such a tragedy must he keep his ear to the ground
of modern marketing techniques? Will he become a slave to polls and surveys?
And how does all of this affect his use of the Scriptures? We don’t have to have
a crystal ball to answer these questions; all we have to do is look behind us.
The church has always fought, and too often lost, the battle with its age.
Parallels with today are plentiful. For example, the "Downgrade
Controversy" of Spurgeon’s time ultimately led to the liberalization of
the evangelical churches of England. In our own country we think back to the
early nineteenth-century changes that came about through the revivalism
movement, best known by some as Finneyism. Guinness
sees this as an important precedent because as in our time the change was not
"so much from Calvinism to Arminianism as from
theology to experience, from truth to technique, from elites to populism, and
from an emphasis on ‘serving God’ to an emphasis on ‘servicing the self’ in
serving God" (Guinness, p. 27). Some are still alive who experienced the
great Fundamental/Modernist battle of the first half of the last century in
which the big names of the church invited us to court the spirit of the age.
The fad was so popular that almost every major denomination in America
eventually married that spirit and moved away from biblical Christianity. It
was at that point that new fundamentalist denominations, churches, schools, and
associations were formed. It is these very institutions that are now flirting
with the spirit of our age. The results are predictable.
Origen, in the third century,
taught that "Christians are free to ‘plunder the Egyptians’ but forbidden
to ‘set up a golden calf’ from the spoils" (Guinness., pp. 30,31). Easily
said, but as history has proven, almost impossible to implement.
Michel Horton
summarizes things well, "By the time we are finished, we have entirely
transformed the communion of saints. We did not even have to officially
jettison the Bible, as the modernists did earlier this century. We did not have
to say that Scripture failed to provide answers for the modern world or speak
to the real needs of contemporary men and women, as the liberals said. All we
had to do was to allow the world to define the church instead of allowing the
Word to define it" (The Coming Evangelical Crisis, edited by John
H. Armstrong, "Recovering the Plumb Line" by Michael S. Horton, p.
254).
Summary
When we speak of
marketing the church we are not referencing such things as advertising church
events, providing excellence in church programming, being kind to visitors, or
providing ample parking. No one is arguing the importance and value of such
things. Marketing, as defined by the new paradigm churches, goes much further
because its focus is on what the consumer (Unchurched
Harry) wants and thinks he needs, rather than on what God wants and what He
says Harry needs. In other words, market-driven churches are built upon the
foundation of polls, surveys and the latest techniques instead of upon the Word
of God. In order to market a church to the unsaved the consumer must be given
what he wants.
Since unsaved consumers do not desire God, or the things of God, they have to be enticed by something else. Thus the temptation then arises for a church to change, or at least hide, who they are so that they appeal to Unchurched Harry. Additionally, the church is tempted to alter its message to correspond with what Harry wants to hear and thinks he needs. The end result is a felt-need gospel that appeals to Harry’s fallen nature in an effort to entice him to come to Christ, the ultimate felt-need supplier, so that he is fulfilled and feels better about himself. But, "Can churches really hide their identity without losing their religious character? Can the church view people as consumers without inevitably forgetting that they are sinners? Can the church promote the gospel as a product and not forget that those who buy it must repent? Can the church market itself and not forget that it does not belong to itself but to Christ? Can the church pursue success in the market place and not lose its biblical faithfulness" (Losing Our Virtue, by David Wells, p. 202)? I believe the answers to these questions are self-evident.
We Are Driven
Rick Warren, pastor
of Saddleback Valley Community Church in Orange County, California, has written
the definitive book promoting the market-driven concept of evangelism and
church growth. The Purpose-Driven Church, which admittedly has a
considerable amount of practical and helpful advice, nevertheless is laced with
a felt-need philosophy that undermines, in my opinion, the value of the whole
book. It is Warren’s view that in order to reach the lost we must begin with
their felt needs (p. 197ff). He writes, "[For] anybody can be won to
Christ if you discover the key to his or her heart" (p.219). In order to
discover the felt needs of the Saddleback Valley citizens he orchestrated a
community survey of the unchurched (p.139). Once
those needs were discovered, a program was implemented to reach the community
by offering Jesus Christ, the gospel, and the church as a means of fulfilling
those needs. Warren is so committed to this approach that written into the
bylaws of Saddleback is this sentence, "This church exists to benefit the
residents of the Saddleback Valley by providing for their spiritual, physical,
emotional, intellectual and social needs" (p.220).
In support of this
philosophy Warren does a couple of things. First, he offers Jesus’ example as a
model for reaching the lost through the felt needs porthole (see pp. 197ff).
Unfortunately for Warren’s position the passages he uses are misunderstood,
misapplied, and simply do not teach that Jesus reached the lost through felt
needs. Quite the contrary, in Jesus’ evangelism He always quickly got to the
heart of the real need of his audience – their sin which separated them from
God (e.g. John 3; 4; Mark 10:17-31) (in contrast to loneliness, poor
self-esteem, lack of fulfilment, etc). Next Warren defends himself by stating, "Beginning
a message with people’s felt needs is more than a marketing tool! It is based
on the theological fact that God chooses to reveal himself to man according to our
needs" (p.295). Warren offers no theological proof for this assertion of
course, for there is none. The apostles would be absolutely dumbfounded to find
their "God-centered" teachings twisted to
make them so "man-centered."
This
needs-oriented approach to the Christian life is so prevalent within the
seeker-sensitive camp that the little jingle, "Find a need and meet it,
find a hurt and heal it" has become the unofficial motto. Os Guinness
observes, "Few would disagree that church-growth teaching represents a
shift from the vertical dimension to the horizontal, from the theological to
the practical, from the prophetic to the seeker-friendly, from the timeless to
the relevant and contemporary, from the primacy of worship to the primacy of
evangelism, and from the priority of Christian discipleship in all of life to
the priority of spiritual ministries within the church. But what happens when
the much-heralded new emphases are seen from the standpoint of the Scriptures
to be quite simply wrong? And what happens if tomorrow’s ‘need’ is for what is
overlooked today" (Dining with the Devil, by Os Guinness, p. 84)?
Continuing with
Guinness’ line of questions we might ask: What are the new paradigm churches
really offering that is attracting great throngs of people? Is this offering
the same old message (the biblical message) in new wrapping, or is it a
mutation of the real thing? And if it proves to be a mutation, what effect is
it having, and will it have on the modern church?
The New Message
A. W. Tozer warned decades ago of a new wind blowing across the fields
of the evangelical church,
If I see aright,
the cross of popular evangelicalism is not the cross of the New Testament. It
is, rather, a new bright ornament upon the bosom of a self-assured and carnal
Christianity. The old cross slew men; the new cross entertains them. The old
cross condemned; the new cross amuses. The old cross destroyed confidence in
the flesh; the new cross encourages it.
— If only Tozer could see us now.
In our next paper we will examine the gospel message itself. In this one we want to look at the corollary and overlapping issue of mankind’s need(s). What has happened, I believe, is that the evangelical church has become a reflector of our times rather than a revealer. "The problem is not that Christians have disappeared, but that Christian faith has become so deformed. Under the influence of modernity, we modern Christians are literally capable of winning the world while losing our own souls" (Guinness, p. 43).
A Personal Tale
How has this
happened? What has changed our message from a force to a farce? A large part of
the answer lies in the almost wholesale embracing of psychology by the
Christian community. My first encounter with the encroachment of psychology
upon the church was my senior year of Bible college in 1972. As I prepared for
the pastorate at Moody Bible Institute, I had been immersed in the study of
Scripture and theology. As a senior I was required to take a course in
"pastoral counseling," which proved to be
almost identical to a course in psychology that I had taken at the University
of Virginia. That same year I was asked, along with several others, to be a RA
in the dorm. As part of our preparation we were given training in the latest
rage of pop-psychology, which by the way has since been relegated to the
psychological junk heap. At the time I remember my wide-eyed amazement that all
my studies in Scripture apparently did not equip me to deal with the real
problems that would face me in my future ministry. Bible study and knowledge
were great for salvation and sanctification, but there apparently existed a set
of problems and needs "out there" that needed more than the
"simplistic" solutions as found in God’s Word. Scripture, after all
the dust had cleared, needed help from Freud. Unable and ill-equipped to deal
with my newfound knowledge, I tucked it away for safekeeping. Later, in the
early days of pastoring, I decided to pursue a
master’s degree in psychology in order to help people with their
"real" problems. But it soon became abundantly clear that something
was seriously wrong. Virtually everything that I learned in my psychology
courses contradicted the Scriptures. So, I ended my illustrious career as a
would-be pastor/psychologist and went back to the study of Scripture, which has
proven itself more than adequate throughout the years for every need and
concern that has come my way. Meanwhile, immersed in my own ministry and the
study of Scripture, I was somehow oblivious to psychology’s hijacking of the
evangelical church during the 1970s and 80s. One day I awoke, sort of a Rip Van
Wrinkle experience, to find that my world, the world of the church, had
changed, and I had been left behind. Where had everyone gone? Most churches
were now talking about dysfunctional families, poor self-images, co-dependency,
addictions, 12-step programs, and needs, lots and lots of needs that the church
was supposed to meet. More Christians were obtaining their philosophy for
living from Oprah and Sally Jesse than from Jesus and Paul.
When Christian
leaders saw this metamorphosis of God’s people, a metamorphosis that they had
helped create, they could either pull in the reins, denounce this caricature of
the Christian faith and repent of their part in its birth, or they could jump
on the float and join the parade. Most, recognizing that this is what the
people now wanted, what they expected, what they had been trained to
"need," choose the float approach. Give Christians the need-oriented
pop-psychology that they had grown to love, they decided, just alter it a bit
with a little Scripture and some references to Jesus – they would never catch
on that what they were swallowing was not biblical Christianity at all, but an
almost unrecognizable perversion. Whether this
approach was calculated or naively taken matters little, the result is the
same: a psychologized Christian community which no
longer recognizes the difference between the teachings of Scripture and the
teachings of Carl Rogers, and no longer cares.
Since the
Christian was now indistinguishable in philosophy from the world, both having
fallen in love with psychobabble, the offense of the
cross became far less, well, offensive. It was only a short step for someone
(Robert Schuller is a worthy candidate as we will
see) to develop a psychologized church for the
already psychologized Unchurched
Harry (as the Willow Creekers call him). This would be a church that would
offer the same things to Harry that secular society offered only better, since
Jesus was better than a Carl Rogers, Oprah and Freud combined. And so it was —
"The new paradigm churches, then, appear to be succeeding, not because
they are offering an alternative to our modern culture, but because they are
speaking with its voice, mimicking its moves" (Losing Our Virtue,
by David Wells, p. 32).
A Little History
The church growth
movement owes much to Robert Schuller, who claims to
be its founder, at least in this country, by being the first to launch the
marketing approach in Christianity. "The secret of winning unchurched people into the church," Schuller said, "is really quite simple. Find out what
would impress the nonchurched in your community"
then give it to them (as quoted in Willow Creek Seeker Services, by G.S.
Pritchard, p. 51). Believing that expository preaching is a waste of time, and
borrowing the philosophy of his mentor Norman Vincent Peale, Schuller "began to communicate a message of
Christianity that focused on meeting the emotional and psychological needs of
people" (Pritchard, p. 53). Schuller laid out
his philosophy of ministry in his 1982 book Self Esteem: The New
Reformation, in which he called for a radical shift in the church’s focus
from God to human needs. The most important issue before Schuller
was to determine through some means what was the deepest human need upon which
the church should focus. He decided that mankind’s deepest need was
self-esteem, a "need," by the way, nowhere mentioned, alluded to or
even hinted at in the Scriptures. He then went on to wrap his theology and
church growth strategy around this all-important need. Originally Schuller’s church growth philosophy met with scorn and
denunciation by conservative Christians everywhere. But while Christian leaders
held the theological front against need-oriented Christianity they were
out-flanked by pragmatism. It just so happened that Schuller’s
methodology worked, and those who employed it were seeing exponential numerical
growth in their churches. In most arenas truth doesn’t stand a chance against
success; this proved to be the case in the church growth wars.
If Robert Schuller was the architect of the user-friendly church, then
Bill Hybels, pastor of Willow Creek Community church,
became the contractor. Working from the premise that, "The most effective
messages for seekers are those that address their felt need" (Inside
the Mind of Unchurched Harry and Mary, by Lee Strobel, pp. 214,215) it remained for Hybels
and company to determine which felt needs most needed attention. Leading the
pack, Hybels decided it was not self-esteem, although
he did not reject it, but rather personal fulfillment
(or the pursuit of happiness) followed by identity, companionship, marriage,
family, relief of stress, meaning and morality (ibid., pp. 70-73). To Hybels, fulfillment was the felt
need that encompassed and defined all others.
Since, to the
founders of the new paradigm church, felt needs are the driving force behind
the actions and attitudes of people, and since Christianity, Hybels would argue, is the best means to solve problems and
satisfy the desire for fulfillment (ibid., p. 143),
he developed the gospel of personal fulfillment.
According to the research book Willow Creek Seeker Services by G. A.
Pritchard, the canon within the canon at Willow Creek is that human beings can
be fulfilled. Fulfillment permeates every venue at
Willow Creek, even leading to a redefinement of sin.
"Instead of only portraying sin as selfishness and a rebellion against
God, Hybels also describes it as a flawed strategy to
gain fulfillment" (ibid., p. 177).
It should be noted that while this felt need strategy is not derived from Scripture, coming clearly from secular psychology, it nevertheless would become the foundation of the new paradigm church.
The Repercussions
The result of
psychology’s invasion of our culture has been, as R. Albert Mohler,
Jr. noticed, that "Americans are now fanatic
devotees of the cult of self-fulfillment and personal
autonomy" (The Coming Evangelical Crisis, edited by John H.
Armstrong, ’Evangelical’: What’s in a Name?" by R. Albert Mohler, Jr., p. 40). The role of
the church has been to challenge the spirit of the age, for as Wells points
out, "The church is in the business of truth, not profit" (God in
the Wasteland, by David Wells, p. 76). Unfortunately, "the healers of
our time – psychotherapists and advertisers – have extended their long reach
into the life of the church as well. Our secular healers have populated the
Church with their close cousins" (Losing Our Virtue, by David
Wells, p. 197). Even "the language of theology has been replaced by the
vocabulary of the therapeutic" (Mohler).
These new cousins
have affected every aspect of church life. Take worship for example — New
paradigm pastor Wes Dubin goes on the offensive when
his entertainment oriented worship services are challenged. "It (worship)
is not all gloom and doom," he states, "and all of us take our Bibles
and just bore each other, let’s show them that we can also have fun" (In
the Name of God, video with Peter Jennings). There is a time for fun in the
church but surely, "the purpose of worship is clearly to express the
greatness of God and not simply to find inward release or, still less,
amusement. Worship is theological rather than psychological" (Losing
Our Virtue, p. 40).
And then there is
the issue of sin. In a psychological world sin is reduced to sickness and
addiction. The sinner is not seen as depraved, but as a victim. What is then
lost is our capacity to understand life, and ourselves, as sinful. When the
seeker-sensitive church adopts the language and theology of psychology it then
attempts to dispense psychological prescriptions for life’s issues rather than
biblical ones, for after all, it reasons, the world now thinks within the
framework of psychology and we must be relevant. Rather than challenge and
confront the world’s wisdom the modern church is seeking to sanctify it. The
result is, as the prophet Jeremiah warned in his day, "They have healed
the brokenness of My people superficially" (Jeremiah 6:14).
The emphasis on
psychology is also changing the focus of the church. Pritchard is right when he
says, "Instead of looking at God’s face, this teaching suggests that
individuals look in the distorted mirror of modern psychology" (Pritchard,
p. 233). Pritchard claims that when he attended the church (ibid., pp. 227,
235), the majority of the books sold in Willow Creek’s bookstore were
psychological and self-help books, with the decidedly anti-Christian Codependent No More by Melody Beattie the top
seller. This accentuation on psychology, "instead of encouraging Creekers
to know and love God, encourages them to know and accept themselves and develop
a strong self-esteem. The goals and means of one’s ethics change from a God-centered to a human-centered
orientation…. Willow Creek Christians have accepted the psychological framework
as foundational to their self-understanding and as a trustworthy guide for
daily living" (Pritchard, p. 234).
Pritchard’s
assessment of the psychological influence at Willow Creek is lethal.
"Ironically, while Hybels is evangelizing
those in the world toward Christianity, he is also evangelizing
Christians toward the world. As the unchurched Harrys in the audience (10 percent) move closer to
Christianity, the Christians in the audience (90 percent) are often becoming
more psychological and worldly…. In the effort to become relevant Willow Creek
ironically is in danger of becoming irrelevant" (Pritchard, p. 238-239 —
Percentages of Christians and non-Christians attending Willow Creek are
estimates based upon the author’s research).
Pritchard’s
critique of the need-oriented approach to "doing church" is worthy of
quoting extensively:
The unintended
consequences of this approach are that Hybels
incorporates large chunks of the American psychological worldview into his
basic teaching and teaches that fulfilment is a consequence of the Christian
life. There is a lack of critical evaluation to Willow Creek’s approach to
relevance. This felt-need approach to relevance ultimately distorts their
Christianity.
A more
biblical approach to the current American fixation with fulfilment is to call
it the idolatry that it is. Jesus does not guarantee that to follow him
will make one fulfilled. In fact, at several points, the direct opposite is
communicated: "I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world
hates you" (John 15:19); "I did not come to bring peace but a
sword" (Matthew 10:34); "If they persecuted me they will persecute
you also" (John 15:20). The temptation to say that Christianity will meet
all one’s needs and provide fulfilment is not true to biblical Christianity
(Pritchard, p. 200 — emphasis mine).
Willow
Creek’s unintended failures result from an uncritical use of various cultural
tools and ideas (marketing, psychology, media). In particular, their mistakes
are rooted in a superficial understanding of the American culture and an
inadequate grasp of Christian theology (Pritchard, p. 207).
The
seeker-sensitive experts would defend marketing as a tool they use to attract
more Unchurched Harrys to
hear the gospel. Methods change, the message stays the same, is the cliche. What they naively do not seem to understand is that
the message will ultimately be shaped by the method. This is especially true of
marketing since it, "shapes how one views the world. People become
‘consumers’ and ‘target audiences.’ These consumers have ‘felt needs,’ which
‘research’ discovers in order to modify the ‘product’ to meet these needs"
(Pritchard, p. 244).
There exists a
subtle yet important difference between the New Testament church and the new
paradigm church. The church, the New Testament teaches, is to glorify God and
instruct people on how to please Him. In the process needs may very well be met
but the purpose of the church is not to meet people’s needs (except for the
need for godliness). In the modern church, needs reign; God exists to meet
Harry’s needs. Harry comes to Christ, not to glorify Him, but to find the
promised fulfilment and happiness in this life. When Harry is attracted through
a felt-need philosophy, he will not be retained when that approach is no longer
used. In other words, if Harry is drawn to the church in order to get,
in order to satisfy his flesh, he is not likely to stay around when and if he
discovers that Christ calls for him to lose his life for Christ’s sake (Matthew
16:25). The result is that churches which have been built on the quagmire of
the superficial must remain superficial if they hope to retain their Harrys and Marys.
Summary
David Wells asked the right question of these seeker-sensitive churches, "Does the Church have the courage to become relevant by becoming biblical? Is it willing to break with the cultural habits of the time and propose something quite absurd, like recovering both the word and the meaning of sin?" (Losing Our Virtue, p. 199)? "I fear that the seeds of a full-blown liberalism have now been sown, and in the next generation they will surely come to maturity" (ibid., p. 205). I agree with the closing sentence in Losing Our Virtue, "We need the faith of the ages, not the reconstructions of a therapeutically driven or commercially inspired faith. And we need it, not least, because without it our postmodern world will become starved for the Word of God" (ibid., p. 209).
Counterfeit money
is recognized by those who know how to identify the real thing. Before we
examine the gospel message found in the new paradigm churches, it would be best
to examine the gospel message found in the Bible. The gospel message in a
nutshell is this: Harry (to use Willow Creek’s name for the unsaved) is a
sinner, in full-blown rebellion against God (Rom. 3:23; 5:1-12). While some Harrys are outwardly religious and some even desire the
gifts and benefits that God can supply, no Harrys
truly seek after God or desire Him (Rom. 3:10-18). As a result of Harry’s
sinfulness he is under the wrath of God (Rom. 1:18), faces future judgment
(Heb. 9:27), will die both physically and spiritually (Rom. 6:23) and will
spend eternity in hell (Rev. 20:11-15).
It is because of
Harry’s hopeless plight, and the fact that he can do nothing to redeem himself
in God’s eyes (Titus 3:5), that Jesus Christ (through grace alone, not because
of Harry’s value and worth, Eph. 2:8) became a man, died on the cross (Rom.
5:8) (thus taking Harry’s sin upon Himself and satisfying the wrath of God,
Heb. 2:17) and resurrected from the dead in order that Harry could be saved
from his sin and be given the righteousness of Christ (Rom 4). While all of
this is a gift from God, Harry obtains that gift through the exercise of faith
(Eph 2:8,9) – purely taking God at his word, trusting that God will save him if
only he truly believes.
What I hope to
demonstrate in this paper is that while many within the seeker-sensitive stable
would ascribe to most of the above definition for the gospel, in reality, this
is not how the gospel is being presented to Harry. Rather Harry is being told
that he is so valuable to God that He sent His Son to die for him (a denial of
grace, cf. Hebrews 1-2 which lays out the case for God’s grace through the
unique method of showing that Christ did not die for angels who are of greater
value than man, but he died for man – by grace alone). Harry is being told that
if he will come to Christ, Christ will meet all of his felt needs and that will
lead to personal fulfilment. Harry is then being asked to trust in Christ, the
great "Needs-Meeter," who will end his
search for a life of happiness and fulfilment.
This, I suggest,
is not the gospel at all, but the "Gospel of Me", the "Gospel of
Self-Fulfilment," the "New Gospel." "We must never confuse
our desire for people to accept the Gospel," Oswald Chambers warned long ago,
"with creating a Gospel that is acceptable to people." "How we define the problem will define our gospel. If the
‘big problem’ in the universe is my lack of self-esteem, the gospel will be
‘finding the neat person inside of yourself.’ If the great question is ‘How can
we fix society?’ the gospel will be a set of moral agendas complete with a list
of approved candidates. But how often do we discuss the ‘big problem’ as
defined by Scripture? That problem is the wrath of God" (The Coming
Evangelical Crisis, Edited by John Armstrong, "Recovering the Plumb
Line," by Michael S. Horton, p. 256).
Harry
Would Come to Church But…
The reason Unchurched Harry is unchurched
is, to the market-driven proponents, a matter of Harry being a fallen creature
who has rejected God and has little, if any attraction toward the things of
God. Right? No, not at all. Rather, Harry would love to come to church, and
ultimately receive Christ, if only the church would learn to market and present
its product better. Lee Strobel, former teaching
pastor at Willow Creek, now with Saddleback Community, assures us that
marketing studies have shown that "Harry has rejected church, but that
doesn’t necessarily mean he has rejected God" (Inside the Mind of Unchurched Harry and Mary, by Lee Strobel,
p. 45). Yet, the Scriptures are very clear that mankind does reject God (Rom.
3:10-18; 5:1-12; I Cor. 1:18ff). What surveys show is
that people have not rejected the gods of their own creation and imagination —
but they do not seek the true God.
Actually what we learn, from marketing study, is that the real reason Harry doesn’t come to church is because church is boring, predictable, irrelevant, money hungry (ibid. p. 80), and does not meet his needs (ibid. p. 58). The new paradigm church operates under the credo that Harry is "Hostile to the church, friendly to Jesus Christ" (ibid. p. 47). They "have the misconception that to win the world to Christ we must first win the world’s favor. If we can get the world to like us, they will embrace our Savior. The expressed design of the user-friendly philosophy is to make unconverted sinners feel comfortable with the Christian message" (Reckless Faith, by John MacArthur, p. 52).
It is clear, when
one studies Scripture rather than marketing surveys, that the seeker-sensitive
church’s gospel message is flawed at its roots – it has a faulty anthropology.
It views Harry as attracted, even friendly with God, but turned off by the
out-dated methods of the church. Once that premise is accepted the
methodologies of the user-friendly church are logical. All that remains is to
discover what Harry wants in a church, and in a God, and give it to him in an
attractive package. In other words, make him an offer he can’t refuse. On the
negative side we must understand that "Unchurched
Harry doesn’t respond well to someone who predicates a command on, ‘Thus sayeth the Lord’" (ibid. p. 50). Nor is the way to
Harry’s heart through the porthole of truth. For, you see, Harry is a
pragmatist; his question is does Christianity work (ibid. p. 56)? Harry is also
an existentialist; "Experience – not evidence – is their mode of
discovery" (ibid. p. 59).
Now that we know
that Harry is not motivated by the commands of God, nor is he all that
interested in truth, we can abandon the direct approach. And since he is
looking for something that will help him reach his goals in life and to feel
good in the process, we are ready to package the gospel to draw his attention.
The new paradigm church does this by focusing on the gospel of felt need.
"The Church’s problem today is simply that it does not believe that,
without tinkering, the Gospel will be all that interesting to modern
people" (Losing Our Virtue, by David Wells, p. 207). And so tinker
it must.
The
Gospel of Felt Need
From psychology
the seeker-sensitive church has discovered that both baby boomers and busters
have —
Learned to
expect that their needs should be met, jobs would be provided, money would be
available, and problems would be solved. The result is a generation of young
adults who want and expect everything right away. Life is to be lived for the
present. There is little awareness of a philosophy that says we should make
long-range plans, or work hard today so things will be better tomorrow. This is
a ‘now’ generation that has little interest in any religion that talks about
sacrifices, heaven, or ‘the sweet by-and-by.’ They want to hear about a faith
that works now and brings immediate results (Strobel,
p. 57).
If this is true,
how are we to proclaim the gospel to a pampered, self-centered
generation that demands society meet their every whim? Previous generations,
including biblical ones, would use these traits to point to evidence of sin in
Harry’s life. They would call Harry to repentance from such a lifestyle, and to
faith in Christ for forgiveness of such sins. Then they would challenge
new-believer Larry to abandon his self-centeredness, call for a life of
self-sacrifice, humbly allowing the Spirit of God to transform him into Christlikeness.
But the modern
church sees it differently. Strobel writes, "Our
challenge, then, is to help this new generation of Unchurched
Harry’s understand that Christianity does work, that is, that the God of the
Bible offers us supernatural wisdom and assistance in our struggles,
difficulties, and recovery from past hurts" (ibid.). Strobel
is suggesting that "this new generation" is unlike the past
generations, and therefore must be reached differently than the past. What
worked at one time simply does not speak to today’s Harry. Wells has nailed
down the prevailing attitude when he writes, "What our culture suggests is
that all of the greatest treasures of life are at hand, quite simply, in the
self. Religious man was born to be saved, but psychological man was born to be
pleased. ‘I believe’ has been replaced by ‘I feel.’ The problem is that we have
not been feeling so well recently" (Losing Our Virtue, by David
Wells, p. 107).
There is just
enough truth in Strobel’s statement to throw most of
us off guard. Does Christianity work? Does God offer wisdom and help during
times of struggle? Certainly, but is this the gospel? Is the good news that
Christ died for our sins in order to free us from the wrath of God and give us
the righteousness of Christ; or is the good news that Christ died in order that
we might feel better about ourselves and have our felt needs met? These are two
separate gospels.
A few more quotes
from Strobel’s book will help identify exactly what
the new paradigm church is offering the unbeliever. "We baby boomers
aren’t coming to church to become members," said one pastor, himself a
boomer. "We are coming to experience something. Yes, even to get
something" (Strobel, p. 71 — emphasis in the
original). What is it that Harry wants to experience? Strobel
supplies some examples. "If you discover that unchurched
Harry suffers from a sagging self-esteem… you can tell him how your own
self-esteem has soared ever since you learned how much you matter to God"
(ibid. p. 92). Never mind that the concept of self-esteem is foreign to
Scripture, even anti-scriptural; never mind that the real issue that Harry
struggles with, according to the Bible, is pride not low self-esteem; the
gospel is now gift-wrapped to offer Harry what he has been conditioned to
believe he needs.
Not everybody is
in need of an ego boost however; some are looking for thrills, excitement, and
adventure. Fortunately for the quick-minded evangelist the gospel resembles a
chameleon, taking whatever shade is needed. Strobel
assures such thrill-seekers that he "learned that there is nothing more
exciting, more challenging, and more adventure-packed than living as a devoted
follower of Jesus Christ. What I found is that there’s a big difference,
between thrills and thrills that fulfil" (ibid. p. 124 —
emphasis in the original).
So now Jesus Christ can be offered as the big thrill, the ultimate in excitement. Not only is this a misrepresentation of Christ but it just does not square with the facts. I wonder how thrilled the saints described in Hebrews 11:36-38 were as they were mocked, beaten, put to death, became homeless and lived in holes in the ground. The new paradigm church is offering a purely Americanized, yuppie brand of Christianity found nowhere in the New Testament. "Much of the Gospel presented today befits less the God of the ages than a fairy Godmother – offering people by God’s hand what they’ve been unable to achieve for themselves: wealth, fame, comfort, and security" (Wayne Jacobsen as quoted from Leadership, Vol. IV, #1, p. 50).
The
Gospel of Fulfillment
G. A. Pritchard,
after spending a year studying the ministry at Willow Creek, eventually came to
the conclusion that "Hybels’ believes that
Harry’s most important concern is for his personal fulfillment….
Hybels teaches that Christianity will satisfy Harry’s
felt needs and provide fulfillment…. Hybels and the other speakers do not condemn the search for
fulfillment. Rather they argue that Harry has not
searched in the right place. The question remains the same, but the answer has
been changed. Harry asks, ‘How can I be happy?’ ‘Accept Jesus, answers Hybels’" (Willow Creek Seeker Services by G. A.
Pritchard, p. 250). Pritchard’s analysis is on the money,
Is Willow
Creek correct in their teaching that a relationship with Christ will provide a
life of fulfilment? In a word, no…. Personal fulfilment is the dominant goal of
the vast majority of Americans. In this context it is a great temptation for
American evangelicals to argue that Christianity is a means to fulfilment and
the church becomes another place that promises to satisfy emotional desires….
To argue for Christianity primarily by pointing to its usefulness in satisfying
felt needs is to ultimately undercut it. To teach Christianity as a means
eventually teaches that it is superfluous. If someone is able to satisfy his or
her felt needs without Christ, the message of Christianity can be discarded….
The bottom line why individuals should repent and worship God is because God
deserves it. Fulfilment theology does not reflect the teaching of the Bible. We
find in Scripture vast evidence that Christianity is often not
"fulfilling," Jesus promises his disciples that "in this world
you will have trouble."… The Lord did not promise fulfilment, or even
relief, in this world, but only in the next… . Fulfilment is not a spiritual
birthright of Christians. The goal of a Christian’s life is faithfulness, not
fulfilment (Pritchard, p. 254-256).
Sociologist Robert
Wuthnow, attempting to examine modern Christianity,
"suggests that in contemporary America, God has been molded
to satisfy people’s needs…. God is relevant to contemporary Americans mainly
because the sense of God’s presence is subjectively comforting; that is,
religion solves personal problems rather than addressing broader
questions" (As quoted in Pritchard, p. 260). Hybels
has caught this wave and presents a sanguine portrayal of God to unchurched Harry that could be summarized, "God loves
you and will meet you where you are, forgive you, and meet your felt needs and
make you fulfilled" (Pritchard, p. 260). John MacArthur
comments, "Marketing savvy demands that the offense
of the cross must be downplayed. Salesmanship requires that negative subjects
like divine wrath be avoided. Consumer satisfaction means that the standard of
righteousness cannot be raised too high. The seeds of a watered-down gospel are
thus sown in the very philosophy that drives many ministries today" (Ashamed
of the Gospel, by John MacArthur, p. 24).
Summary
In response to
those who object to the new gospel Strobel counters
that "these objections generally relate to the method that’s used to
communicate the Gospel, not the message itself, and consequently we’re free to
use our God-given creativity to present Christ’s message in new ways that our
target audience will connect with" (Strobel, p.
168). This is simply not the case. While some of the methods may disturb us it
is their message that is of real concern. The new paradigm church would loudly
proclaim that salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ
alone. But they have redefined salvation. Salvation is not simply, under the
new gospel, the forgiveness of sin and the imputation of righteousness. It is
not a deliverance from the wrath of God upon a deserving and rebellious people.
The new gospel is
a liberation from low self-esteem, a freedom from emptiness and loneliness, a
means of fulfilment and excitement, a way to receive your heart’s desires, a
means of meeting our needs. The old gospel was about God; the new gospel is
about us. The old gospel was about sin; the new gospel is about needs. The old
gospel was about our need for righteousness; the new gospel is about our need
for fulfilment. The old gospel is foolishness to those who are perishing; the
new gospel is attractive. Many are flocking to the new gospel but it is
altogether questionable how many are actually being saved. In a moment of
reflection on the validity of the methods used at Willow Creek Hybels himself asked the audience, "How many of us
have been vaccinated with a mild case of Christianity? How many among us have
the real disease" (as quoted by Pritchard, p. 316)?
"Nothing in
Scripture indicates the church should lure people to Christ by presenting
Christianity as an attractive option…. The message of the cross is foolishness
to those who are perishing (I Cor. 1:18). There is no
way to make it otherwise and be faithful to the message…. The gospel itself is
disagreeable, unattractive, repulsive, and alarming to the world. It exposes
sin, condemns pride, convicts the unbelieving heart, and shows human
righteousness – even the best, most appealing aspects of human nature – to be
worthless, defiled, filthy rags (cf. Isa. 64:6)"
(MacArthur, pp. 72, 111, 128).
Spurgeon warned
his day that, "When the old faith is gone, and enthusiasm for the gospel
is extinct, it is no wonder that people seek something else in the way of
delight. Lacking bread, they feed on ashes; rejecting the way of the Lord, they
run greedily in the path of folly" (As quoted in Ashamed of the Gospel,
by John MacArthur, p. 67).
We are forced to ask, with Peter Jennings in the thought-provoking video, In the Name of God, "As these churches try to attract sell-out crowds are they in danger of selling out the gospel?" Worthy question. Rather than winning the lost for Christ the truth is closer to Well’s assessment, "The church is losing its voice. It should be speaking powerfully to the brokenness of life in this postmodern world and applying the balm of truth to wounds that are fresh and open, but it is not. It is adrift" (Losing Our Virtue, by David Wells, p. 207).