lifeasmission

I nearly wept as I read and thought through some of the major trends of many churches in the US.  That churches have become so blind to their adoption of the tricks and tactics of consumer culture is indeed sad.  Sadder, and more disturbing still, is that it is a logical consequent of the theology out of which these churches operate. 

If people are understood as individual monads, relating to others only insomuch as the choose to, and if salvation is understood as helping these individual monads secure a place in heaven after they die, then truly, the core of what it means to be a Christian is in effect a marketable commodity and we ought to do everything in our power to sell them on it.

If, on the other hand, people, communities, and cultures, are inherently relational, with no real option to stand apart from others, and if salvation is not primarily about getting souls into heaven after death, but announcing and embodying the present and coming reign of Christ who aims to restore the whole of the created universe, then the core of what it means to be a christian is in no way a commodity to be sold, or even given, but rather a reality to be expressed and one in which we have the opportuinity to invite others.

Consumerism is a problem, that much is plain.  But the real issue at hand, the great need of our churches, is a rediscovery of God and his intention for both his covenant people, the church, the body of christ, and the world at large.