• The Probem of Church Shopping

    December 10, 2008

    Church shopping is an unfortunate reality of our time.  Made possible by a Church divided and disunited, and complicated by a culture of hyper-individualism and hyper-consumerism, we tend to form our ecclesiologies around what will attract those who are looking for a church home.

    We’ll put aside for a second the fact that those who are far from Jesus are the least likely to shop for a church so that I can ask your opinion on a question I have been wrestling with.

    It can be argued that Christians, at least those of the evangelical persuasion and who have been shaped by modernity, shop for churches based on whether or not they “preach the gospel,” or “believe the Bible.”  Therefore, these churches get evaluated based on peoples experience of attending a handful of worship services.

    Conversely, younger Christians, who are more shaped by postmodernity are more inclined to shop for a church based on whether or not it is actually attempting to live out the gospel and seeking to enter the story of Scripture.  The only way to evaluate a church using these criteria is to actually enter into community – to get to know, have conversations, and share life with the people who make up the community.

    To me, it seems that this is not a good postmodern strategy, but is actually more in keeping with biblical faithfulness of what it means to be the church- that we want to attract people to how we live and not what we say. Some would say, “We need modern churches to reach modern people and postmodern churches to reach postmodern people.”  It seems to me that this runs the risk of taking our cues from culture rather than from the gospel.  Incarnation, in my estimation, is not an attempt to play by the rules of culture, but to enter into culture and subvert it with the ways of Jesus.  Ok, please, your thoughts.

    Related Posts with Thumbnails
    • Share/Bookmark

    Posted in: christendom, church, modernity, postmodernity

This website uses IntenseDebate comments, but they are not currently loaded because either your browser doesn't support JavaScript, or they didn't load fast enough.

Recent Comments

  • Jon said...

    1

    What if we want a church to preach and live out the gospel? Wacky concept.

    I am not a history expert but at some point in the past the Church stopped shaping culture and began reflecting their current culture.
    I like (I think it is from Tim Keller) the idea of being the alien (sojourner) and member of the culture. We are different and we should bring salt into our culture. At the same time we can use our membership in the culture to advance the kingdom. We can do things say someone from an alternate culture could never do.
    Does that make any sense?

    How do we find that balance though?

    12/11/08 11:16 AM | Comment Link

  • Emily said...

    2

    But isn’t it kinda both? I’m not gonna go join the local Unitarian church because I like the way they live-out their faith in community. I know that’s not exactly what you’re saying, but I think it’s important to make sure that the church is preaching the Gospel in a healthy way (so you don’t get trapped at Joel Osteen’s church or something) before/while you get to know the community there. But at the same time, it’s probably kinda rare to have an awesome community of people who are living-out the gospel if it’s not being faithfully taught at that church. I definitely don’t love the fact that people church-shopping are often just pastor-shopping… looking around for a pastor and worship style that clicks with them, often never bothering to get to know anyone else in the process. Then a few years later you have people who love their pastor but that’s the only reason they’re at the church, and they’re not even really involved in anything the church is doing. (that’s kinda a whole other bigger issue, though) It seems like when we ask people around here about their church and why they like it, we get an answer about what their pastor is like and why they like him. (of course we heard this a ton from people at home, too) Thankfully, the church we’ve been going to since moving here has the good pastor/great biblical teaching/community that’s living it out combo. =)

    12/11/08 11:41 AM | Comment Link

  • JR Rozko said...

    3

    @Jon – I didn’t mean to draw that dichotomy, but you show me a church that is living out the gospel and I will show you one that is being taught well. I think we would be hardpressed to claim that the reverse is true. I think I am with you in what you said after that and would be the first to call the church to live out a peculiar existence in the world.

    @Emily – If the local Unitarian church is actually living out the gospel of Jesus that is exactly where you should be. My guess is that they aren’t really doing that, which is why discernment is necessary. Yes, I’m with you, the over-emphasis we put on a preacher (and simultaneously one gift of the Spirit) undermines what it means to be the Body of Christ and reeks havoc on the sustainability of communities. Another reason that I find this discussion so important.

    12/11/08 12:37 PM | Comment Link

  • Sam Andress said...

    4

    Just a hearty Amen! And this post reminds of when Lesslie Newbigin said, “if we begin with culture we are never taken back to gospel, if we begin with gospel, we ourselves are transformed and enter into culture to put flesh on the gospel.”

    Basically what you said, JR! Great post.

    12/11/08 5:35 PM | Comment Link

  • JR Rozko said...

    5

    Thanks Sam, hadn’t com across that quote from Newbigin, but I love it – brilliant guy.

    12/12/08 8:43 AM | Comment Link

  • Jon said...

    6

    @JR – I agree. There is an appearance of living out the gospel where we need to use discernment as you said. Many places doing good “things” for possibly the wrong reasons. I would not be one to tell who is wrong or right in that area. Being post-modern as we are do we risk “being sucked in” to a community that may be askew? When we put emotional and social energy into a community there is an investment there we often find hard to admit, “At first this group was great, but I now realize they are nuts.”
    Could we sometimes compromise some truth for the sake of how awesome the community seems?
    Personal story: When I was a new Christian I was a part of a community that looked really good. One day from the pastor there was something said that was fairly outlandish to the congregation. 99 of 100 people kind of just moved right along not thinking about what was said and how wrong it could be. The community was great and they did lots of good “stuff” but the proclamation was “bent”. I wonder how often things that may be flat out false teaching go unchallenged in a place like that?

    Sorry if I wandered off topic.

    12/12/08 10:52 AM | Comment Link

  • Mandy & Lee said...

    7

    I kind of would like to see some simple posts from you sometime. Like… “Why do I refuse to wear socks and shoes in the wintertime?!”

    12/12/08 3:24 PM | Comment Link

  • From Pragmatics to Formation said...

    8

    [...] friend Sam reminded me of a quote by Lesslie Newbigin recently, …if we begin with culture we are never taken back to [...]

    12/18/08 12:03 PM | Comment Link

Leave A Comment

Mail (will not be published) (required)