Many noticed, few listened

I’m guessing that there are many, many people who have been employed as “worship leaders” or other kinds of leadership– lay, staff, or otherwise — over the past couple decades who might concur with these observations. What follows is not “news.” But read on if you must…

As the well-intentioned  ”seeker sensitive”  movement and its propositions/assumptions about what will attract people to church so they will hear the gospel was broadcast across the evangelical church, those churches concerned that they were not measuring up to growth expectations and accepted said propositions/assumptions  started listening up and making changes in the way they ‘did church.’  Here’s what I began to see in those churches I worked in that began to make this switch:

1) Attempts to incorporate highly-produced contemporary music into the worship services  - without any professional players on hand

2) Attempts to incorporate drama – without competent, experienced thespians available.

3) Thousands of dollars invested in A/V equipment to support the above, and to broadcast Willow-provided video when the above proved to be driving people away due to its lack of slick professionalism (go figure).

4) Pastors preaching sermon after Sunday sermon directed toward “seekers” …that weren’t there !

5) People who used to teach bible studies and other kinds of small group experiences recruited for drama, clicking PowerPoint slides, “servant evangelism” events (the seeker-sensitive version of product promotion – not to be confused with the kind of servant evangelism where the recipient doesn’t know what church you’re representing as you serve) and other kinds of newly created positions.

6) “Spiritual Gifts” inventories distributed that promised to determine where to place people in personally-rewarding kinds of busyness –  which oddly enough landed most people up in volunteering to do something related to putting on the new brand of Sunday production…

7) Due to all of the above, decreasing numbers of  “satisfied,” mature followers of Christ…  and a slow trickle out the back door. Most really tried; but they just didn’t seem to “fit in” any more.   They were called “immature” or “selfish” of course  as they left ( for not buying in to the program). And it’s possible  some were selfish — but maybe not for that reason…

8 ) Replacement of those who left with people who did “fit in” and in many cases, exponential growth as a new kind of person was attracted to the new kind of Sunday gathering.

Churches that followed Willow Creek’s model are now largely populated with a “certain kind” of  christian.  The model does what it does. You get the kind of church you nurture. Its a really important principle. Who you drive away and why  is as significant as who you “attract”  –and why.

Now I come from a background where we were already singing contemporary songs in our worship gatherings, and if there was “drama” it was when the pastor reached a particularly “heavy” section of scripture and some “seekers” were moved by the Spirit of God to repent and be saved! Servant evangelism wasn’t “new” — but nobody carried around bottles of water with church business-cards attached to them either.  It was pretty low-tech, too, for a long time. It just wasn’t on the radar screen to produce slick events in order to attract the unsaved. I guess we figured that the unsaved might want to come to church for other reasons — for instance, that the equipped, nurtured, healthy believers attending the church would naturally invite others to their wonderful church!

“Healthy sheep reproduce,” was the adage.  I think its a very good one.

I know there are many views on spiritual gifts. I happen to be a person who believes God bestows spiritual gifts along with the indwelling of the Spirit,  when a person is “born from above” (John 3:3 ) and that these gifts relate directly to the development, nurture, maturation and longevity of the Church.  The gifts are given to people who have been joined to the body of Christ, and these gifts and are expressed in and through people.  The  church is a “body” — a metaphor given to us in Scripture that helps us understand the way this works.  The gifts are like body parts and the Spirit of God ligaments that hold them all together in unity and healthy functionality. Jesus is the head of this “body.”As bodies go,  healthy churches are those that are mindful of and adhere to what has already been said about what makes for a healthy body. For example, here are some  healthy practices.

Is anyone listening today? I am encouraged that yes, there seem to be…