What do I mean by
consumer Christianity? Generally, it is any attempt to build the kingdom
of God or build up the individual Christian (or attract the potential
convert to Christianity) by means and methods that appeal to the flesh,
i.e., the deceitful and self-serving heart of man. It had its beginning in
the Garden of Eden when Satan manipulated Eve into disobeying God while
believing she was enriching herself (Gn 3:1-6).
More specifically related to what’s taking
place today, consumer Christianity is an endeavor to help Christian
churches grow in size and become more effective through the application of
business principles, marketing strategies, and management concepts. It
characterizes the most popular venture in Christendom today, which should
seem rather odd, if not disturbing, to anyone who has an understanding of
both “consumerism” and “Christianity.” Why? Because these terms are
antagonistic to one another.
Consumerism in the business sense is a concept based upon
customer satisfaction, which is the key to any successful commercial
enterprise. The product or service must be tailored to the wants and
perceived needs of the customer, or there is no sustainable profit. The
consumer rules, because where there is no customer, there is no profit
and, therefore, no business. God rules in biblical Christianity. It is His
revelation to humanity regarding “all things that pertain unto life and
godliness”
(2 Pt 1:3).
Simply put, biblical Christianity encompasses all that is necessary for
man-kind to know and do in order to be reconciled to Him, to please Him
daily, and to live with Him for all eternity. It is not a business
endeavor and, in fact, has no relationship to business or its associated
marketing concepts.
Any attempt to enhance the practice of
biblical Christianity by means of business principles is, at best, adding
futile methodologies to God’s Word. At worst, such an attempt rejects the
sufficiency of the Scriptures in favor of works of the flesh, quenches the
Holy Spirit, and subjects one to the deceptions of, the service of, and in
the end, the bondage of the god of this world. In any case, it leads to
spiritual destruction in the church and has eternal consequences.
Consumer Christianity is at the heart of the
church-growth movement, and its deadly effect is found among all
denominations (as well as pseudo-Christian cults). Many evangelical
churches have committed themselves wholeheartedly to a marketing approach
aimed primarily at attracting the lost, who are viewed as potential
customers. As unbelievers attend the church and mix with new and
long-standing members, the consumer concept unavoidably spreads to the
entire congregation. This inevitably effects the preaching, music, Sunday
School programs, etc., which in turn produces a biblical shallowness
throughout the congregation.
More often than not, the business approach has been successful in adding
numbers to a church. Tens of thousands of pastors across the U.S., and
thousands more internationally, have been influenced by high-profile
ministries and have put to use their various marketing methodologies for
soul-winning and church growth.
Is that the
biblical way to win souls and effect growth in the church?
To some biblical Christians the answer is an
obvious “No!” But to increasing numbers who also claim to hold to the
Bible as their authoritative and all-sufficient source of God’s truth,
“No” has given way to “Possibly…Perhaps…,” or “Let’s be careful not to
throw the baby out with the bath water!” Well, let’s strain the water to
see if there is indeed a baby to rescue.
Is consumerism supported by the Scriptures?
Did God shape His Gospel to gratify the worldly desires of humanity? Are
there some things in the Bible that should be strategically avoided in
order not to put off “potential” believers? Does God’s Word reflect a
concern that people might take their “business” elsewhere if their felt
needs aren’t being met? Does the Bible tell us to make the truth more
acceptable by feeding it to the lost in diluted or entertaining forms? And
is it really the gospel that saves if it’s altered to cater to
non-Christians? If any believer even remotely thinks so, I fear that the
thinking of the world has grievously influenced his understanding of the
Bible.
Certainly, pastors ought to know better, yet
in most cases where consumerism has infected a church, they have been
instrumental in implementing it. The pastors to whom I am referring here,
and am most concerned about, are those who consider themselves to be
biblical, who sincerely want to see souls saved, and who honestly want to
fulfill their calling and ministry in a way that is pleasing to God. How
could such a shepherd of the sheep be drawn into consumer Christianity?
The process often develops subtly. Let’s say a
pastor loves his church members and wants them to be happy. He also wants
them to grow spiritually, and he is always looking for ways for new sheep
to be added to his flock. When conflicts arise or growth expectations are
not realized, solutions to such problems are often sought from others who
have been seemingly successful regarding those issues. The recommended
remedies almost always involve some form of accommodation.
For example, a very common church conflict
today is that of different tastes in music, which is usually resolved by
establishing separate services—one with traditional hymns and one
featuring contemporary songs. As that alteration seems to satisfy most
members, many pastors are encouraged to add more souls to their church by
combining the attraction of contemporary music with seeker-sensitive
(appealing and non-threatening) messages presented in a convenient and
casual Saturday evening service. Innovative programs are then formulated
to sustain the interest of would-be converts and motivate the rarely
active church members, with particular emphasis on entertaining activities
to attract the youth and keep them coming.
Pastors tell me that they reluctantly glean
ideas from the world in order to compete with the world that they might
reach the lost in order to save them from the world. They’re aware of the
irony of that approach but argue that it’s the only way to avoid preaching
to empty pews. The preaching, by the way, is often shortened
and supplemented by visuals, skits, and music
productions.
This is a
path that, though seemingly harmless at first, leads to the broad road of
consumer Christianity. Although we empathize with pastors who feel
compelled (some even coerced by church politics) to go down that
thoroughfare, it is paved with biblical compromises and headed for a
spiritual dead end.
This
church-growth enterprise is hardly new to Christianity. It is a chronicle
of doing things man’s way rather than God’s way. Fourth century Emperor
Constantine has yet to be equaled in successful strategies for “growing
the church.” He professed to have become a Christian and induced half of
the Roman Empire to do likewise. This era of compromises made by the
Emperor (the self-appointed “Vicar of Christ”/“Bishop of bishops”) in
order to draw in new converts is characterized by Will Durant in The
Story of Civilization as a time in which “the world converted
Christianity.”1 Another historian writes, “Far from being a
source of improvement [over the persecution the Christians previously
suffered], this [political] alliance was a source of ‘greater danger and
temptation’….[I]ndiscriminately filling the churches [with pagans]…simply
washed away the clear moral landmarks that separated the ‘church’ from the
‘world.’”2
One millennium later, Martin
“Luther saw and felt [religious] Rome utterly abandoned to money, luxury,
and kindred evils,” writes Edwin Booth. “He was stunned and unable to
understand it.”3
Nevertheless, he and others did something about it. The clarion call of
the Reformation was “Sola Scriptura!” and, although “Scripture
alone” wasn’t followed entirely, God’s Word and His way were restored as
the authority and rule of life for millions deceived by the devastating
compromise that became the Roman Catholic Church.
Consumer Christianity has never been a one-way
affair. It takes both a deal maker and a deal taker. Tetzel, the
sixteenth-century Dominican monk and the “P.T. Barnum” of the sale of
Indulgences, was a master manipulator. Even so, his job was made all the
easier by “indulging” the self-serving natures of his Catholic customers.
Both rich and poor alike were willing to pay anything to avoid the flames
of Hell and Purgatory.
Protestantism
has had its own share of both spiritual rip-off artists and consumers ripe
for the picking. Whereas Tetzel’s “fund raising” was instrumental in
building St. Peter’s in Rome, the “health and prosperity” evangelists of
the twentieth century (many still going strong today) helped build Trinity
Broadcasting Network into the largest religious television network in the
world. By distorting and turning the biblical doctrine of faith into a
power anyone can use to obtain wealth and healing, these con men and women
have personally amassed fortunes at the expense of the biblically feeble
and illiterate, as well as from those “...whose God is their belly, and
whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things”
(Phil 3:19).
During the last fifty years, those most
susceptible to the schemes of religious charlatans were professing
Christians who had an affinity for spiritual experiences rather
than sound doctrine. They were usually found among the Pentecostals
and Charismatics. Most thoughtful, doctrine-conscious Christians seemed to
be immune to the “seed faith” come-ons of an Oral Roberts or the
blasphemous “Holy Spirit” power displays of a Benny Hinn, two leaders
among a host of other “signs and wonders” promoters.
However, spiritual gullibility has found
fertile soil—or, more pointedly, a widening swamp—among those who
traditionally have fostered biblical discernment. Although the seductive
methodologies are slightly different, the basis for an effective spiritual
deception is the same: no Christians, evangelical or otherwise, are
impervious to “…all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the
lust of the eyes, and the pride of life…” (1 Jn 2:16). Furthermore, the
only safeguard against such deception—the reading of and obedience to the
Word of God in the power of the Holy Spirit—is being systematically
diluted throughout the evangelical church.
Church history has demonstrated the necessity
of adhering to God’s Word; when that takes place, holiness and
fruitfulness follow. When biblical Christianity is adulterated (by adding
the methods of men) or abandoned altogether, man’s religious distortions
prevail, leading the professing church into spiritual anemia and
blindness: “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end
thereof are the ways of death” (Prv 14:12). There is also a
correlation between the depth of a church’s reliance upon the Scriptures
and its acceptance of heretical beliefs and practices. As a church reaches
a shallow state with regard to biblical understanding, the ability of its
members to discern false teaching becomes practically impossible.
Consumer Christianity’s most deadly effect is
what it does to the presentation of the gospel of salvation, the only hope
a person has to be reconciled to God. It is nearly always a subtle sales
pitch featuring all the wonderful things God has for mankind: He loves
them so much and desires to have them spend eternity with Him, and they
are significant and of infinite worth. This then becomes the reason for
Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. That mixture of truths and self-indulging
distortions is followed by a brief “sinner’s prayer” being repeated by
those who were persuaded by the enticing offer. This method has become so
commonplace that it’s difficult for some Christians to recognize any
problem, let alone realize how misleading it is with regard to a person
truly being saved.
How so? Let’s start with someone who is
genuinely saved and work backwards. Everyone who is born again by the
Spirit of God has a new heart, one filled with God’s love, for Him and for
others, as well as for His teachings. He or she is a new creation, and
although not perfect in these things, there resides within that person a
heart that desires to please God rather than self.
One explicit example of this is found in Luke
7:36-50, involving the woman of sinful reputation who entered the home of
Simon the Pharisee, where Jesus was invited to dine. She washed His feet
with her tears, dried them with her hair, and kissed them repeatedly.
Jesus declared of her that she loved much because she was forgiven much.
These passages teach how essential
conviction of sin is in coming to Christ. The self-righteous and
self-serving Pharisee had little or no conviction of sin and therefore
sought no forgiveness. The woman, on the other hand, gave no thought to
herself or the disdain with which she was regarded by the dinner guests.
Her thankfulness that Jesus would and did cleanse her of her sins
compelled her to die to self and live for Him.
The gospel according to consumer Christianity,
on the other hand, must make its appeal to self, emphasizing things
(both true and distorted) that meet the felt needs of the lost. This
seriously restricts all but a hint of any biblical doctrines that would
bring about conviction of sin. What’s the problem? Jesus came to save
sinners, not consumers.
In the next newsletter, we will further
examine how some of today’s consumer-oriented concepts and methods are
taking hold in the evangelical church while perverting long-established
teachings and practices based on the Word of God.