Alan Hirsch in his new book Untamed says, “of all the ways culture influences the church, nothing has had more of an impact on us than that of a consumerist view of society.” We have been nurtured in a system of good & services that attacks us in a really disturbing way. It tells us what our basic needs are & aren’t. For example, my 8 year old son was watching cartoons the other day when suddenly the commercial came on for moon sand, some ridiculous type of sand that sticks together & who’s only promise should be “this will make a mess”. The commercial ends with the phrase, “every kid needs moonsand!” So he thought he needed it. He said with all sincerity, “dad every kid needs it.” I explained to him without any real success that every kid needs, food & water, clothes, a home, love and a relationship with God. Moon sand doesn’t really make that list, but even from a young age we are indoctrinated into a consumeristic culture that effects how we view everything!
Every other commercial teaches us that their product is more than a want but a need. More than a could have and more of a must have and we buy it. We buy the product and we buy the lie. The lie that we are some how less than whole if we don’t own the latest technology, the latest comfort or unless we haven’t tried the double down from KFC. It is a frightening lie because it reaches past our questions of what we desire and attacks our basic human needs. Suddenly our pursuit of the products of our culture somehow becomes intertwined with our pursuit of joy & happiness.
I would love to report that the church has been unaffected by the longing of our culture for goods and services but its seems that too often the church has become a vendor of its own religious goods and services. So we seek out the church with the best worship and the best preaching and seats that are comfortable and kids programs that are great.
Here is my concern in just a few weeks May 23rd we will roll out our first preview worship service (I don’t even like that name – we need to change it). On that day there will be a crew of people from all over the city who will swing by & check out what we are up to. The question we are asking ourselves is not how can we wow them with our creativity, laser lights & deep wisdom. The question we are asking is how do we begin now to create disciples & not consumers who are simply showing up each week to purchase religious goods & services at our place. We don’t want to become the cool young church in town, we don’t want to be the creative church, we just want to be a faithful church. In fact we think there is a generation of young people who are dieing to reach past the superficiality of the all consuming church & to begin to experience an all consuming God. A God who calls us to give our lives as a living sacrifice to each other & to our communities and most of all to Him! A God who calls us beyond getting fed each week or being entertained each week. A god who gives them a purpose & a church who frees them up to dream.
What happens when we feed or entertain is we create a perpetual cycle of dependency where you show up week after week to consume the food we have for you but never quite learn to eat on your own. It works for both parties, we have churches full of people waiting for us to deliver the meal, waiting for us to wow them & in the process stroking our egos. The problem is there is no gospel progress here. The church is for itself & as we get fat at the table of consumerism each week the world goes hungry!
So as we proceed with getting ready for our 1st “preview worship service” (again terrible name) our goal is not to provide a religious product, its not to provide any religious goods. We need to stop seeing the church as a consumable product & to begin seeing it as a family & a group of co workers called together because we are the light of the world! Because God actually has a plan & a hope for our communities & for our lives & the church is the center of that hope.
So here’s the question how do we move from codependency in the church to a healthy dependency on God?
Discuss!
- Ben Hardman
