Musings on Spiritual Matters

One of the team members said, “the biggest struggle in being missional is dealing with the consumer attitude.”  This was an excellent insight to one of the major dynamics in churches today.  What to do about the middle class consumer of religion?  Some of the community churches have sold out in the name of attracting a larger crowd.  Some churches of Christ have fought against this and has had little or no impact on those who have this attitude.  So what to do?  If you give in to the mindset, good luck keeping them happy as soon they will move on to a better church with better stuff, and if you do not deal with the issue you will turn away a major potion of the population.  So here is some advice.

1. Have a foundation of Programming.  There are about seven aspects of a church that you just have to have that are of a high quality, and there is nothing wrong in delivering excellence to the people.  You want a great worship, children, teen’s, Bible study, and relationship opportunities in the congregation.  We typically have these already, so do a good job in having them.  This will provide a core for those consumers, and mostly church members will like it too.

2. Be intentional about Consumerism.  In other words, teach on this dynamic.  You have them there because of some program, but do not leave them there.  You must tackle the issue head on, and if they do not like it, so be it.  You will lose them at some point anyway.  Make the people aware of this powerful force.

3. Restore Biblical Values.  The gospel turns much of life upside down.  You must show people that God has different plans for us, but this will be difficult for those who are so a part of the America dream.  This is not a month series, but a total commitment to the cause of Christ.  The gospel will work if people allow it to.  Show them there is a great joy in Christ than in having the biggest and the best.

There is still much thought on this issue.  How do you find a balance?  This is going to make a huge difference in the future, so we better be thinking about it.

Related posts:

1. Reaching Out in the Name of Christ

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This entry was posted by Matthew on Tuesday, November 29th, 2011 at 11:34 am and is filed under Church News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.