One Man’s Opinion

Evangelism in the American Christian culture is big business these days. Marketing Jesus to targeted consumer groups has become a norm covering just about every aspect of culture. Anything thing that is secular you can find the Christian alternative. Music, clothing, TV, movies and just about any other product that is available has a Christian counterpart. The media has grabbed on to the uprising of Christian marketing by doing national news stories on various companies that are targeting the Evangelical market. There is even a video game that is targeting fans of the Grand Theft Auto series. Though all this is to be almost expected in a capitalistic society the one thing that has got me a little concerned is the fact that our churches have become part of the game. We now have arena like sanctuaries complete with stadium seating, state of the art lighting & sound and professionally put together stage productions that serve as weekly worship. There are churches that have coffee shops, gift stores and ATM’s in the lobbies. I am hesitant to judge these places as I am sure they mean well by providing attractive ways to draw people back into church. The problem that I am seeing is that under all the bells and whistles what exactly is the real message? Is it a message of Christ-like love and grace, of living a life based on that of our savior or is it one of consumerism, materialism and comfort? I see both honestly, I see many of these mega church’s preaching the gospel and challenging their congregations but I also see people using church as a status simple. Going to the right church that has the latest and greatest show on earth can boost peoples standing in the bubble like culture that is evangelical America.

The other issues I see are when it comes to worship. I myself am not a modern praise and worship kind’s guy, so this maybe biased, I still like the old hymns. The problem I have is that worship can become more about performance and entertainment instead of praising God together. Many churches have professional bands that put on concert like performances every Sunday. Complete with lights, huge sound and attractive people singing these services seem to become more about the ones performing than the reason that the songs were written. I don’t mind praise and worship music when the leader makes an effort to be just the leader and not the show. To me worship is just that, giving praise to our God not to a band of musicians. It seems in an effort to stay relevant sometimes we make having fun and being comfortable come before basic worship. I am a person who has been disenfranchised and has not belonged to a church in over 10 years. I have attended several different churches and seen the good, the bad and the downright ugly. All in all I believe all of these gimmicky ideas are done for the right reasons, to build the body of Christ. The problem is we forget that Jesus doesn’t need all this to be relevant. Simply giving people the message of Jesus is a powerful enough thing that in some cases could see more results than offering a latte during church. I for one have enjoyed churches that have a strong teaching and basic worship. No frills just singing to God and giving sermons that point us to the Grace of God.

Maybe I am getting older and my idealistic ways are giving way to a more practical approach or perhaps I am still too idealistic about where I would like to see the church. I can’t say but I do believe that the message and teachings of Jesus have never been changed nor have they ever needed anything else but what they are to stay relevant. I like to have fun and I believe there is a need to bring the Gospel to people in ways that makes it attractive. I just feel when you present it in the way Christ did, through honest relational ministry it is more powerful then using marketing