By Broken Messenger
Marketing, or better yet Promotion, is engrained within our culture far deeper than just consumerism. Whether one needs to “sell themselves” for job interview or to drum up support for a political campaign, the doctrines of Promotion are pervasive and deeply ingrained in our world.
I suppose that the Your Good Life Purpose Driven Prayer of Jabez Now approach to ministry is an outright demanded and entrenched staple of the American Church. In all phases of ministry, not only is a church body typically sliced into demographic and social groups by its leadership (thereby creating several church bodies in one), it is accompanied by a slew of programs, gimmicks and campaigns that are all designed to both keep the faithful in the pews and to “bring seekers to Jesus.”
The New Testament doctrines pertaining to worship gathering have been swept aside. Church gatherings are not empathized as being primarily for the encouragement and training of the believer, but the doors are swung open for both believers and unbelievers as religious social clubs that are far more about striking friendships with others who share our hobbies and desires, than striking a relationship with the Savior of the World. No doubt, churches should preach the Gospel in every sermon and welcome those who seek Christ, but clearly our priorities are jumbled and the American church grows ever weaker in an ever-darkening world.
Because of all this evangelism has been laid at the feet of leadership. “Bring your friend to church” is the constant drum-beat from the pulpit. Brining others to God’s Word (your charismatic, well-spoken pastor that is) is far more important than taking God’s Word into workplaces, living rooms and conversations between fence posts.
And why wouldn’t we believe that this is so? We are preached a message that infers we are inadequate to effectively do this on our own. We are constantly encouraged to "immerse ourselves in God" by telling others about church sponsored retreats, camping trips and breakfasts that are all promised with the expectation that attendees will experience something special. And we are often told that with these events a great move of God is underway, we just need to invest a little bit of our time and money in order to convince others to come to ensure its success. But rarely, if ever, are we encouraged to invest these energies into just preaching the Gospel, because we’ve convinced ourselves that the Gospel message needs a great show, a great demonstration and the right setting to induce the Spirit of God to come at our beck and call.
So we work ourselves up into a lather. We conjure up a few good emotions. Throw around a few verses, maybe even getting a few more to sign a card or pray a prayer. And we leave with a new resolve and excitement that somehow all just fades away in a few weeks – that is, until we crank up the next program.
It really shouldn’t surprise us to see the church continue to embrace Promotion as a means to share the Gospel. What may surprise us is how all of this denies our own belief in God’s sovereignty. If God is absolutely sovereign over salvation, then it is must be that God will not lose a single one of those that he has planned to call, a call planned before even the creation of the world. Despite our ignorance, failings and foolishness, God is going to bring every single one of his elect to him. But this truth and comfort is never believed, so again we turn to our schemes and run to and fro desperately thinking up new ways to attract, entice and manipulate the unsaved to fill church pews.
And denying God’s sovereignty is primarily where our blasphemy lies in church gimmickry. This is where we betray the professions of our faith. For we’re not trusting God, we’re working for trust. We’re not resting in God’s promises, we are in perpetual motion as we anxiously fret over worldly methods to fulfill heavenly callings. We love to strive to fit round pegs into square holes, but in it all, God is not honored and we are not satisfied.
Go and tell to all is Christ’s great command to us. And go and tell sincerely, humbly and in constant prayer should be our aim. But trust that God will use the message as he sees fit in spite of yourself, and trust that he can do so by his means, and not yours.
Michael Spencer has posted a challenging article about church youth group ski trips and global missions that has resonated within me very deeply. Some of you may have even followed this link that I put up a few days ago. But more broadly, Michael has hit an old nerve and yet an oft-neglected one in the church: church marketing/church gimmickry.
Marketing, or better yet Promotion, is engrained within our culture far deeper than just consumerism. Whether one needs to “sell themselves” for job interview or to drum up support for a political campaign, the doctrines of Promotion are pervasive and deeply ingrained in our world.
I suppose that the Your Good Life Purpose Driven Prayer of Jabez Now approach to ministry is an outright demanded and entrenched staple of the American Church. In all phases of ministry, not only is a church body typically sliced into demographic and social groups by its leadership (thereby creating several church bodies in one), it is accompanied by a slew of programs, gimmicks and campaigns that are all designed to both keep the faithful in the pews and to “bring seekers to Jesus.”
The New Testament doctrines pertaining to worship gathering have been swept aside. Church gatherings are not empathized as being primarily for the encouragement and training of the believer, but the doors are swung open for both believers and unbelievers as religious social clubs that are far more about striking friendships with others who share our hobbies and desires, than striking a relationship with the Savior of the World. No doubt, churches should preach the Gospel in every sermon and welcome those who seek Christ, but clearly our priorities are jumbled and the American church grows ever weaker in an ever-darkening world.
Because of all this evangelism has been laid at the feet of leadership. “Bring your friend to church” is the constant drum-beat from the pulpit. Brining others to God’s Word (your charismatic, well-spoken pastor that is) is far more important than taking God’s Word into workplaces, living rooms and conversations between fence posts.
And why wouldn’t we believe that this is so? We are preached a message that infers we are inadequate to effectively do this on our own. We are constantly encouraged to "immerse ourselves in God" by telling others about church sponsored retreats, camping trips and breakfasts that are all promised with the expectation that attendees will experience something special. And we are often told that with these events a great move of God is underway, we just need to invest a little bit of our time and money in order to convince others to come to ensure its success. But rarely, if ever, are we encouraged to invest these energies into just preaching the Gospel, because we’ve convinced ourselves that the Gospel message needs a great show, a great demonstration and the right setting to induce the Spirit of God to come at our beck and call.
So we work ourselves up into a lather. We conjure up a few good emotions. Throw around a few verses, maybe even getting a few more to sign a card or pray a prayer. And we leave with a new resolve and excitement that somehow all just fades away in a few weeks – that is, until we crank up the next program.
It really shouldn’t surprise us to see the church continue to embrace Promotion as a means to share the Gospel. What may surprise us is how all of this denies our own belief in God’s sovereignty. If God is absolutely sovereign over salvation, then it is must be that God will not lose a single one of those that he has planned to call, a call planned before even the creation of the world. Despite our ignorance, failings and foolishness, God is going to bring every single one of his elect to him. But this truth and comfort is never believed, so again we turn to our schemes and run to and fro desperately thinking up new ways to attract, entice and manipulate the unsaved to fill church pews.
And denying God’s sovereignty is primarily where our blasphemy lies in church gimmickry. This is where we betray the professions of our faith. For we’re not trusting God, we’re working for trust. We’re not resting in God’s promises, we are in perpetual motion as we anxiously fret over worldly methods to fulfill heavenly callings. We love to strive to fit round pegs into square holes, but in it all, God is not honored and we are not satisfied.
Go and tell to all is Christ’s great command to us. And go and tell sincerely, humbly and in constant prayer should be our aim. But trust that God will use the message as he sees fit in spite of yourself, and trust that he can do so by his means, and not yours.
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