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The top 10 articles from Nehemiah Institute


The Seeker-Friendly Church



By: Mary Holman, Lexington, KY
02/21/2002

The Seeker-Friendly Church


By: Mary Holman, Lexington, KY
02/21/2002

"But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a [peculiar] people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy." I Peter 2:9-10 (NIV)

As Christians, we are called to be a peculiar people (see KJV). Just as our world is into Humanism, so are many churches. The "peculiar people" God describes us as being in 1Peter 2:9-10 are too "churchy" to attract the pop culture. So we seek to dumb down the "churchy" church and take great pains to remove the "churchiness." To reach this high and lofty goal, we diligently make over the "churchy" appearance and replace it with the more relaxed, worldly appearance of the youth in ragged baggy jeans. We do away with the "churchy" furnishings on the stage because the "churchiness" of the furniture might intimidate the baby boomers and the GenXer's who don't know the God we serve. Surely now the pop culture will beat a path to our door, because we are more like "them".

Not enough? Well let's get away from this "churchy" music. These old hymns are far too "churchy" for the pop culture- let's sing a few choruses with simple repetitive words so these people won't be turned off by our commitment to high standards in music. And we cannot be caught using hymnals. No, no, no! Hymnal is a "churchy" word and a "churchy" book, so let's leave them in the pew racks and sing songs from the big screen or from words printed in the bulletin. Now isn't that better? Is there more we need to do to help these people feel at home?

Maybe changing the musical rhythm to a worldly beat so the pop culture will feel at ease in our church would help. That's not so much to ask is it? That we simply take "their" music and add the name of Jesus and a few phrases which talk about God's love- that makes it Christian without making it too "churchy" doesn't it? Giving in on this small issue and going the way of the world in our music isn't that bad; after all it's not that big a deal if it enables us to win the world. Surely we are bright enough to know that this is the best way possible for keeping our youth committed to coming to church.

How about those awful "churchy" instruments-organ, violins, hand bells? Would it be too much to ask the traditional older folks in our church to give up this little bit of excellence in the name of winning the lost and saving our youth from a lifetime of walking in ungodly ways? The pop culture loves the idea of a band-an orchestra is just about as intimidating to those who are committed to keeping the standard of the world as you can get. So let's overwhelm the "churchy" organ with loud guitars, amplifiers, and drums, surely the world we've invited to our church will love that.

Let's not overlook the importance of words. "Prelude" is far too "churchy" to include in the order of worship- let's call it "pre-service music". And what about the word "Doxology"? That's a declaration of praise to God or a brief hymn expressing His power and glory-that word is far too "churchy" to print in the order of worship, and we must avoid singing it because it's sure to induce fear in the hearts of the Seekers. And the "postlude" ah! that's a thing of the past-must have gone the way of the dinosaur-it was deleted and no one missed it so why even mention it? And please don't say "offertory" or play an "offertory hymn"; don't pray an "offertory prayer" let's do a "call to prayer" instead because that will be far more meaningful to those who have an aversion to churchiness.

How about the way we dress? Maybe if we wouldn't wear such nice clothes (without holes and wrinkles), the world wouldn't be afraid to come into our worship services (ragged jeans might make them feel more welcome). If we are to help these poor lost souls want to know OUR GOD, we must become more like them-adopting their culture and values as our own. In fact, we have found that it is important to entertain them so they will feel "at home" like they do in front of TV. Maybe a few jokes before the sermon would help, and a story or two about anything besides churchy stuff would put them at ease.

Add some talk about the latest football and basketball scores-the world is really into sports-and you've given them most of the motivation they need to get them to church. Those deep expository (wow is that "churchy"!) sermons will be far too complicated for the seeker-friendly audience to understand and appreciate. We must offer seminar sermons which are more easily marketed through the media thereby attracting more and more GenXers who are interested in the "good life" but don't like to hear talk about sin or the cross or the blood of Jesus.

Then there's the matter of sin. If we are to be more like "them" we must overlook sin in our own lives. Divorce is not good (don't call it "sin" though because that's another one of those disgusting "churchy" words); we must overlook divorce because some of our closest friends and family members are involved and it would make them feel bad to talk about it. Remarriage after divorce isn't approved of in the Bible, but surely we can give just a little bit here since everybody's doing it. If we talk about remarriage after divorce, it's sure to make lots of people uncomfortable because there are so many in our church who are divorced and remarried.

Also, it's not a good thing to call attention to those who are obedient to God's Word (i.e. stay-at-home moms) because it might make those moms who can't stay at home feel bad. So what's wrong with watching while the world heaps accolades on the moms who hold full-time jobs, while they care for homes and families? Why shouldn't we pat these women on the back and call them Supermoms, while we ignore the moms who are following God's word by staying at home and giving their husbands, their children, their homes, and their churches their best? We must remember that making sure people feel good about themselves is more important than being obedient.

We've tried this system of being a "peculiar people", and quite frankly, the world makes fun of us, they make us feel really bad about ourselves and about our lifestyles. We simply don't like being a "peculiar" people. Why did God give us the directive to be a "peculiar people" when, quite frankly, it doesn't seem to work? When we go with the world-friendly, seeker-friendly concept, we can mass-produce Christians. That's what church is about isn't it? Winning the lost? This politically correct approach is sooo much easier--it requires a lot less effort. All we have to do is urge the lost to pray the sinner's prayer by telling them they'll go to hell if they don't, and talk them into that pool of water behind the choir (don't call it a baptistery it's too "churchy").

The next thing you know, we've made a name for ourselves (kind of like at the Tower of Babel)-we've "dunked" (can't say baptized) more people than any church in our state! No more must we search the Bible (such a "churchy" word) to understand what we ought to do; we simply do what feels good. Ah! At long last we can relax and not worry about what God thinks. So long as it's not "churchy" it's probably good. The "churchy" rules set forth in the Bible are really quite archaic-they've been around far too long for them to be applicable to us. This politically correct stuff feels so good it must be right. After all, why would God withhold something that feels so good from His children?

And if those traditional "old people in our church" make a fuss over the changes we're making, we'll simply intimidate them with accusations such as "you're making idols of the furniture." We'll tell them that they're the problem with the church-such details as taking bids for the purchase of small items in the budget or the beat of the music aren't important to God. Or we'll say "Your position and actions are divisive." If necessary, we'll convince them that the problem is that they don't like change; it is of utmost importance that we make them feel that if they went away the problem would go away. Making them feel guilty is sure to shut them up. If one of those "churchy" people mentions that discipling the saints is one of the most important jobs of the pastor, they can be quickly quieted if we accuse them of being selfish. Maybe it would be good if our pastor would address these issues during the morning service by speaking out against the people who have their minds firmly committed to Biblical worship and let it be known by voicing their opinions to the worship leaders.

IS THERE TRUTH TO BE KNOWN ABOUT THE SEEKER-FRIENDLY CHURCH?

The truth of the seeker-friendly church teaches that the end justifies the means-at the Tower of Babel, the end was to get to heaven-the means was to build a tower; their hope was to make a name for themselves. But the truth is, there is only one way to heaven-through the Blood of Jesus. Any other attempt to claim the hope of heaven is evil and will be cursed by God. The truth is, any attempt to bring glory to ourselves is totally foreign to God's plan.

The system of the seeker-friendly church teaches that salvation is the thing most important to God, when the biblical worldview teaches that God rules over all elements of civilization and all elements of worship. Colossians 2:8 says "See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ." Jesus' example showed that His priority was teaching the disciples His Ways, His Word, and His Wisdom and giving them the charge to go into the world to win the lost. Yet what we see in the seeker-friendly philosophy is empty deception according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.

In Philippians 4:8 we are taught "Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things."

In every area of worship the seeker-friendly church compromises this command to dwell on things of excellence, all in the name of pleasing God. As Christians, we need to continually measure ourselves against the standards of excellence God gave us in this scripture. Today we need to heed what God tells us in Deuteronomy 4:39: "take it to heart, that the Lord, He is God in heaven above and on the earth below; there is no other" Therefore, we have no need to compromise His Truth in order to "baptize more people than any church in this state" that we might please God. God will be pleased when we allow the Holy Spirit to do His work through us in bringing people to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ instead of usurping His authority and going the way of the flesh in order to get folks into church.

When we deepen our roots in His Word and develop that biblical worldview which will enable us to commit every decision we make in life to Him, His name will be praised. Then and only then will He be glorified and see to our success in all that He gives us to do. God's ways are higher than our ways, His thoughts higher than our thoughts; He therefore teaches in Proverbs 3:5-6 to "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths." Only when the leadership of our churches are indeed committed to taking us down the path which is directed by the God of our creation instead of the god of Humanism will our churches be the salt and light God called us to be. Only then will the next generation of young people learn to fear the Lord (instead of worshiping "our good buddy, god") and be saved from self-destruction. Only then will God's church storm the gates of hell and restore our homes and families to our Godly roots.

PRAY FOR OUR CHURCHES That God would keep us from the threat of captivity which will accompany the seeker-friendly philosophy: Jeremiah 18:15-17 says -"Hear and pay attention, do not be arrogant, for the Lord has spoken. Give glory to the Lord your God before he brings the darkness, before your feet stumble on the darkening hills. You hope for light, but he will turn it to thick darkness and change it to deep gloom. But if you do not listen, I will weep in secret because of your pride; my eyes will weep bitterly, overflowing with tears, because the Lord's flock will be taken captive."