Continuing in Chapter six of Gary Gilley's This Little Church Went to Market.
From psychology, Strobel and the seeker-sensitive church have discovered that both baby boomers and busters have learned to expect that their needs should be met, jobs would be provided, money would be available, and problems would be solved. The result is a generation of young adults who want and expect everything right away. Life is to be lived for the present. There is little awareness of a philosophy that says we should make long-range plans, or work hard today so things will be better tomorrow. This is a 'now' generation that has little interest in any religion that talks about sacrifices, heaven or 'the sweet by-and-by.' They want to hear about a faith that works now and brings immediate results.
If this is true, how are we to proclaim the gospel to a pampered, self-centered generation that demands society meets their every whim? Previous generations of Christian leaders, including biblical ones, would use these traits to point to evidence of sin in Harry's life. 'Look Harry,' they would have said, 'your selfish, proud heart reveals just how sinful and rebellious you really are.' They would have called Harry to repentance from such a lifestyle, and to faith in
Christ for forgiveness of these very sins. Then they would have challenged new-believer Larry to abandon his self-centeredness, call for a life of self-sacrifice, humbly allowing the Spirit of God to transform him into Christ-likeness.
But the modern church sees it differently. Strobel writes, "Our challenge, then, is to help this new generation of unchurched Harrys to understand that Christianity does work, that is, that the God of the Bible offers us supernatural wisdom and assistance in our struggles, difficulties, and recovery from past hurts." Harry simply will not be attracted to Christ if we present him with the biblical gospel. We must then change the message in order to make it more palpable to this generation of ultra-self-centered Harrys and Marys. What worked at one time simply does not speak to today's Harry. David Wells has nailed down the prevailing attitude when he writes, 'What our culture suggests is that all of the greatest treasures of life are at hand, quite simply, in the self. Religious man was born to be saved, but psychological man was born to be pleased. "I believe" has been replaced by "I feel". The problem is that we have not been feeling so well recently.'
A few more quotes from Strobel's book will help identify exactly what the new-paradigm church is offering the unbeliever. '"We baby boomers aren't coming to church to become members," said one pastor, himself a boomer. "We are coming to experience something. Yes, even to get something."' Strobel suggests that the best way to reach Harry and Mary with the gospel is to discover what it is that they want to 'get', what it is they want to experience; what it is they want to obtain in life, and offer it to them in Jesus. For example, 'If you discover that unchurched Harry suffers from a sagging self-esteem . . . you can tell him how your own self-esteem has soared ever since you learned how much you matter to God.' Never mind that the concept of self-esteem is foreign to the Bible, even against it; never mind that the real issue that Harry struggles with, according to the the Bible, is pride not low self-esteem; the gospel is now gift-wrapped to offer Harry what he has been conditioned to believe he needs.
We'll stop there for today. Tomorrow we'll see what Gary says about a church focused on the wrong need in chapter 7.
Last night was great. Kristen went to a small group sleepover, Mark went to his small group, Greg and I headed to church for him to speak at the Turlock Gospel Mission dinner, then we headed to Cool Hand Luke's, a great new steakhouse in town. We ran into a sweet couple from our church and had a great conversation about gospel missions. I didn't run too well this morning. I think it was the big dinner last night. We were there until almost 10:00, having wonderful conversation about ministry. I am truly blessed to have great friends at church and a wonderful husband. Off to my quiet time and to pick up Kristen, then a full day. Blessings on this amazing Friday!
Showing posts with label New-Paradigm Churches. Show all posts
Showing posts with label New-Paradigm Churches. Show all posts
Friday, June 20, 2008
Thursday, June 19, 2008
A Church With the Wrong Message
This Chapter is quite interesting and thought provoking. Continuing on with chapter 6 by Gary Gilley in This Little Church Went to Market.
Counterfeit money is recognized by those who know how to identify the real thing. Before we examine the gospel message found in the new-paradigm churches, it would be best to examine the gospel message found in the Bible. The good news in a nutshell is this: Harry is a sinner, in full-blown rebellion against God (Rom. 3:23; 5:1-2). While some Harry's are outwardly religious and some even desire the gifts and benefits that God can supply, no Harrys truly seek after God or desire him (Rom. 3:10-18). As a result of Harry's sinfulness he is under the wrath of God (Rom. 1:18), faces future judgment (Heb. 9:27), and will die both physically and spiritually (Rom. 6:23) and will spend eternity in hell (Rev. 20:11-15).
It is because of Harry's hopeless plight, and the fact that he can do nothing to redeem himself in God's eyes (Titus 3:5), that Jesus Christ, through grace alone, not because of Harry's value and worth (Eph. 2:8), became a man, died on the cross (Rom. 5:8) thus taking Harry's sin upon himself and satisfying the wrath of God (Heb. 2:17), and resurrected from the dead, in order that Harry cold be saved from his sin and be given the righteousness of Christ (Rom. 4). While all of this is a gift from God, Harry obtains hat gift through the exercise of faith (Eph. 2:8,9) - purely taking God at his Word, trusting that God will save him if only he truly believes.
What I hope to demonstrate in this chapter is that while many within the seeker-sensitive movement would ascribe to most of the above definition for the gospel, this is not how the gospel is being presented to Harry. Rather Harry is being told that he is so valuable to God that he sent his Son to die for him. This is, in effect, a denial of grace, whereby God grants us undeserved favor. Harry is also being told that if he will come to Christ, Christ will meet all of his felt needs and that will lead to personal fulfilment. Harry is then being asked to trust in Christ, the great 'Needs-Meeter', who will end his search for a life of happiness and fulfillment.
What we supposedly learn from [a] marketing study is that the real reason Harry doesn't come to church has little to do with his rebellious, God-rejecting nature. Rather it is because church is borning, predictable, irrelevant, money hungry, and odes not meet his needs. The new-paradigm church operates under the credo that Harry is 'hostile to the church, friendly to Jesus Christ.' They 'have the misconception that to win the world to Christ we must first win the world's favor. If we can get the world to like us, they will embrace our Savior. The expressed design of the user-friendly philosophy is to make unconverted sinners feel comfortable with the Christian message.' The only way this is possible, I fear, is to change the message. For the gospel message is not a comfortable one for the unbeliever, and to try and make it so merely deforms it.
That's enough for today. Tomorrow we'll continue with the chapter on a section about the gospel of felt need.
Just an update on stuff around here. We should have our building permit Friday or Monday, and we'll start pouring the foundation for the great room (where the patio used to be) early next week! Mark had 6 friends over Tuesday night and I found 4 of them asleep on our sectional yesterday morning. They had a great time. We're so blessed he has such nice friends. Kristen's room is almost done. She needs to glue some seashells onto her outlets and we need to get some shelves and drapes put up, but then I think we're done! We pick up our 1400 square feet of tile Saturday and finish moving the last of the little concrete pieces Saturday, and dump it Sunday. We're also fitting in a prayer walk Saturday morning an a trip to Stockton for a swim/birthday party for Kristen with family. Lots going on, even more than I'm going to blog about. Thank you in advance for praying for the prayer walk. We're already seeing healing take place in several families on the westside. Blessings this beautiful Thursday!
Counterfeit money is recognized by those who know how to identify the real thing. Before we examine the gospel message found in the new-paradigm churches, it would be best to examine the gospel message found in the Bible. The good news in a nutshell is this: Harry is a sinner, in full-blown rebellion against God (Rom. 3:23; 5:1-2). While some Harry's are outwardly religious and some even desire the gifts and benefits that God can supply, no Harrys truly seek after God or desire him (Rom. 3:10-18). As a result of Harry's sinfulness he is under the wrath of God (Rom. 1:18), faces future judgment (Heb. 9:27), and will die both physically and spiritually (Rom. 6:23) and will spend eternity in hell (Rev. 20:11-15).
It is because of Harry's hopeless plight, and the fact that he can do nothing to redeem himself in God's eyes (Titus 3:5), that Jesus Christ, through grace alone, not because of Harry's value and worth (Eph. 2:8), became a man, died on the cross (Rom. 5:8) thus taking Harry's sin upon himself and satisfying the wrath of God (Heb. 2:17), and resurrected from the dead, in order that Harry cold be saved from his sin and be given the righteousness of Christ (Rom. 4). While all of this is a gift from God, Harry obtains hat gift through the exercise of faith (Eph. 2:8,9) - purely taking God at his Word, trusting that God will save him if only he truly believes.
What I hope to demonstrate in this chapter is that while many within the seeker-sensitive movement would ascribe to most of the above definition for the gospel, this is not how the gospel is being presented to Harry. Rather Harry is being told that he is so valuable to God that he sent his Son to die for him. This is, in effect, a denial of grace, whereby God grants us undeserved favor. Harry is also being told that if he will come to Christ, Christ will meet all of his felt needs and that will lead to personal fulfilment. Harry is then being asked to trust in Christ, the great 'Needs-Meeter', who will end his search for a life of happiness and fulfillment.
What we supposedly learn from [a] marketing study is that the real reason Harry doesn't come to church has little to do with his rebellious, God-rejecting nature. Rather it is because church is borning, predictable, irrelevant, money hungry, and odes not meet his needs. The new-paradigm church operates under the credo that Harry is 'hostile to the church, friendly to Jesus Christ.' They 'have the misconception that to win the world to Christ we must first win the world's favor. If we can get the world to like us, they will embrace our Savior. The expressed design of the user-friendly philosophy is to make unconverted sinners feel comfortable with the Christian message.' The only way this is possible, I fear, is to change the message. For the gospel message is not a comfortable one for the unbeliever, and to try and make it so merely deforms it.
That's enough for today. Tomorrow we'll continue with the chapter on a section about the gospel of felt need.
Just an update on stuff around here. We should have our building permit Friday or Monday, and we'll start pouring the foundation for the great room (where the patio used to be) early next week! Mark had 6 friends over Tuesday night and I found 4 of them asleep on our sectional yesterday morning. They had a great time. We're so blessed he has such nice friends. Kristen's room is almost done. She needs to glue some seashells onto her outlets and we need to get some shelves and drapes put up, but then I think we're done! We pick up our 1400 square feet of tile Saturday and finish moving the last of the little concrete pieces Saturday, and dump it Sunday. We're also fitting in a prayer walk Saturday morning an a trip to Stockton for a swim/birthday party for Kristen with family. Lots going on, even more than I'm going to blog about. Thank you in advance for praying for the prayer walk. We're already seeing healing take place in several families on the westside. Blessings this beautiful Thursday!
Thursday, June 12, 2008
The New Paradigm Church
Jumping into chapter one of This Little Church Went to Market by Gary Gilley, he explains what a new paradigm church is and talks about church growth.
Mega-churches are defined as those with average worship attendance of 2000 or more, but these behemoth churches come in all shapes, stripes and forms. Some are centres of great preaching and teaching, some are charismatic, others are little more than social clubs. New-paradigm churches, on the other hand, are identified by a philosophy of ministry intentionally designed to effect numerical growth. In their church growth methodologies more attention is paid to market strategy, business techniques and demographics than to New Testament instruction.
From a mountain of research [more than 1000 churches on all five continents] [Christian A.] Swartz has observed eight characteristics of growing churches. These are empowering leadership, gift-oriented ministry, passionate spirituality, functional structures, inspiring worship, holistic small groups, need-oriented evangelism and loving relationships.
Growing churches are creating an atmosphere, an environment of fun. So fun has replaced holiness as the church's goal. If we can get the world to like us, they will embrace our Savior. That is the philosophy behind the user-friendly church movement.
Let's play 'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire'. For $500,000: which of these churches was a growing church in the book of Revelation: the church at Laodicea (Rev. 3:14-22), which saw itself as rich and wealthy and in need of nothing or the church at Smyrna (Rev. 2:8-11), which was described as poor, in tribulation and facing great persecution? Need a 'lifeline' you say? Here you go: God said of the Laodicean church that he would spit them out of his mouth, but of the Smyrna church that they would receive the crown of life. Confusing, isn't it? The growing church did not please God, while the struggling one did. Apparently, the Sunday morning worship attendance is not the criteria God uses to judge the true effectiveness of a local church.
So, Gary says, a growing church isn't necessarily one that pleases God. Reminds me of the scripture of how man looks at the outside, but God looks at the heart. God is more concerned with the heart of people and churches, what's behind what is seen, than what is happening on the outside. So we need to look at why a church s growing, is it the entertainment factor, or because it is doing the Acts 2 stuff, like listed above from the survey? Good stuff. Blessings on this beautiful Thursday.
Mega-churches are defined as those with average worship attendance of 2000 or more, but these behemoth churches come in all shapes, stripes and forms. Some are centres of great preaching and teaching, some are charismatic, others are little more than social clubs. New-paradigm churches, on the other hand, are identified by a philosophy of ministry intentionally designed to effect numerical growth. In their church growth methodologies more attention is paid to market strategy, business techniques and demographics than to New Testament instruction.
From a mountain of research [more than 1000 churches on all five continents] [Christian A.] Swartz has observed eight characteristics of growing churches. These are empowering leadership, gift-oriented ministry, passionate spirituality, functional structures, inspiring worship, holistic small groups, need-oriented evangelism and loving relationships.
Growing churches are creating an atmosphere, an environment of fun. So fun has replaced holiness as the church's goal. If we can get the world to like us, they will embrace our Savior. That is the philosophy behind the user-friendly church movement.
Let's play 'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire'. For $500,000: which of these churches was a growing church in the book of Revelation: the church at Laodicea (Rev. 3:14-22), which saw itself as rich and wealthy and in need of nothing or the church at Smyrna (Rev. 2:8-11), which was described as poor, in tribulation and facing great persecution? Need a 'lifeline' you say? Here you go: God said of the Laodicean church that he would spit them out of his mouth, but of the Smyrna church that they would receive the crown of life. Confusing, isn't it? The growing church did not please God, while the struggling one did. Apparently, the Sunday morning worship attendance is not the criteria God uses to judge the true effectiveness of a local church.
So, Gary says, a growing church isn't necessarily one that pleases God. Reminds me of the scripture of how man looks at the outside, but God looks at the heart. God is more concerned with the heart of people and churches, what's behind what is seen, than what is happening on the outside. So we need to look at why a church s growing, is it the entertainment factor, or because it is doing the Acts 2 stuff, like listed above from the survey? Good stuff. Blessings on this beautiful Thursday.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
