Canadian pastor-blogger Darryl Dash has a post up today that I wish I’d written, because I think he puts his finger squarely on a large and growing problem in the Western church. It’s an issue that’s subtle – so subtle as to be easily missed altogether – but far-reaching in its consequences.
Darryl quotes from Al Roxburgh’s The Sky is Falling:
Throughout Western societies, and most especially in North America, there has occurred a fundamental shift in the understanding and practice of the Christian story. It is no longer about God and what God is about in the world; it is about how God serves and meets human needs and desires. It is about how the individual self can find its own purposes and fulfillment. More specifically, our churches have become spiritual food courts for the personal, private, inner needs of expressive individuals.
Of course, you may dismiss this as an overreaction or a sweeping generalisation – that doesn’t happen in my church! But I challenge you to really think about it. How much of our concept of church – and the Christian life in general – revolves around God providing for our spiritual, psychological, social and material needs?
Now, I believe it’s good and right to look to God to provide for all our needs, but that is not the ground or foundation of our relationship with Him; it’s more of a side benefit, if you will. You will not find an example in the New Testament of personal fulfilment or purpose being offered as an encouragement for people to put their trust in Jesus or live godly lives. What you will find, over and over again, is “Repent and be saved!” and “Live lives worthy of the gospel”. In other words, it’s all about God and our response to Him, not about how God will help us live purpose-driven lives and be rounded, well-adjusted people.
Darryl goes on to briefly explore how this me-centric dynamic plays out in the areas of worship, the role of the pastor and the sermon, quoting from various sources as he does. He cites an excerpt from the late Michael Spencer of Internet Monk fame:
“Evangelicals in America are creating a religion that tells them how to be happy, how to be financially secure, how to be successful, fulfilled and healthy. Evangelical Christianity in America has pushed missional values to the fringes and brought ‘the Good Life’ so close to the center that sermons themselves are calmly titled ‘How to Discover the Champion In You.’ To which everyone applauds.”
(If you’re reading this in the UK, don’t dismiss this as being an issue unique to America. It isn’t. It may be most obvious there, but the same leaven is at work in many churches here at home.)
Darryl sets out a brief diagnosis of what’s needed to counter this shift in church culture before finally summing up the problem:
The issue is idolatry. It’s not about us. One of the greatest needs of our day is for churches to make the shift to a God-centered, not an us-centered, view of ministry.
I encourage you to go and read the whole post – it won’t take you long. And then chew on it. Let me know what you think in the comments.
