Sunday, October 30, 2005

Christian Pragmatism 101: How To Grow Your Church

So how do we actually "grow" a church?

Thanks to Jenn Hui, I have discovered this Flash movie through his blog. Created by Chris Carmichael, who is the webmaster of Christianunplugged.com, it denounces the seeker-sensitive movement and the worldy appeal of megachurches.

The Internet Monk has also recently posted a pretty long rant about the church growth movement that is influencing many small churches to imitate the youth-focused model of the megachurches. Here is a short excerpt:
Today, nothing divides churches like music. You could deny the Trinity and fare better in most churches that you will if you criticize the direction of worship as done by the Praise Team.
...
Where is the pastor? He has been backed into a corner by this freight train of change, particularly if it is at all successful in getting a few young people into the church. He can now do nothing that would discourage their attendance. The entire salvation of the community’s young people- and hence the fate of America itself- rides on keeping these kids in church. So it’s going to be more music. More bands. More praise. Less preaching. Less teaching. Preaching that is not the main event. Preaching that is conscious that people came to be emotionally moved by music. The preacher in many a Church On The Corner is a marked man. He is an obnoxious fixture in a worship service that is turning into a concert. He is a reminder of what we don’t like about church.
The following words in a comment to the article really resonates!
That factor is the tendency of people to now measure a church’s worthiness based on the music. And more specifically, the people are looking for a certain feeling they get when worshipping. I am tired of hearing from people who change churches and say, “I didn’t feel God in the worship service.”
You can click here to view the Flash movie.

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