Poem: Seeker-Friendly Churches

[bar Jonah]

[I don't know the author or origin of this piece. If anyone knows, chime in!]


Seeker-Friendly Churches

With seeker-friendly fellowships
our numbers really swell
We pack 'em in our building
and this is what we tell:
"There's peace and love and happiness"
but never mention Hell
Marketing tools and statistics
seem to be our guide
Soon we're "Mega" churches
and so is our pride
Sinners sipping lattes
while our pastors preach
We make them feel so welcome
that we forget to teach
Their need of our Savior
to cleanse them from their sin
That only through His blood
can their life begin
Our new social gospel
tickles itching ears
producing smiling faces
And not repentant tears
Though we're getting big,
it really is our loss
We've lost our only power:
the message of the Cross
Yes, Freud would approve
of our present plan
Our psycho-Christian churches
seeking after man
But what about Lord Jesus?
Will He think the same?
Or will we hear those words
"I never knew your name?"

[mossrose]

I don't know who the author is, but I think he/she has hit the nail right on the head.....

[Guitaristmike]

Sin and cross so easy to give, yet for some its so easy mess up

[bar Jonah]

How do you mean, Mike? Can you clarify?

[Guitaristmike]

Well, that’s the whole thing with the seeker friendly churches. They end up placing so much into being friendly that they end up dumbing down the gospel and leaving the fact out that we a filthy sinner in desperate need of a savior. Then the pragmatic factor is also played into. You know the numbers are good so something must be going right. This is not always true for all the churches out there that are called seeker friendly though. It all depends on what meaning the church pours into the word SF.

Peace,

Mike

[Solly]

I find the whole notion of 'seeker' problematic. In the 17th century, England was beset by the growth of the 'seeker' movement; people who left mainstream Christianity to seek something, they didn't really know what. Roger Williams, the Baptist who founded Providence Chapel, RI (no relation!!) ended up a seeker. Many ended up in the Quakers, Ranters, Shakers, etc, but certainly not in mainstream orthodoxy.
The question is, what are people seeking? If people were really seeking God, we wouldn't be able to keep them out, rather than having to lure them in. That's what happened during the revivals, after all.

[themuzicman]

Uh.. Solly... The seekers that these churches are after are the unsaved. This isn't some mystical quest.

God forbid that people get saved outside of a stain glass windowed, organ playing, suit and tie wearing, steepled, steeped in tradition church, huh?

[Middle Aged C]

Poem hits it right on the head.

very

[Solly]

Uh.. Solly... The seekers that these churches are after are the unsaved. This isn't some mystical quest.

God forbid that people get saved outside of a stain glass windowed, organ playing, suit and tie wearing, steepled, steeped in tradition church, huh?

Muz, I sometimes wonder if your college course speciality is taking comments in the exact opposite of the way they are intended.

1.God forbid that people get saved outside of a stain glass windowed, organ playing, suit and tie wearing, steepled, steeped in tradition church, huh?

Good Grief Charlie Brown, I haven't been inside a stained glass building since I don't know what, and Baptist churches in the UK don't have steeples, unlike your New England Colonial design clones. This sounds like an attempt at a smear to me.

2. The seekers that these churches are after are the unsaved. This isn't some mystical quest.

Gosh, really? Thanks for putting me right I think I know what 'seeker' means Muz. And if someone says they have a 'seeker-friendly' service, or a 'seeker-friendly' church, then I guess there is a bunch of people labelled 'seekers' and they probably aren't in church yet . My comment was asking the question, what does seeker mean in this context. If people were really 'seekers' we would not need 'seeker-friendly' churches to encourage people to be seekers, would we!! And 'seekers' in the past have been noted for their lack of establishment, and their focus on their own experiences, rather than the challenge of the Gospel, qv RI's OP, and the comments of Faramir and SpiritusN elsewhere.

[themuzicman]

Gee, solly... the OP is an attempt to smear. What's good for the goose ought to be good for the gander, huh?

[Solly]

Then take it up with RI, Muz. I made a serious historical and theological contribution to this thread.

[themuzicman]

So, you weren't comparing the seeker movement of today with the seeker movement of the 17th century?

[Solly]

I...am...comparing...the...notion...of...seeker...in...the..context...of
...17th...century...and...21st...century...Christianity...and...finding...parallels.

In essence, if you and your church are living the kind of life Christ calls you too, then you ain't 'seeker sensitive', no matter how many consultants, agendas, electronic equipment, sports activities, dumbed down sermons, meetings, conferences, handbooks etc you might have.

Let's put it this way. I am a Calvinist. Yet I have a great admiration for the labours of John Wesley, John Fletcher, and those other early methodist evangelists who took the gospel into areas that had not heard it for many a year. Why? Because they had lasting results, including where it stirred up Calvinists to do the same. The charge against the seeker friendly movement is that it is more of a cultural phenomenon than a work of God. Now, you can probably point to one church - most likely you own - where it is not like that. However, the indications from others are that the SF movement is not doing anything substantial to convert and disciple people, any more than the Toronto Blessing did amongst the Charismatics, anymore than ALPHA is in the UK. It's just another membership drive.

Now, while you don't know my church, we both know RI and his work, even though I do not accept his theology. We know he is doing front line work. That, to my mind, gives him a right to level criticism, I think, even if you don't like how he did it (and remember the issue with your sig line a few weeks back?)

[bar Jonah]

Basically, churches like this are loving people right into Hell.

My ministry is actually opposed to the idea of bringing unbelievers to church, as this is potentially harmful, not to mention just plain inappropriate. My life is a perfect example. Raised in a Christian family, brought to church for 20 years, and all it did was teach me how to act like a Christian without actually being one. Even worse, it convinced me I was saved when I wasn't, which meant I had no reason to come to Christ, since I thought I was already there.

Like convincing a dying person that they are healthy, so they stop taking their medication. Which is what happens to some followers of Benny Hinn; people have died after believing they were "healed" by him, and subsequently quitting their medication. But... they had a good "experience," so they thought it must be real. What do seeker-oriented churches say? "We just want to give you a positive experience." I have heard those exact words from such churches.

A church is for believers to congregate and worship God, to fellowship and learn doctrine and scripture. Unbelievers cannot participate in those activities, by definition. How can an unbeliever worship God? How can an unbeliever fellowship with believers? How can an unbeliever really comprehend scripture when he is blind to it without the presence of the Holy Spirit in his heart?

While a church shouldn't turn away unbelievers who come, it is not your church's responsibility to evangelize to the lost within its walls. Rather, a church should evangelize through its members (YOU) outside its walls, out in the world. You should share the Good News (and don't forget the Bad News, without which there is no good news) with the people in your life, with relatives and friends and often coworkers. If and when God successfully uses you to bring someone to Christ, THEN invite that person to your church.

Do not pawn off your responsibility onto someone else, including your church. Almost all "conversions" that occur at a specific event or non-relationship context are not real conversions. On the other hand, the majority of conversions that happen through on-going relationships do turn out to be real. Don't try to force someone into saying the "magic words" of some "Sinner's Prayer." Strive for a real repentance. This is your responsibility and the responsibility of every Christian -- to be an ambassador for Christ, to preach the gospel of grace that Paul has taught us in his letters.

Bring 'em to Christ, and then bring 'em to church.

[themuzicman]

So, you'd prefer that when an unbeliever who is in crises in their life shows up to your church on Sunday, that they have a negative experience? Or you just don't care?

Michael