I recently heard Donald Miller ask the question, "How has our free market society affected the gospel?" It really got me thinking. Our society is a society that is saturated with consumerism. It affects just about all we do. We want what we want, and we want it just the way we want it. And we want it now. This has even proven to be the case within the Church.
I can't begin to tell you how many times I have heard people utter the words, "I'm not being fed." Consumerism at it's finest. Why are you leaving your church I have asked. The answer, "I'm not being fed." I don't recall reading in scripture that the Church exists for us to be fed and to meet our needs. It's not about us. Is it not more about about looking for ways to serve the needs of others, both within and outside the Church? Isn't that a better model of what we see described in places like Acts 2 and 1 Corinthians 12 among others?
Let this humorous video continue to stir your thinking.
HT to Joshua Johnson for the video.
Consumerism And The Church
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3 comments:
Man, this consumerism mentality in church is so prevalent and it's also one of my pet peeves. "Maybe you feel like you're not being fed because you're actually overweight from all the intake and you're not sharing it back with others! Stop leeching and start learning the joys of serving. THEN see how your spiritual life starts to grow..." etc etc etc. ugh.
Tim, I so agree. If one only depends on sitting and listening (being spoon fed) for their spiritual growth they will come up empty every time. It is when we are serving and allowing God to use us to further His kingdom that we truly grow.
I also don't understand the notion that it is the pastors responsibility to do all the feeding. When we are babies we need someone to feed us as we grown older we learn how to feed ourselves. The same should be true in our spiritual lives as well.
yes... consumerism and materialism two things that drive our culture probably more than anything are VERY much alive in USAmerican church...
our desire to create factories to churn out "disciples"
our penchant for branding and sloganizing the good news
the prevalence of seeing people as potential markets and niches
the aforementioned attitude that the church can often re-inforce "what's in it for me?" (how often do we allow this motivation to dictate how we advertise or discuss an event or doctrine?)
It is definitely a major issue that is not going to go away quietly from our christian communities.
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