I have this recurring dream that I enter into our church sanctuary to begin the music service, and everyone is acting like a bunch of school children waiting for the substitute teacher. Paper is being thrown, Starbucks cups litter the hands of caffeinated Southern Baptist like they’re communion cups. Children are pretty much left to themselves to do whatever their little depraved hearts desire. Sometimes there’s even a beach ball being bounced atop the heads of the congregation. My efforts to calm the chaos are completely ignored. My final response is to launch into a tirade of rebuke to young and old. I hit the highlights like disrespect for God, church etiquette, taking church lightly, and bad manners in general. Then, for some reason, I have worked myself into such a frenzy that I pass out on the floor like Benny Hinn’s wife.
I am by no means trying to interpret this dream, but to me it is a good example of what church has become for a lot of people. Not that it wasn’t bad to begin with, but the seeker-sensitive movement has taken the respect out of Lord’s Day Worship to a degree that is hard to comprehend. We have a local church in our town who plastered “If you hate church, you’ll love us” on their Christmas float. This is the same church that had the congregation chant “sex is good, sex is good” during a sermon on marriage.
We are raising a generation of “Christians” who do not fear God, because they only hear one message “God loves you, and has a wonderful plan for your life”. I even had a woman tell me God really, really likes me. Bubble gum church has become the flavor of the day. Spongebob has become the new pragmatic character to draw a crowd, and “In and Out” is the new business model for how to conduct a worship service. Smiling friendly staff, a good price and fast service that leaves you feeling warm inside, but still leaves you wondering why there is so little meat.
Have we built our sanctuaries more conducive to fellowship and feeling at ease, when we should be trying to create a place that demands respect for God and brings us to a place of honorable worship? Has our music become so saturated with performance that the congregation feels no different at church than at a concert? Is the lowest common denominator (i.e. WoW Worship) the scale by which the textual content of our music is chosen? Does the congregation’s wishes play a significant role in choosing the content of the message?
Do you consider expository preaching to not necessarily be the “end all be all of preaching”? Are Starbucks and Krispy Kreme in the top 3 reasons to come to your church?
If you answered yes to any of the above, then you might be a seeker-sensitive church.
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36 year old husband, father, pastor, singer, musician, reader, eater, rider, watcher,
…so you’re saying sex isn’t good…
This lesson in missing the point brought to you by
Big Chris
Because I said so
Chris if you missed the point then you might be a member of a seeker driven church.
If your Ice Cream Social happens during the worship service – “You might be a seeker sensitive church”
If you have Karoake Sunday once a month for your worship service you might be a seeker sensitive church.
If all of your pastor’s sermons are acrostics you might be a seeker-sensitive church.
If your only requirement for baptism is to high five the pastor, you might be a seeker-sensitive church.
Really, I didn’t miss the original point. The key point was Scott having a seisure on stage so he can be more like Benny Hinn’s wife….:0)
Big Chris
If the bounce house is the sanctuary you might be a seeker sensitive church.
Chris you should start doing dream interpretation. I totally missed that maybe deep down I want to be Benny Hinns wife.
If your Sunday best is wearing socks with your sandals, you might have a seeker-sensitive church.
If your pastor has ever used a clip from “Friends” or “Will & Grace” to illustrate his point…yoooooou might be a ‘Rick’neck!
If you go to church to see the lost episodes of the Andy Griffith show. You might be a seeker sensitive church.
If your pastor finishes his sermon before your low-fat upside-down stirred carmel macchiato gets cold, you might be in a seeker church.
Tony,
I’m stealing that “Rick’neck”. That is waaaay too good not to be shared.
Big Chris
Because I said so
If you start receiving Starbucks gift cards in the offering plates as collateral, yooooouuuuu might be a RickNeck
P.S.- my dad stole that whole rickneck thing from me. I feel better now
If you attend a church picnic that has a banner quoting Matthew 24:13 with a mechanical bull underneath it… yooooou just might be a Rickneck!
I would say that inside of marriage, sex is actuallt good. However, your point about chanting it in church is well-taken.
On the other side of the fence, many,many,many churches have “karaoke” during the service — it’s called “singing to soundtracks”. It was one of the things I couldn’t get over when I first became a Christian — the worst practice of the common world was right there in the worship center, hoping that the Holy Spirit would change these groanings into pleasing sounds to God.
I use soundtracks quite often, but do not consider it Karoake.
I consider it cheap use of an expensive orchestra that at the time I am not able to afford or have. I assume you do not sing.
From a pastor who wishes to remain anonymous:
If you allow “In The Ghetto” to be played in your church, you might be a redneck “Rickneck”.
If your weekly men’s “ministry” includes softballs and bats..yooooooou might be a “rickneck”
If you have more ministries than ‘Junior Assistant PowerPoint Pastors’, you might be a detergent church!
(detergent because they clean the bible clear out of the church!!)
I’m a little late on this, but….
If your church has regular acrobatic performances (from cealings etc…) to illustrate a sermon or introduce a pastor, YOU JUST MIGHT BE A CRAZY Seeker-Sensative (Navy Seals) church.