Rant on the Attractional Church

I would love to write a ton more on this, but just have a rant to pass on:

For the past two years now, my view of the church has massively changed. First, I must state something very clearly. In 2005 I started attending church, in 2007 started Bible school and helped plant a church, and in 2008 came to the realization that I was the best law-keeping moralist I knew. I preached at church, led Bible studies, but in 2008 I was confronted with the truth of the cross and the Gospel. This may seem shocking, but I was not a believer in the crucified and risen Jesus Christ. My view up until then was that Christians are people who might have said a "sinner prayer," didn't cuss, didn't drink, and was basically a really good person. However, that all changed when I was confronted with what the Bible really said about my sin, about Jesus, and even more, my identity in Christ.

I attribute most of my moralism (Jesus + my good works trying to please God) to the type of ministry I was in. I had never heard a text preached or shared with me about sin, the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. I never heard that he lived a perfect life where I had failed and died the death I deserved for failing to live perfectly. I did hear 7 ways to a happy marriage, 4 ways to be a better evangelist, basically 777 ways to earn God's love, or at least make him happy.

This type of ministry is called attractional, or event driven. The heart of this type of ministry is good, but very wrong. These churches will do everything possible to get people in the doors, entertain them, and show them that God can be cool. The major downfall with this is that 1) Jesus commanded, after all authority on heaven and earth had been given to him, believers to GO! Make Disciples! Teach Them (Matt. 28:18-20)! Understanding discipleship is a whole other discussion 2) The people who are attracted to this ministry have to always give more entertainment, more fun things, more instant satisfaction of the senses.

Attractional churches have become a place, when the church is supposed to be a people. No one in this attractional church is committed to the ministry and the body, but uses what the church offers for themselves. These churches do not believe in church discipline because we "are all sinners" and don't want our weekly statistics to drop.

So how did this happen? The Church (the people of God) from 33 A.D. on were committed to one another (Acts 2:42-47), proclaiming Christ in everyday life (1 Cor. 15:1-4; Rom. 1:16-17; Phil. 3:7-11), and on mission to the world (Acts 1:8). In the late 1900's through the beginning 2000's, especially with Billy Graham and Greg Laurie starting the Crusades (terrible reminder to the Muslim world), the Gospel began to get watered down to a prayer you say to get your ticket to heaven. No discipleship followed, just a high emphasis on church attendance, serving in the church, and tithing.

I once approached a pastor and told him I was concerned about eldership in the church, finances, and a clear preaching of the Gospel and the cross. I was told that I needed to pray more, read my Bible more, etc. and Jesus would be happy with me. This view comes from the medieval ages heresy of the Roman Catholic Church, that we are justified by our sanctification, not justified by faith in the life and death of Christ. People who attend these churches, like I did for years, have identity issues. They are not happy with God and the Gospel. They always feel they need to serve more, have a husband or wife, read their Bibles more, etc. Their identity is not in Christ, which now I know, is the most beautiful freeing thing, wanting me to serve, read, pray, etc. out of joy!!!

Life together is non-existent in this type of ministry. Other than a weekly service, one might join a small group, Bible study, home group, etc. This is a time of Bible study, which is good, but is never played out (James 1:22-27. This creates a dichotomy where you have your family life, church life, work life, when the Scripture call us to live these out together. We cannot come together once a week to surround ourselves around the Bible, but are called to live our everyday lives according to the Bible, reminding one another of it's truths.

The most pressing issue here is the Gospel. The Gospel is not something that saves us and we are free to live as we were before, or if you are really good, you study end times and the rapture. The Gospel is the power of God for salvation (Romans 1:16-17). Salvation is a past tense Ephesians 2:8, Present tense: 1 Cor. 15:2; Phil. 2:12-13 and Future tense: Acts 15:11; 1 Peter 1:3-5. This means that we use the Gospel to call one another (believers) from sin unto repentance, with the purpose that they would believe their identity in the Gospel. All sin is unbelief (read Hebrews 3-4), so we must remind each other of the Gospel. Attractional churches will either say to be more disciplined in reading or praying (which can be good), or even preach sermons calling the people of God to "just be like your favorite Bible character). The truth is we are like our favorite Bible characters, sinners in need of a Savior. We need to be reminded of how the Law condemns us, just as it did everyone in the Scriptures, but Jesus perfectly fulfilled it, was killed for our failure, and was risen 3 days later to give us life.

I have lived both sides of this, so I am critical for a reason. My prayer is that we would stop being consumeristic, finding churches that best serve and entertain us, etc. Instead, let's get back to the Gospel. Numbers are not always souls. I was a leader in a church and was not saved, this is very dangerous. I now am free because of the Gospel. My identity is in Christ. I am part of a Christ-treasuring community, formed by the Gospel and sent on mission to the world through the power of the Holy Spirit for the glory of God. If some of this offends you, I would ask that you don't get defensive because your church "is right" but to diligently search the Scriptures and compare and contrast.