Last week we started talking about humanism in the church. We started to look into how this humanistic mindset governs how many churches “do church”. In my last thread, I started discussing the three priorities that lead so many pastors in the ministry models. They are numbers, reputation, and excitement (buzz). Previously, we looked at numbers. This week I want us to look at the next two priorities together since they go hand in hand. When speaking about reputation and excitement as it relates to many modern churches, you will find that it is the latter that causes the former.
Let’s look at reputation first. I don’t know of any pastor in their right mind, including myself, that does not want to be successful. Every pastor is striving for success. But what kind of success and whose definition of success? Many pastors today want to be known. They want to be seen as important, likeable, and edgy. Pastors as men who spend a great deal of time in studying the word of God and presenting the deep truths of sound Biblical doctrines have been replaced with pastors who know more about MTV, R-rated movies, Twitter, MySpace, and the latest cultural fads than propitiation, substitutionary atonement, and the implications of God’s sovereignty and who are more interested in preaching sermon series that help their members become satisfied “in the sack” than sermons that help believers become truly satisfied with Christ. If we measured Jesus with the same standards of success that we measure pastors with today, Jesus was a failure! (John 6)
Many pastors no longer want the unheralded, often lonely job of faithfully tending the flock of God and guarding against the ravenous wolves of this world. Instead, they want to be ranchers. They want to be known for the size of their herd, and too many, it doesn’t matter if the herd is made up of a mixture of sheep and goats. As a matter of fact, some even allow wolves in sheep’s clothing because outwardly they look like sheep and are counted as such. Many pastors have left the path of servant and teacher to walk down the broad path that is paved with celebrity and notoriety as they strive to become the “spiritual rock stars” of our day.
In order to achieve this new status of pastor, you need to have a following, a large following. I’m not talking about a following of grey-headed Bible-thumpers either. That’s doesn’t rate very high on the cool scale. I’m talking about a large number of “20-30somethings” that like kickin’ music, edgy “talks”, and services that allow their non-believer friends to feel comfortable. And in order to build that following, you need offer only one thing: what they want! Sadly, many churches do just that. They issue questionnaires on a regular basis to people in the church as well as those in the community. They ask such questions as: What do you like about church? What would you like to see more of in church? What is you favorite style of music? What topics are important to you? Then, once this information is compiled, the “worship team” begins planning the services tailoring them to these expressed desires and “needs”. (Where is the Biblical pattern for this?)
This has given rise to the secularization of many churches. Some churches have opened services with AC/DC’s Hell’s Bells and Madonna’s Material Girl. Sermon series no longer consists of exegetical preaching through a book of the Bible or a Biblical truth that is universally applicable. Now many sermons (er…talks) consist of super heroes, ‘80s lifestyle, s-x life enrichment, or any number of the latest TV shows or movies. In order to draw and maintain the numbers and the reputation, extreme and even unbiblical measures are taken to create excitement. A teaspoon of Scripture is taken and mixed with a bucket of worldliness, and it is called relevant ministry.
Scripture-based, Spirit-led ministry has given way to pragmatism. Whatever works do it. How do you know what works? If it’s putting fannies in the seats, it’s working. The sad thing is scripture tells us that Biblical truth is rejected more than it is embraced.
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