The Church, Inc. (NASDAQ: WWJD) - The Dehumanization of Christians (cont.'d)

Question #3:

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Has the business world's mentality about having something that consumers will "buy" or "buy into" (something that will "sell") worked its way into the church and, if so, how has this affected the Church?" Also, "has the Church in its attempt to be "culturally relevant" in order to gain more converts become "culturally relative"? Has the church in its tendency to try and become all things to all people in an attempt to expand the Kingdom, indeed become all things and (in doing so) become more like non-Christians than non-Christians like Christians?" “Has the church in its effort to physically grow (evangelize) subconsciously tended it to focus more on “numbers” at the expense of the spiritual growth of the very converts they may gain and their congregations as well?”

That’s a lot of questions I know, but they all are interrelated.

In I Corinthians 9:20-22, Paul states:

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"To the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews; to those who are under the law, as under the law, that I might win those who are under the law; to those who are without law, as without law (not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ), that I might win those who are without law; to the weak I became as weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some."
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The question to ask here is what Paul meant by this. Certainly he is not advocating intentional deception by acting like someone he’s not. So he must be intending something else.

Paul's main concern here is indeed evangelism. Typically when he talks of becoming as "someone" it is to win "someone" to salvation. And almost always it was in the context of interchanging between the Jew and Gentile cultures and equally his dual status of being Jew and being free (in Christ). Paul often would adhere to certain Jewish practices when he was with Jews, and similarly abandon those same practices when in the presence of Gentiles. It was pointless to force practices which had no bearing on salvation (such as circumcision) on those who placed no similar importance on them (the Gentiles) and it was equally pointless to deny such traditional practices based on the same reasoning. In other words, there is no point in majoring in minors when all are free in Christ. But this is not "evangelism" at all cost and certainly not evangelism at the expense of "truth"! And Paul’s main concern here is evangelism that ultimately leads to a proper and coherent theological view of Christ and not simply evangelism for evangelism’s sake (i.e. – simply to win as many converts as he can).

It is one thing to practice or abstain from certain practices so that one does not offend his brother/sister, but quite another to adopt certain practices in order to win people to Christ. “Drinking” is an example of this. Some Christians may be offended by the drinking of alcohol in their presence whereas other Christians may not be. Neither the “drinking” nor the abstaining from “drinking” has a bearing on salvation, but both do have a bearing on Christian growth and well being. It may be a case where the offended party may be enticed to stumble if they possess a “drinking” problem. The key is to be sensitive to our brother’s and sister’s needs – in other words – their spiritual growth and well being in Christ. Again, Paul is not looking for ways to use elements of the larger heathen society as a whole to bring people to Christ, but rather looking to develop a proper theology (truth) so that all can come to Christ and grow in Christ based on this truth. There are times when Paul tailors his message to his specific audience, yes, but his foundational truth is always the same and the tailoring is typically done by analogy and not by adopting actual practices of the heathen community to which he is evangelizing.

But has the evangelical Church taken this mentality and applied it the wrong way? It seems to me that when Paul speaks of becoming as a Jew to win Jews and becoming as Gentiles to win Gentiles, it is primarily (if not always) with the intent to not cause his brothers and sisters to stumble in their faith or to create a situation where the Gospel could be compromised to those looking in from the outside. Paul does not seem to me to “proactively” look for particular aspects of heathen civilization of which he can incorporate into Christianity so that he can evangelize the non-Christians in that society. No, he is concerned with things that can become stumbling blocks to diverse Christians within the faith and things that can appear as contradictions to those who are outside looking in. His goal is evangelism, but within the broader context of the Body as a whole. His goal IS NOT quantity of believers (although this will be a by-product of his main concern) but rather his goal IS the quality of his message (the truth of the Gospel). Paul is concerned with winning people to Christ but this can only be accomplished with a message that is coherent, consistent, and true.

But in our modern evangelical churches, has the focus gone from the “message” to the “medium”. Has our concern become winning as many as we can for Christ as opposed to having a coherent, consistent, and true Gospel message which will ultimately win people to Christ? Have we subconsciously decided that if we adapt certain practices and appearances of non-Christians then we can win more people to Christ than by just merely speaking truth?

Our society is so production focused. Americans are the most productive workers in the world. With this has come the necessity for “efficiency”. Efficiency makes one more productive. This mentality (I feel) has bled over into the church. The unspoken and overriding goal has become to efficiently minister to and witness to as many people as we can – winning as many as we can to Christ by whatever means necessary. This has become the Christian “measuring stick” of productivity. The more people who are ministered to and brought to Christ, the more the church will be viewed as “productive” and (apparently) subsequently more “Godly”. Maybe this mentality has also stemmed from the church’s seeming inability to mobilize their congregations. If the church members themselves will not participate in ministry and be the “medium” through which non-Christians are brought to Christ, then the more there will be the need to implement “strategies” or “mediums” that will evangelize as opposed to people being the “mediums” themselves.

If the people will not mobilize to speak truth to non-Christians on a personal level, then the Church is left to find creative ways to speak truth to the masses in a more personal way. The only way this can be accomplished (in the Church’s mind) is by the “medium” in which truth is presented – the worship service. So the church is left to try and create a “personal” message in an “impersonal” forum – the larger congregational worship.

Now there are a lot of ways in which this is evident. I have already discussed in previous “bloggings” the nature of our current worship music - about how the Eminence of Christ has been pushed to the forefront of our worship over and above the Transcendence of God. I believe this is a direct attempt to identify personally and emotionally with non-Christians and to try and create a sense of intimacy within the worship service. Since our non-believing society has adopted the notion of “relative truth” and become solely focused on emotions and how one “feels” about something, it seems the Church has decided to become “like the world” to “win the world” through the medium of emotion with the unintended effect of creating a less than holistic view of God.

Too often I feel like we as the Church by our actions are saying - "See, we sing upbeat songs! We are really all alike. We like a lot of the things you like. Come worship with us.” Shouldn’t the church be saying "this is who we are - we want you to join us"? I see Scripture saying that the Church should be a light (set apart) on a hill – not a different brand of light bulb sitting on a shelf in Home Depot. I see Scripture alluding to the fact that there will be times that we offend people with the Gospel. I don’t see where we are to ask people whether or not they want to buy and listen to their Gospel (their God) with the “intimate/emotional” slant or the “holy” slant.

Which begs the question – “Was the temple a place to entice non-believers to come or was it a holy place?” Is our Church today primarily a place for worship or for evangelism? I think this is a critical question to answer. I find it troubling when our worship (singing and preaching) is designed to appeal to those in the congregation (Christians and non-Christians) primarily on the basis of emotion and intimacy for the mere sake of evangelism. God did not tell Moses come and sit with me and let's pal around while we hang out. No, he said take off your shoes because this is holy ground. Of course, focusing on the transcendence of God will offend a lot of non-believers (especially those who rebel against the unbalanced “fire and brimstone” preaching). But to solely focus on God's love and his "friendship" in order to win people to Christ is not a holistic Gospel. He is not primarily our friend. He is primarily our creator.

Bottom line – I feel like today’s evangelical church is worried that the Gospel is not strong enough to stand by itself and that for non-Christians to be won to Christ the church must adapt and tailor its message to win as many as they can for Christ. But I believe that a holistic view of Paul’s theology would place equal emphasis on the truth of the Gospel as it would in winning people to Christ – maybe more so. A proper mentality to evangelism would be for the Church (no matter the time and cost involved) to educate and mobilize and, more importantly, pass on a vision to its congregational members so that evangelism is made personal through personal interactions. Shouldn’t notions of becoming like a non-Christian in order to win them to Christ be left up to individuals at the personal interactive level of ministry buffered by the larger congregational gathering where truth is unabashedly spoken rather than the opposite where the main worship in God’s holy temple tries to walk the slippery slope of being in the world but not of the world and in doing so blurring the lines of distinction between itself and the world?

So what does this have to do with the dehumanization of Christians? Again, the goal subtly shifts from a people focus to a product focus. The product is Christianity. So the focus goes from the Christian to Christianity itself. The focus becomes more general: the non-believing world, the number of converts won to Christianity, Christianity being a viable option for non-believers, etc.. as opposed to being more specific: how do we promote vision within our church, how do we care for the Body, how do we disciple and educate those already within our Body. Discipleship and Christian education subconsciously become viewed as “non-productive” efforts because how do you “quantify” spiritual progress in these efforts. But numbers of converts can be quantified as they can be counted. The amount by which church attendance grows can be counted just like the bottom line net worth on a business’s quarterly earnings report. Paul’s goal was never about “numbers”, but rather about people – non-Christian AND Christian. And more importantly, his concern was more often than not HOW the Body of Christ was to properly function – people of different cultures living as one in the body of Christ.


To Be Continued...one final question - question #4 next