Im currently reading The Astonished Heart by Robert Farrar Capon who focuses on reclaiming the Good News from church history. This was his thoughts on the mega-church model of the 21st century. Thoughts? Like Jeremiah speaking to Israel before the Captivity, I have not a kind word to say for it. Its sheer size makes it corporately successful in the extreme - angelic to a fare-thee-well. Its consumerism is flagrant. It sells what the market demands: religion, not Gospel; goods and services, not confrontation; life enhancement, not redeeming death. Besides its far too close to being the entertainment industry at prayer. It provides prime-time nursery care (complete with big-screen TV messages to summon the parents of intractable children), gymnasiums for Christian aerobics, mini-dramas and sitcoms during services, in-house bookstores and T-shirt marts (the church-front store), feel good songs with sticky lyrics and marshmallow melodies - and above all, the consolations of soda-pop theology. In short, its Walmart from start to finish: it stocks only what sells and doesnt give shelf-room to what doesnt... ... But the last and saddest thing about the mega-church is the rest of the churches rush to imitate it - and their almost universal unhappiness at not being able to. It may be the Home Shopping Network on its knees, but its not the church. It may cater to a clientele large enough to make the mainline churches green with envy; but if youve got a good little restaurant, why should you waste your time being jealous of fast-food chains?
Posted on: Thu, 05 Jun 2014 19:03:09 +0000
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