I called them “Defining Moments or Declining Moments in the Life of the Church.” I identified five major modern day movements in the evangelical church that has affected the church's potency. I want to talk about the seeker church movement. You might not even know what the “seeker church” is so let me explain. As the tumultuous 60’s began to wind down and the baby boomers came of age, there was a desire to return to church. The problem was that for almost half of a generation this generation had given up on church. For the first time, there were more “unchurched” people in the U.S. than church-goers. The problem was that most churches had given up on being relevant. What I mean is that many churches that began in the post World War II era and in the 1950’s had refused to “change with the times.” Programming, music, relevance, etc. passed the church by! Plus, the world was changing faster…computers, videos, CDs, cell phones, PDAs, digitalization, and globalization became the buzz words. But the church was back in the 1950’s at best.
Baby boomer Christians desired to reach their friends and loved ones; and they “perceived” that there were sociological barriers to reaching these lost, unchurched people. That is the first major mistake – it is true that cultural irrelevancy was present, but was it really a barrier to the gospel? The fact is the gospel is presented by people to people who have loving, authentic RELATIONSHIPS and are living out the gospel. Nevertheless, these believing innovators set out to transform the way we did church to reach the lost.
Let me say, I respect and want to recognize their desire as a very noble goal. I cannot ever judge motives, but the methodology is the problem. Nevertheless, the idea was conceived. What if we designed a church for the unchurched? What if church did not have all the Christian terms? What if we utilized things like drama, media, or creative arts and engaged the unchurched listeners with things they were used to? I know a Christian musician who took songs made famous by The Beatles, The Beach Boys, and other secular artists and changed their words enough to have a mild Christian message.
Their idea was to make church fun and creative instead of boring and something Christians would not be embarrassed to invite their lost friends to. Again, a noble pursuit, but here is where the mistake was made. They “watered down the message” to what they would tag as “Christianity 101.” There was recognition of certain doctrines and elements of Christianity that might be too much for the unbeliever to fully comprehend. And they focused on “felt need” messages. A lot of “how-to” type messages were preached and little to no expositional messages.
The seeker church leaders launched their experiment. The most famous seeker church was Willow Creek Community Church in the Chicago area, operating out of a movie theater (that was innovative seeing that most Christians in the 60’s did not go to the movies!). Bill Hybels mobilized his growing youth group to launch a church primarily to reach their parents and adult friends who needed Christ. At the first service in 1975, 1000 people showed up; and for the last 30 years, Hybels has led the way, growing the original church to over 23,000 and starting an association of seeker churches. To his credit, Hybels knew that once people came to faith they had to be deepened in their faith and knowledge. So each Wednesday, he would also conduct a “normal church service” for the believer. However, that important piece of his strategy was not embraced by his imitators. Before I give you my critique of the movement and why this has adversely affected evangelical Christianity, let me tell you some positive effects.
Evangelism was back on the radar. One of the key things the seeker church did was motivate Christians to reach out to their unsaved friends. Just the constant talk about doing evangelism caused Christians to get into the outreach game!
We became missionary-minded in our backyard. The era of the church between 1940-1960 could be called the World Missions Thrust Era. With soldiers and sailors coming back from WWII, they saw the needs of the world; and great missionary movement occurred. With any emphasis comes the neglect of other areas of ministry, thus we stopped seeing the USA as a mission field. The seeker church refocused our missionary mindset on America!
The church discovered many tools to communicate the truth. Drama, video, and music were unleashed in the church. These engaging methods of communication were legitimized in the church. You need to understand how “counter-cultural” it was to use what were considered “worldly techniques” for sacred purposes. The seeker church kicked open the door and freed up some legalistic minds.
Programming became purposeful and people driven. The seeker church dared to ask the question, “Why do we do what we do in the church?” The answer sadly came, “Because we ALWAYS did it this way!” That uncreative and purposeless response stirred many to ask, “Can we do ministry better? Who are we trying to reach? How can we more effectively do ministry?” This was a tremendous benefit in helping the church to maximize its impact!
So, what was the problem? There are a number of theological issues that must be addressed surrounding the seeker movement.
1. The church is for the believer. Acts 2 tells us that once the Jews came to Christ that they “devoted themselves to the apostle’s teaching, fellowship…etc,” and the church was born. You are in the church through your born again experience. The mission of all Christians is to make disciples (Matthew 28). That means that the primary task of the church is to build up and mature those who have come to Christ. That means our programming and the focus of our energy should be on growing the believers. Gene Getz coined the phrase, “The church gathers for edification…” but then he finished it with…”…they scatter for evangelization.” Building a church or programming a church for the primary needs of a seeker or unregenerate person is not what the church is about. Yes those in the church should be concerned with evangelism -- I love lost people. But first and foremost the Church needs to build up the "already converted" as its preeminent concern!
2. It gives seekers a false sense of belonging to the family of God. When a church programs its ministry with a heavy emphasis on the unsaved or when the church is designed to give the lost a sense of “being a part” or “belonging” without ever coming to Christ, it gives them a false sense of being “right with God.” The gospel and a community of believers certainly want to attract the lost but not make them feel “comfortable.” At some point the gospel and the church should offend the lost or they will repent and believe. But then, they can fully and seriously consider the gospel’s claims. I believe that there are many seeker churches filled with people who are satisfied with their position with God, but not truly saved. The pragmatist would say..."but at least they are coming?" There is a pragmatic truth there -- but for how long?
3. Relationships are the key – not a program. Here’s the really interesting fact. The unchurched and the lost come to a seeker church because....BINGO... of their relationship with a believer. If there was no relationship, they would not come in contact with the gospel. Sure, having a “non-threatening event” helps with our personal witnessing efforts. But still, it works because the believer builds relationships with lost people and looks for ways to minister the gospel. I would contend that if most church-goers would intentionally look for ways to impact and influence lost people in their circle of relationships, they would see them come to Christ and not need a seeker church or a weekly service solely dedicated to appealing to the spiritual taste buds of the lost. And the fact is that, once they come to Christ, they can come to a church where they will grow and mature in their faith and not linger hearing just the basics of Christianity.
4. Ministry is not a bag of tricks but a work of God when we do ministry His way! I don’t want to make mass generalizations; but many times in a seeker church, there is a temptation to emotionally twist seekers into a decision. When believers are growing, building relationships with the lost, praying, and preparing for God to work in this redemptive relationship, seekers will ask, “What is the hope in you?” Then, you can see God do the work of salvation. There is a certain way to do ministry, and repurposing and reprogramming the church is not the way to do that. Now do most churches need to work harder at reaching out to the lost -- yes, yes, yes!!! But we must be very careful not to bankrupt the spiritual nurturing needs of believers. As Christians focus their personal ministry on evangelism -- they will crave a deeper discipleship in the church!
5. Size is not everything. One of the interesting by-products of the seeker church is that they grow exponentially. They certainly draw a crowd. Part of it is the environment of “coming and checking out but not having to commit.” The problem is that you wake up and your church is “10 miles wide and an inch thick!” Another problem with large churches that grow fast that we have seen with the seeker movement is that people cannot be enfolded or assimilated into the Body Life of the church very effectively. There are TOO MANY infant/babes/ immature people and not enough mature Christians to disciple and shepherd them, so they float adrift in their faith.
6. The role of the shepherd. Talking about shepherding, the seeker church has changed the role and expectation of the pastor. Pastors are viewed as programmers, entrepreneurs, motivational speakers, showman, actors on a stage and not necessarily as preachers of the Word of God. Don’t get me wrong – there are many godly men and fantastic communicators, but they are not preachers of the Word. Paul clearly declared the primary role of the pastor…
“I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.” 2 Timothy 4:1-4 (NASB95)
He even warned young Timothy to be careful when the message or preaching of the Word is dumbed down because those less hungry for truth want to “feel good” and not be challenged. We are to preach the Word, when it’s popular and when it’s not popular! And we are to give the people “sound doctrine.” Now, some seeker churches have attempted to make sure that there are places in their programs for that to occur. I commend them for that effort. The problem is that it is not preeminent and center stage in the life and priority of the ministry of the church. It’s secondary in the seeker church.
7. The sufficiency of the Scriptures – This is the most disconcerting. Deep in the soul of the seeker church architects is the doubt that the Bible is enough. Some of the early leaders grew up in the church. Some of their fathers were great preachers of a past day. Some would say that they love and trust the Bible, but the programming they promote does not allow the Bible to do its work of transformation. The fruit of this is seen in the embracing of pop psychology into most messages. Their sources of answers for problems are a collection of biblical ideas, psychology, inspirational thoughts, and a sprinkling of Dr. Phil, Dr. Ruth, or Dear Abby. (Please note the sarcasm) But the most distressing is the rise of pastors purchasing sermons given by others. Ed Young, Jr., pastor of Fellowship Church in Texas, reported that in 2005 his CreativePastor.com website sold 1.4 million dollars of sermon transcripts. When pastors stop digging into the Bible themselves and start using others’ material, the Scriptures have lost their influence in the church. This wavering of the sufficiency of the Scriptures began in the seeker church that said the Bible is TOO confusing and overwhelming for the seeker so let’s “lighten-up” our message.
There you have it. I tried to be fair. I think there are some things that the seeker movement has helped us with in evangelical Christianity, but the downside is serious and extremely concerning. Our task is to understand the difference and grow a healthy, functioning, growing church that is reaching lost people and helping them become wholehearted followers of Christ.