What Do Unbelievers Frequently Hear in Seeker-Sensitive Churches?
“If I were an unbeliever and I attended these [seeker-driven /purpose-driven] churches and listened to all their sermons week after week, how would I define the term “Christ Follower”?
Here’s the answer I came up with after reviewing the sermons preached at these seeker-driven / purpose-driven churches over the last 24 months:
Christ Follower: Someone who has made the decision to be an emotionally well adjusted self-actualized risk taking leader who knows his purpose, lives a ‘no regrets’ life of significance, has overcome his fears, enjoys a healthy marriage with better than average sex, is an attentive parent, is celebrating recovery from all his hurts, habits and hang ups, practices Biblical stress relief techniques, is financially free from consumer debt, fosters emotionally healthy relationships with his peers, attends a weekly life group, volunteers regularly at church, tithes off the gross and has taken at least one humanitarian aid trip to a third world nation.
Based upon this summarized definition, I’ve come to the conclusion that the world is full of people who can fit this definition but who’ve never repented of their sins and trusted in Christ alone for the forgiveness of their sins.”
Read more here.
That sound you don’t hear is me silently screaming.
It sounds like the post-modern version of double predestination via Pelagianism and the Protestant work ethic.
I have failed in the things I have done and left undone. Nothing like packing my bags and going on a guilt trip. The only thing left to do in my despair is to rest in Christ and His saving work. Otherwise I would be screaming with Lars and it would be getting pretty noisy on this blog cause I don’t scream silently.
That sounds like a great life! I wish that was my reality, to live like that. Coming from a Mega church I know that these people are inside telling themselves that they are working on it (climbing the latter), almost there (one rung to go), have arrived (looking down on those losers who are not with it like me) or are just out of luck (the ladder it just too steep an my balance is bad). This is another reason why Lutheran churches MUST preach the Law and Gospel every Sunday and offer the sacraments for the full forgiveness of our sins. It’s amazing to think that our mission field is in “churches” who fail to preach Christ. Thanks for the post!
I would say that this is probably the #1 problem in evangelicalism today, albeit evangelicalism does have numerous problems.
@Craig
We really have entered a time like that of Luther’s when the mission field is those attending “churches” but never hearing Law and Gospel. Thus the need for a rejuvenated Lutheranism, in harmony with the Book of Concord.