According to Julia Duin evangelicals are fleeing their churches and not attending on Sunday. There are probably several things going on here besides Duin not counting some non denominational churches that are growing. Has anyone considered that maybe half of the people in the seeker friendly churches that are now so prominent across America were never Christians in the first place? They were brought in by hype and great expectation for a purpose driven life but they never believed or were given the gospel of Salvation that defines a Christian.

Let me make a few observations. I occasionally attended a large mega church in St Louis and the pastor realized that even through he was having alter calls and scores of people were emotionally coming to the alter each Sunday for salvation or renewal the church was no longer growing. He realized the people were going out the back door as fast as they went in the front door. He soon changed to follow the format of Willow Creek Church and adopted the seeker sensitive church growth model. He no longer gave alter calls and did not present a dynamic gospel message on Sundays but mainly presented an entertainment packed gospel light service that would appeal to young professionals. Now almost two decades later the Church still has about the same attendance numbers as it had before he switched to the Creeker format but the people in attendance today are almost a completely different membership. In others words in 15 or so years there has been a ninety percent turnover in the membership. He replaced a church of fervent believers with all Baby Boomer Evangelicals and seekers.

This has been going on in many seeker sensitive churches across the country. They cater to the unbelievers and lose their core Church membership. They pad their church board with those who will agree with the pastor’s seeker model and drive out the leadership that wish to retain biblical teaching on Sunday. In addition, the seekers are not going to the mid week services to learn the gospel of salvation like the leadership had hoped. So the seekers stick around for a little while and also leave out the back door seldom to be seen again

Even Bill Hybells the father of the Creeker Movement of churches has recently admitted that the seeker sensitive church growth model has been a failure. He said it did not produce mature Christians. He and others are now rethinking everything and probably looking for a new gimmick to bring people in and keep them in attendance. The whole Emergent Church movement is doing likewise.

The problem is that the Body of Christ is not grown through gimmicks and entertainment services. It is grown through conversion to Jesus Christ through hearing and believing the gospel and this does not happen unless the gospel is given and the Holy Spirit draws them (not Elvis impersonators). Gimmicks of the church might get people to attend on Sundays for awhile but that wears off and most soon leave.

Also, the local church spiritual health is not based on numbers. It is based on Spirit indwelt Christians with gifts of the Spirit that are using these gifts for the good of the whole Body. The Body does not even have to be in Sunday attendance for that to happen. The Church needs to work beyond the four walls that many assembly in on Sunday. Much too often those who do attend each Sunday think that have done their Christian service and their calling because they attended the Sunday gathering service. No. They have just attended a Sunday gathering service. If you want to do what Christians were called to do you need to be helping to fulfill the great commission using your gifts to build up the Body of Christ in order for the Body of Christ (the Church) to actually fulfill the great commission. Grow the membership in the Body of Christ and the Church will be attending and it will be doing its job. This does not happen just on Sunday but every day of the week and that job will never primarily be done under the roofs of church building.

The buildings are primarily there for the use of the Church not for the use of unbelievers. I have encountered many Bible believing Christians that will not attend a Church building because of what they feel goes on under these roofs and we all know that their arguments are often valid. So the solution might be for pastors to start looking more at third world models where the Church is actually living out Christianity daily rather than the latest Madison Ave westernized two hour Sunday media event model.

I believe if all the big Church buildings in America disappeared the Church in America would be much more effective and dynamic being a Church that goes out into the streets.

Sunday Morning, Staying Home

According to Julia Duin, a religion reporter for the Washington Times, more and more evangelicals are in fact fleeing their churches. Indeed, Ms. Duin regards church-quitting, at least among evangelicals, as nothing less than an epidemic. The problem, in her view, is not in the souls of the church quitters but in the character of the churches they choose to leave. “Something,” she observes, “is not right with . . . evangelical church life.”

The faults she points to–relying on her own reporting and survey data–are many. They are surprising, too, running counter to the stereotype of evangelicals bonding happily in their churches. She reports, among other things: a lack of a feeling of community among church members, inducing loneliness and boredom; church teaching that fails to go beyond the basics of the faith or to reach members grappling with suffering or unanswered prayer; pastors who are either out of touch with their parishioners or themselves unhappy, or who fail to shepherd their flocks, or who are caught up in scandal, or who try to control the lives of church members in a high-handed way. She claims that many churches have “inefficient leadership models” and that many, preoccupied with the care of families, neglect single people.

According to Ms. Duin, churches dedicated to making disciples will “do well in this era of dumbed-down, purpose-driven, seeker-friendly Christianity.” But is that really true? From a theological perspective, there is no guarantee that churches will prosper as they attempt to make disciples–if we judge prosperity by church membership alone. A church might conscientiously carry out its biblical tasks and yet, by measures of popularity, do poorly in this world. Such a church would not be doing right if it adjusted its mission for the sake of higher attendance records.

Full article

This article give some interesting insights. Rich Warren is apparently inviting certain critics to visit his purpose driven conferences probably in an attempt to tone down the criticism of him. He may also be genuinely trying to understand why he has critics in the Church (let’s hope so).

Bob DeWaay was invited and he challenged Rick Warren to preach Christ. By that, he meant that Warren should preach specific scriptural Revelation about Jesus Christ in public rather than just General revelation about God. I hope Rick Warren takes Bob’s advise and uses his huge platform to preach the gospel of salvation.

One of the perplexing things is that Warren’s Church really does have orthodox theology but that does not help those who listen to Warren and do not attend the biblical programs at Saddleback. When Warren has been before a world audience in the past his message has been too wishing washy. His public messages and his interviews are generally absent of the gospel.

I think one thing that Warren needs to understand is that millions read his works and follow his words. They do not go to Saddleback Church classes to find the Orthodoxy they retain. So Warren with his huge world exposure needs to put more salt and light in His message to those outside of his Church no matter the cost to his worldly popularity.

Of course there are other problems in his programs but clearly preaching the absolute truths of the gospel to the world would be a huge step forward for Rick Warren. If he really wants to unite the Church and not further divide it he will preach the gospel clearly and not cloak it behind subjective self improvement philosophies

When Billy Graham preached to the world their was no doubt that he was preaching the gospel of salvation. People with ears to hear listened and many found Christ. Rick Warren has much the same potential to reach millions in this world. If he continues with has mainly social gospel message he might even make the world a better place for awhile but if it offers no salvation message what does it profit people if they gain a better world for a season but still lose their own soul?

My Visit to Ask Rick Warren to Preach Christ - CWN

My Visit to Ask Rick Warren to Preach Christ

By Bob DeWaay

In May, one of the pastors at Saddleback Church invited me to attend a Purpose Driven conference—at Saddleback’s expense. Their only caveat was that I say nothing until the end, at which time I would be able to comment about why I disagree with the Purpose Driven movement. I declined on the grounds that I had already studied the movement and had no need to hear more from its proponents. When I saw the lineup of speakers I realized that it would have been exasperating to listen for hours to what I have already rejected. Rick Warren’s chief of staff e-mailed back and offered to have me come only on Thursday in order to talk to Warren in person. Since the Bible says that we should be ready to give a reason for our hope in the gospel (1Peter 3:15) I decided to go.

Doug Giles has it right. We need a Detergent Church like Spic-and-Span or Mister Clean and not the wimpy postmodern Emergent Church with their wimpy Loving Bubbles that claim to clean without any personal effort and that does not even work. The postmodern church programs have become much like a Laurence Welk rerun where everyone-is-going-to have-good-time waltzing around Christian doctrines.

AD: The Detergent Church (c) - Guest - May 27, 08

I went on to edumicate my inquirer that I prefer a Detergent Church to an emergent church. Yes sir, I think what we need is a “movement” that would purge the skid mark that sin has left on man’s soul and our society rather than a group of nerdy Christians trying to be Ryan Seacrest.

Yep, a Detergent Church is the type of church that flicks my switch. As far as I’m concerned, a “church” that does not alter culture in a weighty way isn’t worth its salt-no matter how “successful” it may be momentarily. And seeing that our culture is getting more bizarre by the flippin’ day I’d say that whatever the church is doing to be au courant just ain’t cutting it.
Here’s my laundry list (to become a book) regarding how the “called out ones” can be the holy hellfire Detergent Church they’re ’spose to be. You might want to put on a cup . . .

1. Get men who dig being rowdy back in the pulpit.
2. Could we have some sound doctrine, por favor?
3. Preach scary sermons (at least every fourth one).
4. Get rid of 99.9% of “Christian” TV and sappy Christian music.
5. Quit trying to be relevant and instead become prophetic contrarians, I’m talking contra mundus, mama!
6. Put a 10-year moratorium on “God wants you rich” sermons (yeah, that’s what we need to hear nowadays, you morons, more sermons about money, money, money!).
7. Embrace apologetics and shun shallow faith.
8. Evangelize like it’s 1999.
9. Push lazy Christians to get a life or join a Satanic Church.
10. Demand that if a Christian gets involved in the arts that their “craft” must scream excellence and not excrement.

Allow me to elaborate, my little ones . . .

One can easily justify why they conform to be like the world. The hard thing is not conforming and still getting the message of salvation out to the lost. They are not going to find the message of salvation through your worldly coolness but they may through your heavenly warmness.

The Church Of The Cool And Groovy (A Worldy Christian View) - CWN

It’s no secret that churches are using gimmicks to attract the masses. Much like all of the rock bands I worked with, the cooler and hipper you are, the more you can attract a crowd. This is prevalent in so many churches, and it usually starts in the youth groups. They’re raised to be cool, listen to cool music and dress cool. I actually had a youth pastor say to me, “We want to show the unsaved that we can be as cool and have as much fun as the world, ” to which I replied, “I spent most of my youth and life learning how to be cool, but when I came to Jesus I realized that when he said crucify the flesh and don’t be like the world he meant it”. Of course, the first scripture that is usually brought up in the defense of this foolishness is to “be all things to all men”. Well, if you want to follow that to its logical progression, then I can suggest a church program and some entertainment to attract sex addicts. Get the point? Mature Christians shouldn’t be interested in proving anything to the world except Christ crucified. I don’t recall Paul dressing like a gladiator and putting on sport shows to attract the crowds, and then sneaking the gospel in on them once he had their attention. I’m sure if it was such a great idea, the Lord would have given it to Paul. God has done perfectly well calling those who have ears to hear into the flock.

I do not know why Willow Creek would allow this heretic to speak at their church. I take that back I think I do known why.

I challenge anyone who reads the Bible as written to tell me that this man has not redefined the scriptures to take away absolutes truths and replace them with stupid rationalizations. Tell me that he is not corrupting Christian youth with his heretical teaching. It is time that Christians quit making apogees for this very destructive heretic. His teachings are doing great harm to Christianity especially to the youth of the church.

So why is it that Christians in your church are mislead from his books and there is no warning about this wolf in sheep’s clothing and others emergent leaders like him coming from your pastor? If heretics are not refuted with sound doctrine why will the next generation in your church believe in any Christian absolutes?

There are so many warped views in this article about Brian Mclaren statements that It would take a small book to refute the nonsense. I will just say his views on the second coming must come from heretical dominionism or some social gospel because they sure are not founded on any truth taught in the scriptures.

Mclaren redefines scripture to conform to what he wants to believe. We were warned that these people would come in the last days and the warning was given for darn good reason. Have nothing to do with these emerging heretics lest you find yourself misled.

Baptist Press - Lessen focus on eternity, McLaren says at Willow Creek student ministries conference - News with a Christian Perspective

SOUTH BARRINGTON, Ill. (BP)–The emphasis Christians place on the traditional Christian doctrines of hell and the second coming of Jesus inhibits believers from living effective lives of service in this world, according to speaker and author Brian McLaren

McLaren explained his views April 9-10 at Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Ill., as a featured speaker during the Willow Creek Association’s annual Shift student ministries conference

The orthodox understanding that Jesus will return at a future date and forcefully conquer all His enemies also needs rethinking, according to McLaren.

“This eschatological understanding of a violent second coming leads us to believe (as we’ve said before) that in the end, even God finds it impossible to fix the world apart from violence and coercion; no one should be surprised when those shaped by this theology behave accordingly,” McLaren wrote.

The book of Revelation does not actually teach that there will be a new heaven and a new earth, he wrote, but that a new way of living is possible within this universe if humans will follow Jesus’ example.

This news letter properly discerns the seeker movement.

clipped from www.ericbarger.com Many churches are counting on the entertainment factor to carry them because they are in fact void of spiritual depth and power. No matter how well executed or presented, “special effects”, trite skits or “positive” sermonettes are just so much drivel without the supernatural hand of God upon them. Perhaps, in the natural, it is simply easier to attract and then appease the carnality of men instead of making the uncomfortable stands which God’s word implores us to make. If we lead our congregations to focus on shallow, eternally vacant and theologically errant gimmicks like the “Forty Days of Purpose” then praying, fasting, studying and seeking God for a bona fide supernatural encounter such as the early Church regularly experienced will seem far less risky - or important. God help us!

Here is a very good summery of the latest going on with many of the “Christian” leaders that seem to be running their own heavenly elevator. Next stop the bottom floor.

clipped from www.letusreason.org We welcome new leaders and recognize them for their service to Christ. Today there are many new leaders, but there is a shortage of biblically well trained leaders who are aware of the issues and have answers to them. There are just as many new leaders serving an agenda, themselves and money than Christ. Postmodernism, pluralism, relativism, interfaith and occult ideas and practices have reached so deep into the church that we can’t seem to see through the murky waters we are now swimming in. Transformation, transition and change are words that are becoming quite familiar to us in practice. Something is “emerging” and very quickly I might add that we need to identify what it actually is. Unity and tolerance would are part of the agenda that is now taking place.Here are just a few examples:

Good article on the emasculating of men in the Church. He points out:

“All too often the pastoral “role model” in evangelical circles mirrors that “Simpson’s” character, the Rev. Love Joy. Our pastors are either quaint, odd, harmless pushovers, or they are slick metrosexual types who can cry at the drop of a dime - literally - but have absolutely no courage to stand up against real evil or teach the unequivocal truth with authority.

They’ve suppressed godly male assertiveness, opting instead to “be nice.” They have abdicated their calling to “speak the truth” in the interest of political correctness. And they have decided that manipulating people with emotional self-help books and anecdotal sermonizing is better for the bottom line than training and teaching the men in their congregations to be leaders and warriors for Christ. And as a result, the evangelical church is suffering from a dearth of real men”.

I agree bring on the Marines, get the whimps out of leadership position and men will start going to church again. However, keep the woman running the churches and watch it become a girl club. Maybe then a seeker church movement will start for men seeking women.

clipped from http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=59962 The typical U.S. congregation draws an adult crowd that’s 61 percent female and 39 percent male. This gender gap shows up in all age categories. On any given Sunday there are 13 million more adult women than men in America’s churches. This Sunday almost 25 percent of married, churchgoing women will worship without their husbands. Midweek activities often draw 70 to 80 percent female participants. As many as 90 percent of the boys who are being raised in church will abandon it by their 20th birthday. Many of them will never return. More than 90 percent of American men believe in God, and five out of six call themselves Christians. But only two out of six attend church on any given Sunday. The average man accepts the reality of Jesus Christ, but fails to see any value in going to church

I think this excellent article hits the nail on the head. The mega church movement makes too many godless compromises that focus on the felt needs of the people. They should be putting the focus on Christ. For without a spiritual rebirth from Jesus man can do nothing for God in this world.

They think people will come to Christ through worldly methodologies instead of hearing the word of God and believing.

clipped from www.worldnetdaily.com The tension between private and public faith that is created by the challenges of secularism has forced too many Christians in the “mega-church” movement to make unnecessary and godless compromises. In too many of the populist churches the message has shifted from a God-in-Christ-centeredness to a focus on people, their “emotions” and their “felt needs.” It’s as though Oprah Winfrey has become the patron saint of the mega-church establishment. Feel-good preachers spend a gazillion dollars promoting the myth that Jesus’ sole purpose in coming to this earth was to ensure our happiness, our health, our wealth and our good looks, and that a “spiritual how-to guide” can be had in exchange for a simple contribution.

This author thinks that the modern day seeker church entertainment services is not the way to go.

clipped from www.christianworldviewnetwork.com One common thread, notoriously absent from “seeker sensitive” and “Purpose Driven” churches, is preaching with the conviction, anointing and fire of the Holy Ghost with a focus on driving the world out of the Church. Instead, when church leadership fixate on anything but the entire counsel of Scripture, the attitudes and compromises of the world seem to be invited guests in our congregations - not rogue intruders.

A good overview on the seeker sensitive movement.

It seems as though everywhere you look in Christianity today, seeker-sensitive churches seem to be the new fad.  Well-known evangelicals like Rick Warren and Bill Hybels are leading the charge of this movement, and one will find these churches springing up everywhere.  These churches are all about large numerical growth.  Driven by market analysis, these corporation-like churches offer programs, high energy worship services, and fun and games to draw more pagans to their church.  This all sounds good and effective, right?  However, there are problems with this model of a church.

The seeker-sensitive church brings about some very negative results by desiring to please men rather than God: a corrupted form of the gospel message, a manipulated definition of “church,” and an under-”feeding” of true believers.

Full article

Seeker Friendly Church Leader Admits They Have Done It All Wrong - CWN: “If you simply want a crowd, the “seeker sensitive” model produces results. If you want solid, sincere, mature followers of Christ, it’s a bust.

In a shocking confession, Hybels states: We made a mistake. What we should have done when people crossed the line of faith and become Christians, we should have started telling people and teaching people that they have to take responsibility to become ‘self feeders.’ We should have gotten people, taught people, how to read their bible between services, how to do the spiritual practices much more aggressively on their own. Incredibly, the guru of church growth now tells us that people need to be reading their bibles and taking responsibility for their spiritual growth. “

I know some of you are going to find this totally incredible but the granddaddy of the seeker movement, Bill Hybels has come out and said that the seeker churches made a mistake, it does not work.

“Perhaps the most shocking thing of all in this revelation coming out of Willow Creek is in a summary statement by Greg Hawkins:

Our dream is that we fundamentally change the way we do church. That we take out a clean sheet of paper and we rethink all of our old assumptions. Replace it with new insights. Insights that are informed by research and rooted in Scripture. Our dream is really to discover what God is doing and how he’s asking us to transform this planet.

Isn’t that what we were told when this whole seeker-sensitive thing started? The church growth gurus again want to throw away their old assumptions and “take out a clean sheet of paper” and, presumably, come up with a new paradigm for ministry.
Should this be encouraging?”

Here we are again back to rethinking. Is there any tie in with the paradigm shift in my previous post, any tie in with Robert Schuller’s rethinking conference? Is this rethinking movement now going to replace the seeker movement with something even worse. Is that their paradigm shift? Stay tuned.

Why Churches Hire Pastors with Serious Problems - CWN: “Surely part of the problem is the church’s desire for success as defined in worldly terms. Rather than looking for honorable elders who “labor in the word and doctrine” (1Timothy 5:17), many churches seek a “charismatic” leader—charismatic in the worldly sense of the word. The Seeker Movement in particular has created a huge demand for polished speakers who can “wow” a crowd with looks, charisma, charm, wit, and worldly wisdom. In other words, the modern pastor is expected to have a skill set that has nothing to do with the Biblical criteria for elders and pastors. The reality is that those who posses the skills needed to hold the attention of many thousands of “seekers” with no interest in the pure Word of God are in short supply. So it is a question of supply and demand.”

Paul Proctor — Church Switchers, Change Agents & Agenda-Driven Surveys: “Well, my Reader’s List is quite a bit larger than 415 people, many of whom are themselves ‘church switchers;’ so I think I’ll ask them and any other evangelical evacuees reading this commentary, to email me at: watchman@usa.com and tell me, in just a couple of sentences, the primary reason they left their former church and if they actively sought out and ended up in a more contemporary fellowship. ”

You might want to get involved in Paul’s survey why you left your last church I am sure he will publish the result in a future article. Most of the email I received on this subject over the last few years told me it was because their last church went from teaching the Bible to seeker friendly. However, I write against the purpose driven seeker movement so I guess I should expect to hear mostly from people impacted by it. What is your reason for leaving?

By the way, I wrote about Lifeway magazines taking over Bible studies in Southern Baptist churches you might want to view it. Paul Proctor is implying in this article that Lifeway has influenced other areas of church services as well.