Is salvation like a new car, something that will lift your life from the ordinary humdrum of existence to one of excitement and contentment where all your problems will be solved and all your needs met? And is the church like a car dealership, putting salvation as a product out for display, assessing customers needs, adjusting sales presentation, and offering zero percent financing (its free – just ask for it and you get it and there are no, repeat no obligations!). In other words, by buying into[1] modernity, has the church become a purveyor of spiritual goods to customers?

One of the complaints of the emergent church writers is that the evangelical church has become a corporation and the people are consumers. Evidence for this is marshaled from a number of phenomena in the evangelical church, but of interest to me is how a consumer orientation will shape evangelism.

Rather than troll through various emergent writers, I would like to present the observations of one of our missionaries, a man who went into missions later in life from a corporate background. After observing more than one of our churches upon his return to Canada for home assignment, he had these comments which I present in summary form.

Our churches teach us to totally focus on self. We are told to deal with our hurts and our problems. Evangelism is focused on me and my soul. The call is given and if you accept it you are welcomed in. If you don’t accept it – you are not welcomed in. There is little else for you. It is like a bank that has a special mailing list for those with an account of over $100,000. They get offers and privileges that the rest of us never even hear about. So, if you respond to the salvation appeal, then you gain the advantages of the church--if you don’t, the church moves on in its marketing, looking for that percentage of responsive people that must be out there in the population.

Those who are seriously seeking to engage the postmodern culture realize that different models of church are needed. Different models of evangelism, yes, but also a different model of church, for the problem is not so much how the gospel is presented, but the corporation structure in which it is presented.

I have been trying to get a handle on this without seeming to be accusatory. The problem is that every church, like every Christian, exists in degrees of sanctity and worldliness at the very same time. So, if as a preacher I highlight a particular mark of worldliness, a whole bunch of people who are listening will feel safe, for that one mark doesn’t apply to them, and vice versa.

So instead, let me try to bring out the possibility of degrees. Here are three items that I see here and there among us. Sometimes I see them in extreme. Lets call that a 10. Sometimes only a little bit, lets call that a 3. And sometimes, praise God, not at all. So, in reading this, instead of hearing an accusation, hear an opportunity for reflection.

I would say that the corporate church abuses three solid concepts in its evangelism.

• Deepening individualism and isolation by abusing the need for community. Commitment is marketed in a “what benefits you” manner. So some people don’t join the church, for they can’t find many reasons (benefits) to join, and the commitment frightens them. In turn, the corporate church toys with changing the meaning of membership so that there are ways of “belonging” without making commitment. Why? Because “belonging” is something the market wants, but commitment isn’t. However, the community of the Spirit depends on the deep commitment of each person, commitment to God and to each other, and church membership is a sign and seal of that commitment. Peter proclaimed that to be a Christ follower people must be baptized, (Acts 2:38) and when they were they became part of this new community (Acts 2:42). Which raises a tough question: are these people who refuse to be baptized and refuse to join the church really saved? And by that I specifically mean: will they go to heaven when they die?

• Limiting outreach by abusing strategic planning. Proper planning gives us direction and helps us to avoid distractions. However, it is possible to allow strategic planning so to narrow our focus that we fail the biblical mandate to reach all people. A particular “target” is identified and the church niche markets to that “demographic.”[2] The plan which was given to us is to reach all people with the proclamation of the gospel. To do that requires thinking and planning, but also a commitment not to leave anyone behind, not to consider anyone as unimportant, no matter what their age, gender, marital status, economic status, or country of origin. Post-modern churches need to mirror the vision of Revelation 7:9-10 where people of every description worship Christ together.

Making small adjustments will not do. What is wrong is our thinking of ourselves as some sort of business with a product to market. Recently a businessman spoke to me of his summary of a well known business book. He said: “I would summarize his thesis this way: the best businesses are run like churches, and the worst churches are run like businesses.” The orientation, more than any one specific thing, can hinder us from being the church as Christ wants us to be.

Thus we need to explore the very form of our church. Returning to organic and environmental language and metaphors is one way of opening this inquiry. Then we can ask questions like these. What must we do to cultivate the ground around us? What does this ground need to become fertile for the gospel seed? How can we nurture ourselves so as to have a sustained commitment to cultivation? When we sense that hearts are soft, how can the seed be watered and further fertilized? And, what will it look like to bring in the harvest? And what should the storehouse – the church – look like so that the harvest will last and be approved of by the Lord? More on this in my next letter.

[1] I use this consumerist word intentionally. The reader might reflect on the prevalence of consumerist words in current evangelical talk: “value added,” “bottom line,” to mention only two.

[2] Michael S. Horton writes: “Capitulating to niche demographics and marketing, churches that once nurtured the young, middle-aged, and elderly together, with all of the indispensable gifts that each one brings to the body of Christ, often now contribute to the rending of this intergenerational fabric.” Michael S. Horton, “How the Kingdom Comes” Christianity Today, January 2006, p.45. Also, David E. Fitch, in a similar vein says: “Post moderns recognize the folly of an isolated individual coming to truth via another isolated individual. And they recognize the folly of isolated individualism and its inability to be freed from cultural formation. Without a corresponding way of life, individualized salvation looks like cognitive consumerist manipulation for the postmodern.” David E. Fitch, The Great Giveaway, Baker, 2005.p.58.