As much as I don’t want to be a geek, I have to admit that I have tendencies and behaviors that would make you believe that it could be in my nature. One of those wonderfully geeky pleasures of mine is watching The History Channel (The title has to be said in a deep basso voice as if it’s a fanfare. Kind of James Earl Jones-ish…). Now, before you stop reading and write me off as your basic no life, AV nerd, balding 40 year give me a few seconds of your valuable time.
The other night I was watching this show that was talking about the use of chemistry and mechanics in ancient temples. They were talking about many different religions and how the priests would captivate their congregants by creating the impression of religious “miracles” by using different chemicals to create smoke, imitate diseases, or using mechanics to make people believe that the gods were talking to them. (Things like thunder boxes or equipment to make statues cry on cue) It was all very Criss Angel/David Coperfield. It’s amazing the things that have been discovered about what the religious leaders were doing to be able to retain thier power and control. What I found really interesting, though, was what they said happened when this new sect called “Christianity” came along. There were all of these different religions worshipping multiple gods: Some worshipping Zeus, some worshipping element gods, some with fertility gods, etc. This new religion comes up and all of a sudden people are starting to join IT and are not coming to the temples anymore. Now this was a problem for the priests of the temples. Without congregants/followers there was really no temple and no religion. The priests would lose all respect and control. It really seemed that they needed to protect their jobs because, for the most part, they couldn’t really do anything else. They were supposed to be priests, right?
So, what do you do when the believers are leaving and won’t come to give their respect and worship to the mighty Zeus? Simple! Up the ante! The temple priests decided that they needed to start offering things that would cause the people to have a reason to come back. Worship of this god wasn’t enough. You had to keep the people coming back. With that line of thinking they started making the statues of the gods HUGE (and that is actually an understatement. One statue of Zues was over 60 feet tall. It also had sound holes in it to make it “moan”.) They started building bath houses and offering opportunities to eat and even carry on other normal social activities at the temple instead of in the market square. The only way to keep people was to offer them more and more and more.
I listened to all of this, thinking of the fact that they were talking about people 2000 years ago, and then looked at what we’re doing today. It’s amazing, isn’t it? In all of this time we’re still visiting the same concepts that they did back then, except now it seems that the Christians are needing to do it to keep the church running. I’m not necessarily coming down on big churches. Size is not the issue. Motivation and purpose is. Why do we do the things that we do? Why are churches turning into spiritual versions of your local mall or Wal-Mart? Is this a trend that helps or hurts?
Before you pass judgement on my statements (because past history tells me that there will be a few folks who don’t look at this as a cry to return to a more God filled Christianity and will instead see it as me judging big churches and being catty) take a look around us at the trends alot of our churches have taken on in the past 15 years. Congregations are not growing unless they are eclipsing the 1000 mark. Bookstores and coffee shops (along with other things like movie theaters, bowling alleys, ice rinks, waterfalls, children’s playlands, arena seating, and weight rooms) are now some of the first things that churches are considering in new building projects. Auditoriums are being built to seat thousands, most of whom are completely unknown by the pastoral staff. Most church outreaches are some sort of event with large inflatables for the kids, a fantastic production with concert style flair, and slick presentation that would make Steve Jobs of Apple stand up and cheer.
Why?
Why have we gone to this extent? For the most part we write it off as saying we need to communicate to a new generation. People are consumer oriented, so we need to cater to this idea. It’s not just in megachurches, though. Most of the smaller churches I’ve been involved with used the same concepts, just on a smaller scale. Every level of ministry at some point or another is confronted with the reality that to grow you must “draw”. It’s a catch-22 though. You can go so far that the production and “Christ-mall” becomes the focus and not God. How do you keep from this? How do you keep focused when the vision becomes so much bigger than you, your congregants, and in some ways the very God you are pursuing?
It’s so difficult because of one factor: man. WE are the ones who want more. WE are the ones who guage success by size. WE are the ones who are drawn to spectacle. We love a great show. We love convenience. It’s so easy to do one stop shopping, worship, tithing, and fellowship. Now we can go home and feel fulfilled. Eventually, though, there has to be a realization that it’s way too easy. There’s no “struggle”, as we like to say, in giving everyone what they want so they will come. It becomes all about the size of the empire instead of the size of the God.
I don’t know. I struggle with this thing. Growth is inevitable. Your church will grow up or it will grow down. It’s the motive, though. I don’t really believe that churches are usually started by people who just want an empire/entertainment district. I think that most are started by amazing men and women who are really trying to find what God wants of them. Where does that start to blur, though?
This is not a blog of answers. There are alot of questions here. I pray that the questions I am asking, though, will lead us towards a true understanding of what God needs out of us all. If we can pursue that instead of our own wants I really believe that the church as we see it today will change dramatically.
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