The Lord has been calling the church leadership to take on the task of leading the church to become more missional in outlook and character. During our first meeting this year we considered the issue of “Christian consumerism” as an obstacle to a missional spirit. We pondered Jen Hatmaker’s warning: “Consumerism is a cancer to missional community. It will destroy it from the inside out … attempting to build any outward facing faith community with believers who are intent on just getting their own needs met just is simply unsustainable. It’s just not going to work … let it be said: if we develop a church built on serving the saved, then the already blessed people will come wanting more blessings … It’s just that simple. You will draw the type of people who crave what you’re offering. Only Christians want forty Christian programs to choose from.”
These past couple of weeks the Lord has been sending my way “sacred echoes” on the matter. By “sacred echoes” I mean repeated nudges from the Lord through various sources and in various occasions.
While reading John 2.13-16 I was drawn to Jesus’ words when he denounced the practice that converted the temple into a “marketplace.” My thoughts connected the word “marketplace” to the contemporary problem of Christian consumerism. John 2.16 offers a corrective: instead of being consumers we need to be consumed with zeal for God and the gospel.
Later I came across a comment about Jesus’ words in John 4.35: “Lift up your eyes and see that the fields are white for harvest.” Ginger Garrett writes: “He wanted us to look up from our own lives and plans and take part in a much bigger story: the work He is doing all around us. If we’ll just turn our focus from ourselves, we’ll see there is bountiful harvest—folks everywhere who need real help, sincere love in action, and the good news of the gospel.” This is another reminder to step away from Christian consumerism.
Then I read a summary of Thom Rainer’s most recent book Autopsy of a Deceased Church, where he outlines some factors that can lead to the demise of a church. One significant factor is the “me-first mentality” of consumerism. He writes: “Though it’s difficult to isolate any one factor as the most dangerous, the steep numerical decline of these churches was most noticeable as the congregation started focusing on their own needs. They became preference-driven instead of Great Commission driven.”
Echoes. Warning followers of Christ against consumerism. Am I listening?
—Keith Y. Jainga