The Shopping Mall Meets the Church

In our last post, we began to explore the pervasiveness of consumerism in today’s American church, an epidemic that has left none of us unscathed. As an example of today’s “market definitions” of church, simply gather a collection of American churchgoers today and ask them this simple question: “What makes a good church?” Most of the answers you’ll hear will be similar: good kids programs, relevant messages, a cutting edge band, or right theology. But such an answer betrays a shallow understanding of what it means to actually be the church.

Imagine for a moment that we went family shopping as we go “church shopping” today. Imagine that as we searched for the perfect family, we interviewed and polled various families, all the while asking ourselves, “Which family has a nicer home? Which offers better school programs to educate me? Which parents make me laugh and feel good about myself?” Unfortunately, this is not far from what goes on when Christians “church shop,” seeking for the best purveyors of religious goods and services to meet their needs.

Unfortunately, churches themselves are to blame for stepping on the “hamster wheel” of consumer-geared church that makes “church shopping” possible. In most churches today, “church” has been reduced to a once a week event aimed at attracting people. It is widely believed by both clergy and laity alike that excellence in Sunday morning worship services equals a successful, prosperous, and desirable church. Most church ministry today is in fact built on this foundational premise. As another says, the idea goes something like this: “If we get our service right, and the preaching is relevant, the band is trendy, and the children’s ministries are top-notch, people will come to our church.” I love it how Neil Cole relates his recent experience at a church growth seminar, and the secret to church growth that was shared revolved around clean bathrooms and adequate parking. As he jokes, “apparently, the kingdom of God is held up by dirty toilets and poor parking.”

This formulaic approach to church ministry today is so ingrained that leaders remain puzzled when despite first rate Sunday morning performances, their church remains empty. I recently spoke with a pastor of a small church who echoed this same confusion: “Our service is so good…so why is our church so empty?” The answer is readily apparent: no matter how good your programs and services are, there’s always a bigger church down the street that can outdo yours.

Attempts to wow the masses can be effective for awhile, but what happens when the church down the street can figure out how do it better? Bob Hyatt talks about a church in southern California that hired a Disney engineer to come in and build their children’s ministry space to look like a giant mountain for toddlers. That sounds like a great idea, doesn’t it? It is…until, as Hyatt says, the church down the way develops a roller coaster ministry complete with laser show and cotton candy machines. Your church can always be outdone, and smaller churches resultingly feel a constant pressure to step it up to stay even with the competition. Unless you’re a Willow Creek or Saddleback, “keeping up with the Jones” in the marketplace of church is a battle than can never be won. Even for these kinds of megachurches, however, keeping up with the world can never be done. As Neil Cole notes, no church cannot outdo Hollywood. The church cannot expect to come up against the world, play its game, and win. In the end, the attempt to please the discriminating church consumer with special effects, lights and glitz is always doomed to failure.

But if a high-quality, once a week service is the end in itself for a church, how can one be blamed for seeking the highest quality service as they leave no stone unturned to find the best religious experience? When church is reduced to this lowest common denominator of excellence in Sunday worship, consumerism is the inevitable result. Seeking to please the masses will always result in the quality of that church being defined by the entertainment and nutritional value of the Sunday morning service. When the quality of the service drops, expect the number of attenders to drop as well. This scenario has been played out countless times in American churches whenever they go through a period of transition in their services.

In our next post, we will further explore the impact of consumerism on today’s church.