Jesus vs. Consumerism, Part 2

In our recent posts, we have explored the devastating effects of consumerism on today’s church. Applying the lessons of the shopping mall to the church flies in the face of Jesus’ teachings, who taught us that “Whoever will save his life will lose it, but whoever will lose it for my sake will find it” (Matt. 16:25). Yet the implications of this concept are more far-reaching than we might first realize.

How guilty are each one of us of neglecting Christ’s words and seeking to meet our own needs first and foremost when it comes to the church? You might renounce your own needs in theory, but would you be quick to look for another church if you felt you weren’t “being fed” at your own? If another church had better preaching, a better Sunday morning service, or could simply “do church” better than yours, would you still attend your church?

What about the needs of your family? Though you may be successful in deferring your own needs, do you attend your church with the needs of your family first in mind? Certainly we are no less of a consumer if we shop for our children than we if shop for ourselves. If advancing God’s kingdom meant putting not only your needs, but your family’s needs in second place on Sunday mornings, would you be willing to do this?

Similarly, we may be in agreement that church does not and cannot consist solely of a once a week service to be successful. Yet the fact remains that the quality of the events of Sunday morning is far and away the most compelling reason to pick a church today. If the quality of your church’s Sunday morning service dropped, would you still “patronize” that church? If you took the Sunday morning service away from your church, would you still have a compelling reason to be a part of that body of believers? Though in theory we might say otherwise, the vast majority of us choose our churches as if Sunday is the only day that exists.

How can picking a church based on what happens on its Sunday morning stage be consistent with anything but consumerism? If in fact we should be approaching church as a giver rather than a receiver, how can we decide to attend a church based on the quality of its programs and services? Rather, it seems that the teachings of Christ dictate that we must choose a church based on our ability to minister. If the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve (Mk 10:45), how can this not be the case for his followers?
The teachings of Scripture clearly show us the purpose of church is to encourage one another rather than to passively receive (Heb. 10:25). Rather than picking a church by Sunday morning quality, it would seem that making that decision based on the people within it is far more Biblically sound. That said, we must ask ourselves some difficult questions. At the church you attend, are you truly experiencing God in the context of community? By being a part of the church you’re at currently, are you helping others to experience God in their life as well? Since you began attending your church, what fruit have you borne? Have you become overwhelmingly more loving? Are you becoming thoroughly more patient? By being a part of your church, are you regularly seeing others come to Christ as you are involved in their lives? Are your children doing these things? These are the questions we need to ask as we determine where our church home should be.

In our next post, we will discuss what it might take for our churches to transcend the culture of consumerism so prevalent in our day.