Choice Is Its Own Bondage

I opened a journal with an article by the respected church consultant, Lyle Schaller, talking about the culture of choice that surrounds us and how that culture of choice impacts upon the Church. He is a good writer who articulates clearly his points. He is one of the gods of church growth and has been a fixture among those who tell us what is happening in culture and how it affects us within the Church. I do not read him often but every now and then. But he is so often wrong on his basic premise -- that in order for the Church to succeed, the Church must follow and even reflect the movements of culture and society.

I am sure that most Pastors get the magazines that promote these view points -- some of them are free and you get them because your name and address is on some mailing list somewhere. Even when I have failed to send in the "renewal" forms, I still get them. I browse through them when I am bored or curious. They tend to promote technology in worship, changing trends in church architecture, changing seating, changing chancel furniture, changing ways to raise funds, changing approaches to youth or singles or children's ministries, etc. You get the point.

What they are not is doctrinal. They do not hold to any ideology at all -- other than the basic premise that you must be willing to do whatever is required in order for the church to grow (I use the small "c" here because they are talking less about real growth and more here about nickels and noses). Since there is no (honest) Pastor who is not also faced with these pressures to produce growth that can be charted on a graph, all of us look at these from time to time... just to see what they say...

It seems that the panic among churchly leaders is the fear of being irrelevant and to prevent that we must do whatever it takes to keep up with the trends and the changing face of culture and society. I would maintain that the Church is, was designed to be, and has always been irrelevant. The Church of Jesus Christ was not established to be a mirror of current culture but to be the place where the Kingdom of God is manifest in the Word of the Gospel and the Sacraments (the means of grace). Far from keeping up, the Church is heading a radically different direction from the path of the world. The mark of the Church's success is not her ability to keep up with the path the world is on but to maintain the narrow way of life, truth, hope, and salvation.

Of course we need, we must know what is happening in culture and society. The changing face of the American family, the changing face of relationships, the changing patterns among industry and entertainment are important to us -- not as the markers which guide us to follow them but because in witness we must speak the Gospel in the language of everyman and in service we must know where the hurts are to apply the healing balm of Christ's love. Yet we must do this in such a way that we retain the culture, values, and identity of Jesus Christ. Note that by culture here I am not speaking of any ethnic culture but that ethos and life that flows from the Word of the cross and the means of grace where that Gospel is made visible and sensory.

People will flock to what is new and different if they are curious or because of sin's distortion of our nature with an attention deficit disorder of the worst kind. But will they stay? Will they be transformed? Will they be rescued from death? Will they be convicted by the Law? Will they be set free by the Gospel? Will they meet the crucified and risen Lord who comes in Word and Sacrament? What ought to concern the Church most of all is making sure that we plant outposts of hope and life amid the ever changing landscape of our culture and society, outposts that are secure in the Word of the Lord and securely identified by this Word and Truth... Outposts where Christ comes to His people and to those who will receive Him (by the Spirit's power) in the means of grace... Outposts where God's people are well equipped for their baptismal vocation of carrying this Good News to the people whose lives cross their own in the neighborhoods, workplaces, schools, and shopping areas where Christians continually meet those who do not yet know Jesus Christ...

As I read Schaller's words I was struck by the energy and effort (not to mention cost) of trying to keep up with all the changes he had noted. If we continually pour our time, energy, and funds into these areas, what will be left to sustain the Church so that she may be the beacon of Light that shines in the darkness with hope, forgiveness, life, and truth because He who is that Light stands within her for the sake of the world?