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<\/a>I grew up with a preacher\u2019s kid. He was a fake following in the footsteps of his flimflamming father who did a great Vegas-style act at the grand piano. Both papa and son could turn on the tears and put on a fantastic show. The boy did a spectacular display of repentance and sorrow each year at our summer camp\u2019s final-night altar call. He craved the spotlight. Moments after his public mea culpas <\/i>he\u2019d be back to his crass self, wanting to know if I\u2019d scored with my girlfriend, claiming he was going to sneak away with his latest blonde during the baptismal service.<\/p>\nPrivately, he and his dad were cynical and profane. But my childhood buddy has gone on to minister to a glittery mega-church much applauded in his denomination, a church distinguished by flash and showmanship and big attendance numbers \u2013 very much in the footsteps of his late\u00a0father.<\/p>\n
A few weeks ago, my friend\u2019s son took his own life. It didn\u2019t make the headlines like another mega-church preacher\u2019s son\u2019s suicide out in California. But I wish I had taken time with my friend\u2019s boy. I wondered if he was ever exposed to the true gospel of Christ\u2019s self-denying love.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat is the true definition of \u2018church\u2019?\u201d asks Stewart Wilkerson<\/a>. \u201cBig screens? Best logo design? The newest technology? The more I think about church, the more I see how astray church has become. Church isn\u2019t about hymnals. Church isn\u2019t about singing the latest song that has the most hits on iTunes. Church is about Jesus\u2026and Jesus only.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMillennials’ intolerance of hypocrisy necessitates that those of us in leadership do more than preach about values that this demographic holds dear,\u201d writes writes Dorothy Greco in Christianity Today<\/i> magazine.<\/a><\/p>\n Megachurch pastor Ray Kollbocker\u00a0says today\u2019s young adults \u201cwant Christianity to be more than information. They want to see how Christianity actually changes the world, not just talk about the change.\u201d<\/p>\n And they hate fakery. Last week another longtime friend of mine was found dead in his Houston apartment. He was the son of a famous evangelist who was more or less the Rush Limbaugh of the 1960s \u2013 a radio preacher whose financial support came from a then-amazing million-name mailing list of \u201cpartners\u201d who listened to his warnings on late-night radio.<\/p>\n This televangelist dreamed that his son and namesake would follow him at the microphone and in the pulpit, but the boy was tender and sincere \u2013 and refused to preach. At age 4, he was first trotted out at one of this father\u2019s legendary crusades where the little boy sang \u201cJesus Loves Me\u201d to the adoring crowd \u2013 and was hooked.<\/p>\n Although\u00a0as an adult, he\u00a0was too honest to fill his father\u2019s pulpit, he was addicted to the love of the audiences. He cut multiple record albums \u2013 all sold at his father\u2019s venues \u2013 and as an adult pursued a career in opera.<\/p>\n But he was scarred and wounded — a victim of spiritual abuse. In his final days, he confided in me having found peace with his Maker. \u201cI don\u2019t know that I ever was really saved as a kid,\u201d he told me. \u201cBut I know I am now.\u201d Even so, he had no desire to share his faith from the pulpit\u00a0\u2013 although his father\u2019s name would have gotten him on national TV and into\u00a0churches nationwide. He cringed at the very idea \u2013 not even wanting to write a book about growing up with his famous\u00a0dad.<\/p>\n \u201cCenturies ago,\u201d writes Koranteng-Pipim, \u201cthe prophet Jeremiah spoke out against this tendency on the part of God’s people to mimic the gimmicks found in other faiths: \u2018My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water. . . . Now why go to Egypt to drink water from the Shihor? And why go to Assyria to drink water from the River?\u2019 (Jer 2:13, 18 NIV).<\/p>\n \u201cIf it is true that rock music (disguised as praise music and praise dancing) is the most effective medium to reach young people today, why is it that math teachers and chemistry professors don’t set their classes to heavy-beat and hip-swinging music? Common sense tells us that these entertainment media are not the most credible methods to communicate serious messages.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd Paul did not persuade people on Mars Hill using gospel magicians.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat a perversion of the one true gospel is this modern \u2018gimmick gospel.\u2019\u201d writes Bell in The Gimmick Gospel<\/i><\/a>. \u201cGive-aways, gadgets, and games are weekly emphasized to keep the crowds coming. It’s \u2018Balloon Sunday\u2019 one week, \u2018Ice cream Sunday\u2019 another week, and \u2018BoZo-the-Clown Sunday\u2019 the next week. On and on the \u2018gimmick gospel\u2019 goes, going so far as to have \u2018karate preachers\u2019 performing their stunts, and \u2018cut-off-your-tie\u2019 days.<\/p>\n \u201cLet us rid this country of the \u2018gimmick gospel,\u2019 for it is fakery, faulty and foolish. And in the words of Charles Spurgeon: \u2018We can do without modern learning, but we cannot do without the ancient gospel. We can do without oratory and eloquence, but we cannot do without Christ crucified. Lord, revive Thy work by giving us the old-fashioned gospel back again in our pulpits.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Is keeping up with today’s culture a bad thing? Must we shun technology and stagecraft? “The only thing permanent around here is change,” once quipped my friend and pastor, the late Jamie Buckingham, who was a bestselling author and\u00a0the most popular columnist at\u00a0a national\u00a0Christian magazine.<\/p>\n \u201cUnfortunately,” writes\u00a0Greco,\u00a0we’re seeing “many Protestant pastors relying on a consumer business model to grow and sustain their churches. This template for doing church and the millennials’ hunger for authenticity has caused an ideological collision.<\/p>\n \u201cSeeker-sensitive services originally promised to woo post-moderns back into the fold. Out the stained glass window went the somewhat formal 45-minute exegetical sermon, replaced by a shorter, story-based talk to address the \u2018felt needs\u2019 of the congregants while reinforcing the premise that following Jesus would dramatically improve their quality of life.<\/p>\n \u201cNone of these changes were pernicious or even poorly intentioned,” admits\u00a0Greco.\u00a0“In the case of my previous church, choosing the seeker model began innocently. The staff endeavored to create a wide on-ramp for folks who might ordinarily bypass the sanctuary in favor of Starbucks. (As an incentive, we provided fair-trade coffee and bagels each week.) Trained not to assume that everyone was on the same page politically or spiritually, we sought to have friendly, nuanced conversations with visitors.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat does co-dependence look like within a church?” asks Greco.\u00a0“Avoiding sections of Scripture out of fear that certain power pockets will be offended. Believing that repeat attendance depends primarily upon the staff’s seamless execution of Sunday morning\u2013rather than the manifest presence of God. Eliminating doleful songs from the worship repertoire because they might contradict the through line that \u2018following Jesus is all gain.\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cI have been following after Jesus for more than three decades and the gospel still makes me bristle. Love those who publicly maligned me? Confess my sins to a friend? You’re kidding Jesus, aren’t you? Only he’s not kidding. Both his words and his life clearly demonstrate that to align ourselves with him means that we must be willing to forsake everything so that we might become more like him.<\/p>\n \u201cAs they clamor for a communion supper with the best wine and freshly baked bread, the seeker-sensitive, consumer model has offered them treacly grape juice and dry cracker pieces, leaving them unsatisfied and frustrated.<\/p>\n It may be time for evangelicals\u00a0to learn something from the Catholics. At the Second Vatican Council, Pope John XXIII, famously called for a window to be opened and challenged his leaders to invite the Holy Spirit back.<\/p>\n Today the new pope is taking it further, challenging his leaders to humble themselves, to wash the feet of the poor and take themselves off of pedestals.<\/p>\n As a preacher\u2019s son, I feel the pain of the other pastors\u2019 kids with whom I grew up. So many have quietly shunned the flash and the spotlight. Too many have left the church.<\/p>\n<\/a>As I sat in a local church with its multiple video screens, kids on guitars silhouetted by stage lights, and overpowering music that defies congregational singalong, I remembered my old hypocritical buddy. Annoyed by all the noise of the day’s service, I pulled out my iPhone and to the consternation of my wife began surfing the Internet. I glanced around and noticed I was not alone. And when I googled “church” and\u00a0“gimmicks,” I was not surprised to\u00a0find a number of Christian leaders are just as puzzled as\u00a0I\u00a0with church\u00a0that has\u00a0turned into\u00a0spectator entertainment.<\/p>\n<\/a>\u201cWe have had gospel rock and praise dancing in worship services,\u201d writes Samuel Koranteng-Pipim on the website Affirm<\/a>, \u201cgospel puppets, gospel clowns, gospel caf\u00e9s\/discos and gospel theatrics\/dramas for our outreach to youth, young adults, and the \u2018unchurched.\u2019 Now, it seems, we must have gospel magicians for our church services and weeks of prayer. By resorting to these \u2018gospel gimmicks,\u2019 are we in danger?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/a>\u201c\u2018World’s Largest Church,\u2019 \u2018World’s Fastest Growing Church,\u2019 \u2018America’s Fastest Growing Sunday School,\u2019 \u2018Fastest Growing Church in the State.\u2019 These are frequently heard and seen slogans in these modern days,\u201d\u00a0 writes W.F. Bell in The Gimmick Gospel<\/i><\/a>.<\/i> \u201cBut, isn’t it a little silly to brag or boast about numbers? Where in all of God’s Word does it tell us to gimmick people into attending church services or Sunday School?\u2019<\/p>\n<\/a>\u201cBecause millennials have such an intense hunger for transparent relationships and truth,\u201d writes Greco, \u201cchurches could foster intergenerational mentoring within their communities rather than depending upon the more impersonal leadership classes.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/a>My friend\u00a0just wanted to love Jesus quietly. He was tired of the glitter and the gimmicks. And so are so many others.<\/p>\n<\/a>\u201cUnfortunately, some of us pastors and church leaders are sometimes to blame. We appear to put popularity, job security, position, and the illusion of outward success above our duty to the Chief Shepherd. We seem to fear that if we were to take a stand against these forms of worldliness in our churches, we would create enemies and threaten our support among our constituencies.<\/p>\n<\/a>\u201cA doctor, meeting an apprehensive patient, does not dress like a clown in order to tell his patient that she has cancer. Jesus did not use the gimmicks of entertainment to proclaim his Sermon on the Mount. On the day of Pentecost, Peter did not set up a drum set or ask Mary to lead out in praise dancing to announce the resurrection of Jesus and His enthronement in heaven.<\/p>\n<\/a>\u201cAfter getting thousands to attend Sunday School, what is taught them after getting them there?\u201d asks Bell. \u201cHow tragic that multitudes of blind people are being led by blind leaders, \u2018And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch\u2019 (Matt. 15:14).<\/p>\n<\/a>\u201cThe millennial generation’s much-talked-about departure from church might lead those of us over 30 to conclude that they have little interest in Jesus. Nothing could be further from the truth,\u201d writes Greco in Christianity Today<\/i>.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>Jamie’s sermons were designed to draw in the seeker. “People don’t come to church wanting to feel bad,” he once told me when I asked why he didn’t preach hell and damnation. “They come to church wanting to feel better.” As a result, his church embraced technology and change. I remember well when a new music minister introduced new praise choruses. The congregation had been cutting-edge once upon a time, forsaking hymnals for overhead projectors and edgy praise songs. But they’d relaxed into their own new traditions — and this new songleader with his unfamiliar, new songs was irritating, prompting Jamie to have to remind them of their cutting-edge history.<\/p>\n<\/a>Why introduce the new? Why embrace videos and special effects? Nobody wants to be stuck in a rut — particularly a church trying to be relevant to the next generation.<\/p>\n<\/a>\u201cContemporary worship had already found its way into the mainstream, but their new model nudged the church further toward a rock-concert feel. Finally, programs proliferated, with programs for nearly every demographic, from Mothers of Preschoolers to Red Glove Motorcycle Riders.<\/p>\n<\/a>\u201cBeing aware of those who come through the doors of any organization is a good thing. I have walked out of many services without a single person engaging with me. However, many churches gradually, and perhaps unwittingly, transitioned from being appropriately sensitive to the needs of their congregants to becoming \u2013 if you’ll permit some pop-psychologizing \u2013 co-dependent with them.<\/p>\n<\/a>\u201cJesus was neither a co-dependent nor a businessman. He unashamedly loved those on the margins and revealed himself to all who were searching. He seemed quite indifferent about whether or not he disappointed the power brokers. Additionally, Jesus understood that the irreducible gospel message\u2014that we are all sinners in need of being saved\u2014was, and always will be, offensive. No brilliant marketing campaign could ever repackage it.<\/p>\n<\/a>\u201cRather than helping congregants in this endeavor, churches that bend into their mercurial whims foster a me-first mentality. This actually plays into one of the potential root sins of this generation: self-absorption. While it’s all too easy for those of us over the age of 30 to poke fun at their selfie antics, I think young Christians actually want the church to help them reign in their narcissism. Writer Aleah Marsden told me, \u2018We definitely want to see Jesus at the center because the rest of the world keeps shouting that we’re the center. We don’t need the church to echo the world.\u2019<\/p>\n<\/a>\u201cIf the Barna Group statistics are accurate,” notes Greco,\u00a0“more than 8 million 20-somethings have given up on church or Christianity. Do their actions indicate a need for us to, as David Kinnaman suggests, \u2018change our church structure, guided by the unchanging truths of Scripture to nurture their unique gifts and calling?\u2019 Or is their departure an invitation for all of us who consider ourselves Christians to prioritize transformation into the image of Christ?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/a>Vast changes were made to the Catholic service. In the years that followed, the mass became much less a liturgical show observed by a silent faithful. Congregational singing was welcomed back. Members of the congregation were invited to the podium to read the day\u2019s text and assist in serving communion.<\/p>\n