I think this is becoming too culturally relevant....
Connection Metro Church in Denver, CO has chosen to "abandon ministry all together to focus on coffee" by transforming their 8 satellite campuses into a coffee chain.
CLICK HERE to read the article at LarkNews.com.
Is the average contemporary protestant church more interested in making DISCIPLES of Jesus or CONSUMERS of Products?
Let's face it we are ALL culturally captive! (See Mike Brantley's post on Cultural Captivity HERE and read his confession HERE). How can we NOT be if we were raised in the Western culture. Part of our cultural captivity is the fact that we can have just about anything we want. If you live in America (or any other economically driven culture) than you ARE an "end-user!" And as an end-user, manufacturers market their goods directly to you for one purpose.....they want you to "consume their products."
I have heard my brother Mike use this expression a few times on the phone and on his blog. This impression of being culturally captive has been consuming my thoughts for a while. I have been asking myself, "What does it mean to be culturally captive?" So, as I have been having conversations with various people over this last couple of weeks, I have been listening for the answer to this question. It is amazing how quickly you hear the answer in everyday conversations.
When I was in ministry full-time I used to embrace the ideology of wanting to “make Christianity and the Bible relevant to our culture.” What I have come to realize as I have spent time out of full-time ministry and looking at church through the eyes of a “seeker,” is that all this “making” of Christianity relevant to our culture is actually doing the opposite!! In fact, it has nothing to do with Christianity at all! It is irrelevant to our faith all together!
You see, the latter part of the statement is true with the exception of two words; “Christianity and the Bible ARE ALREADY relevant to our culture!” Jesus accomplished this when he died for us. But where I believe many pastors (including myself when I was there) have and continue to go off track is in the former part of the statement, “make.” By definition; “make” is to create, build, craft or manufacture something out of nothing. So the thought implies that we need to create something other than the redemptive message of Jesus’ death on the cross in order for people to accept Christianity.
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