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Conquering Co-Dependency & Consumerism In Church Culture

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Those churches that sprang from American soil have avoided certain aspects of the feudal model, but unfortunately many have been co-opted by another system. Whereas Constantine poured the early Christian movement into the mold of Roman patronage, many American churches have been profoundly shaped by the mold of democratic capitalism. Ours is a free market system where “church shopping” makes complete sense to most people because the focus is on meeting the perceived needs of individuals. Over the past fifty years churches in America have continued this pattern by placing an ever-greater emphasis on attracting new members by providing staff-led programs tailored to the specific interests of various constituencies.

Apparently we need more than a better marketing plan or a new program to solve this crisis. What began as a dynamic grass-roots movement in Palestine that nearly conquered the Roman Empire gradually became a theology in Greece, an institution in Rome, a state church in Europe, and now a non-profit service provider in America. The question is: what will the next chapter of our story be?

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How Consumer Church Wears Everyone Out

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I wonder if the American church is setting itself up for failure? If church structure— which is geared toward meeting every need, developing everyone spiritually and organizing all inward and outward ministry — results in a 90 percent failure rate, perhaps we should reevaluate.

I wonder if a “Come to us and we will do it all, lead it all, organize it all, calendar it all, execute it all, innovate it all, care for it all and fund it all” framework is even biblical? It sets leaders and followers up for failure, creating a church-centric paradigm in which discipleship is staff-led and program-driven.

This slowly builds a consumer culture wherein spiritual responsibility is transferred from Christians to the pastors, a recipe for disaster.

Evaluate your church culture and decide if you are making disciples or consumers.

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Alan Hirsch Explains How Consumerism Affects Modern Evangelism

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This is part 2 of a two-part series of video posts on Alan Hirsch’s presentation on discipleship. See part 1 here.

You can’t make disciples out of consumers. You can’t consume your way into the Kingdom. It doesn’t work like that.

A culture of consumerism has influenced how we think of evangelism. Consumers respond to evangelism and come to the church thinking they can remain consumers. But they are wrong. Disciples are producers. But the cycle of consumerism continues as consumers recruit more consumers to their consumer-minded churches. We have to break the consumerism cycle.

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