This is the story of what happened when two American megachurch pastors discovered the writings of Dallas Willard, Richard Foster and others, and began to change the whole focus of their 1700-strong church community. They realised they had fallen into the trap of creating a consumer church for a consumer world. Instead of calling people to a costly lifestyle of following Jesus no matter the cost, they were attempting (fairly successfully) to grow the greenest grass in town, and were growing rapidly as a result of their dynamic seeker-friendly services, and their talented staff members.
But they sensed something was wrong. They were not producing disciples, they were running an excellent service that met people's felt needs. And they gradually realised that this was not true Christianity. So they began to teach on the need to reject the consumer mentality in the church and the world, and to focus on spiritual formation rather than numerical growth. This is the story of what happened as a result. Most strikingly, around 1000 people left the church in a short period of time. But many who stayed found a new depth to their discipleship.
I enjoyed the book. I especially enjoy reading ideas that you hardly ever see anywhere else, that challenge your whole worldview. Here are some quotes:
(this is in the context of a conversation about why people move easily from one church to another, depending on which one has the best services) 'We simply can't build churches around attracting people through all these religious benefits we offer and then be surprised when they actually take us up on it'
'It is countercultural to consider making decisions on a basis other than how it benefits me'.
(quoting Eugene Peterson) 'The cultivation of consumer spirituality is the antithesis of a sacrificial, 'deny yourself' congregation. A consumer church is an antichrist church.'
(discussing a church who rejoiced when over a thousand people joined from a nearby church) 'how delightfully refreshing it would have been if the pastor of the "receiving church" had stood up one Sunday and preached a sermon on consumerism and invited those thousand people to humbly return to their previous church and meet God there.'
(quoting Mark Galli) 'The more strictly you adhere to the teachings of Jesus, the smaller your church will "grow"'.
All fascinating stuff, but left me with some big questions. I love the teachings of Willard, Foster and Peterson and so I was fascinated to find out what it would look like when a church really goes after spiritual formation as its primary goal. What I was concerned about was what would happen to their passion for mission, expressed through the seeker-sensitive system, and what how would it affect their worship? Helpfully, they write a chapter on each. Not so helpfully for me, these are their main areas of struggle in the new system! There is a genuineness and authenticity in the way they describe their journey, which means you get a 'warts-and-all' account. I was hoping for some clearer answers, but this is a story rather than an instruction manual designed to give easy answers and a 7 step plan.
I would recommend this to anyone looking into these issues as a good contribution to the conversation!
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Renovation-Church-Kent-Carlson-Lueken/dp/0830835466/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1306698410&sr=8-1
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