How different are the values of most evangelical churches in the United States from the values held by Fortune 500 companies? According to the author of “The Next Evangelicalism” published by InterVarsity Press, there is not much difference. Both are sold out to materialism, he argues.
Soong-Chan Rah holds an endowed chair of church growth and evangelism at North Park Theological Seminary in Chicago. He is a former church planter and sought-after speaker and conference leader. “The Next Evangelicalism” may not be widely known in Southern Baptist circles but it is extremely popular in other parts of the evangelical community.
Rah chides evangelical churches for evaluating themselves on the basis of ABC — attendance, buildings and cash. A more common reference among Baptists is BBB. That does not stand for the Better Business Bureau. BBB is an acronym for budgets, bodies and baptisms. The two acronyms are not exactly the same but they make the same point. They both emphasize signs of material success.
Judging churches
Pastors frequently ask one another, “How many did you have last Sunday?” Denominational officers inquire about how many baptisms will be reported. Community members sometimes equate the appearance of a church’s buildings with congregational vitality. But outsiders are not the only ones who judge churches by the values reflected by ABC or BBB.
Let attendance slip and see how long it is before church members start whispering about what is wrong with our church. If the decline in bodies and budget continue, whispers often become louder until someone is chosen to take the blame. That someone is usually the pastor.
So pervasive are the materialistic values in the typical evangelical church, Rah argues, that the whole approach to church is impacted. “American Christians approach finding the right church the way they approach buying cereal at the local supermarket,” he writes.
Evangelical Christians in the United States select a church based on personal taste and wants. They evaluate the children’s program, the music program, the recreation program and every other part of the church.
Church shopping, he writes, is a uniquely American phenomenon where the church is reduced to another product and commodity to be evaluated and purchased. Missing in this relationship is a commitment to a particular Christian community or a desire to serve a particular neighborhood.
Once a part of a local church, members expect to be courted and accommodated in the same ways they were before making their membership choices. That means a pastor and staff work hard to make members comfortable so pews will be filled with bodies and budgets remain strong.
How is this different from Fortune 500 companies that cater to the whims of customers with the bottom line of continued use of their products in order to boost budgets and profits?
Measuring success
How different would churches be if success were measured by the story of the sheep and goats recorded in Matthew 25? How differently would members choose church membership if the same level of commitment to one another was expected as expressed in the church of Acts 2?
How surprised the goats of Matthew 25:31 must have been to hear their fate. Doubtless they had accomplished many good things. They may have even anticipated rewards for all they had done.
One is reminded of Jesus’ teaching in the Sermon on the Mount recorded in Matthew 7:21. There Jesus describes people who have cast out demons, prophesied and performed miracles — all in the name of Jesus. Yet our Lord said they would be cast away because they did not do the will of the Father.
How astonished the goats must have been to learn they were condemned not because of what they had done but because of what they had not done. They had not cared for the poor and the lesson of the story of Matthew 25 is the measure of success is what is done to the “least of these.”
Importance of community
The church of Acts 2 shows no concern for individual member preferences. Just the opposite. Individual preferences were subjugated to the needs of others. Members of the church in Acts 2:42 shared personal resources to care for the needs of fellow members. It was done voluntarily without outside pressure but that attests all the more to the importance of community to each member of the early church.
Rah pulls no punches in talking about the majority of evangelical churches in America. He concludes the churches have “confused the American dream with the will of God.” We have substituted materialism for mercy.
Condemnation falls on members who treat church membership as a commodity to be purchased, on local church bodies which evaluate themselves by the standards of BBB rather than on demonstrating the love and mercy of God through Christian service and on denominations who fawn over pastors and other church leaders who demonstrate success by worldly (materialistic) values of ABC and BBB.
American evangelicals have the best buildings and the best materials. We have the best musicians and top-notch professional speakers. American evangelicals, including Alabama Baptists, have polished worship experiences no matter the style of worship a church may use.
Is it possible that all of these are nothing more than external superficialities? Is it possible that concentration of these “things” has caused us to be empty on the inside? Is it possible that much of American evangelical Christendom has lost its internal depth of loving God with heart, soul, mind and strength and loving neighbor as one’s self?
Is it possible that we have become a materialistic church reflecting the values of the marketplace more than the values of the New Testament?
What do you think?
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