The American Church Culture

I am reading "Radical" by David Platt. He lays out a rather compelling argument that the American Dream is actually antithetical to the true motives and mission of the Christian church, and that we are on a very broad path towards destruction as a church body.

He starts out with a bang on p2. In the American church culture, he states, "success is defined by bigger crowds, bigger budgets, and bigger buildings." Yeah, so? All three of those things are good, right? Don't we want to bring people in to be closer to Jesus? And aren't we supposed to encourage them to give generously? And isn't the big building a natural progression of the first two?

I'll address the first with the same general point that Mr. Platt makes. Jesus was no megachurch pastor. In essence, he was the pastor to twelve men. And rather than continue to draw ever larger crowds, he knowingly made the hard statements that drove away those unwilling to follow his teachings. As a perfect example of this, see John 6:60-66. Ultimately, he focused his efforts on a small group, and in turn sent them out to expand the ministry. He did the opposite of the current church culture.

As for the bigger budgets, this is probably the biggest reason I no longer feel comfortable in a large church atmosphere. I am absolutely supportive of the generosity and faithfulness of the church body when it comes to charity and tithing. My concern lies with what happens to that money once it is given over. It is my opinion that we have gotten far, far away from what that money should be used for. In the American church, by and large, it is returned to the members of the church, in the form of new buildings, new amenities, Sunday socials, children's ministries, and other internal resources. So little of that money goes outward from our blessed American churches to help those who really need it. We are without comparison the wealthiest country in the history of the earth, and yet we hoard that wealth like misers.

It saddens me to think about how much of an impact the American church could make in the world if it wasn't so focused on lavishing gifts upon itself, and instead turned a caring eye towards Lazarus laying outside our gate.

Speaking of lavishing gifts upon itself, how many multi-million dollar churches does this country need, anyway? Seems like an awfully large misappropriation of God's resources to me.

I'm going to stop now before I get really worked up. I'm sure I'll come back to it again at some point in the future. I do encourage you to consider where the money in your church goes, and if that is truly in the best interest of expanding God's kingdom, or just your own.