What to do when you are a church refugee

Jonathan recently responded to the "I'm Not Lovin It" post. He basically asked what should church members do when they realize they are in a church that panders to the consumer mentality. This is an attempt to discuss that great question.

If a person came to me and asked what should be done about their consumer church, I would suggest to them the following course of action:

1. Go to the leadership of the church.
This is going to be hard. Sometimes going to your pastor about this issue is not going to be ideal because the leadership is ultimately not going to listen. For example, several months ago I had a family come to me for counsel on this very subject. They were members at a prominent Southern Baptist Church in town and had been for years. Their concern centered on the fact that they had begun, over the past several years, to notice a change in the philosophy of the church. This average layman's words to me were, "Their just not preaching about the cross anymore. It's all about marriage and parenting." My advice was for that layman to go to his pastor and express his concern. He honestly tried. The pastor turned a deaf ear.

I think that members have a certain responsibility to hold the leadership accountable to Biblical teaching. Although this would be hard to do, my encouragement to anyone in a consumer driven church is to go and attempt to exhort (in love and humble respect) your leadership. Do not let the fear of man keep you from sharing your concerns. Fear God and what His word says. Perhaps the Lord will cause you to be a Biblical change agent in that church? If your first attempt to reconcile with your brother/pastor fails, then you have a decision to make. Are you to stay and be a positive influence, or should you go and find a church that is more Biblical in its methodology? That is different for each person. If you cannot stay, then I would suggest the next step:

2. Begin to search for a church that meets Biblical criteria, but be prepared to go to great lengths.
Forrest Gump told us that best friends are hard to find because their not on every corner. Biblical churches are in the same category. Unfortunately you will not find them on every corner, but they are essential and vital to your spiritual growth. Therefore, I would suggest that you go to great lengths to find a church where the pastor is preaching Biblicaly and the vision is Biblical. I have heard of people actually moving to a new location for the sole purpose of attending a Biblical Church. Our society does such things all the time for the sake of careers. Why not begin to adopt that attitude for a Biblical church? I certainly would consider it (As a pastor I did that very thing...I moved to a church I felt was on the road to being Biblical). You would want to investigate and find a place that meets the criteria of a Biblical, healthy, church (see ninemarks.org). If you find it you have found gold (in my humble opinion). A Christ-centered church would be worth a tremendous amount of effort. Think of how your children, family, and spiritual life would benefit. How valuable is that to you? So, you may have to drive an hour verses going down the street.

That would be my first response to someone who came to me about this issue. I would suggest these two major steps. Both present no easy solution, but both are reasonable.

The purpose for writing the "I'm Not Lovin It" was due to a Long Range Planning Committee meeting I had with church members. The meeting made me realize how consumer driven our church culture can be. I have never read the David Wells book Jonathan mentioned (but it sounds good).