Something church members don't take time to think about it is this, "What are the repercussions if our church is worried about the numbers of people attending?" Sadly, this issue is one that gets to the heart of the gospel message, Christianity in general, how people come to Christ, and a whole host of other things.
When churches are worried about numbers reflecting their effectiveness, they've strayed from the Word of God. There were only 12 disciples of Jesus, and it was a noteworthy situation when multitudes believed. When that did happen, those multitudes were being given the Truth, not a watered down version of it.
When a church worries about numbers more than worship, they call members who are away on a retreat to return when suddenly they get a prominent speaker coming so that the pews look full.
When a church worries about numbers, it doesn't listen to concerned members over doctrinally false information. These churches are run like a corporation. There is no time for setbacks in a well-oiled machine. People with legitimate concerns are brushed aside as problems.
We had a young child who could read far before she should have been able to and one of her teachers didn't realize this. He spelled out bad words in playdoh which she read and recounted to us in the form of "What does this mean?". What did the youth pastor say to this? "He's been with us for a long time." He dismissed our concerns and kept this man on as an AWANA teacher. In the years after that incident, we saw that this church did not care about orthodoxy as much as it did with bringing in the masses. We made sure our kids didn't have this man as a teacher, but what else could be done? The pastor let it go.
In subsequent years, we'd see this pastor was not one to admire. He was comfortable blurring lines and having a different standard for the church members when compared to those for his own family.
Churches that care about numbers have revolving doors. When you live in an area with one of these, it is quite amazing how many people, "Used to go to _________."
To bring in the masses, a pastor needs to use phrases that can be interpreted one way by believers and another, more comfortable way, by unbelievers. And that is what you have in a seeker-sensitive church. It's sensitive to not being offensive with the words of the Bible. Tons of books are written by people who want to 're-invent' Christianity to MARKET it to this very depraved culture, it is these sorts of books where pastors learn to use this careful, squishy language.
We all care about the lost, we all have the Truth, but like evolutionists vs. creationists, we interpret the facts differently and then RESPOND to them differently.
All this to say, I'd rather my kids turn out Calvinists than seeker-sensitive "Christians", because one camp is far more likely to be saved than the other, and one camp will have less explaining to do than the other.
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