I want to voice my concern for how American Anglicans are promoting “church growth movement” ideas at their regional conferences by inviting such speakers as Rick Warren to their events. Mr. Warren may not say a word about church planting methods while he is with them, but the association surely encourages people to emulate his book Purpose-Driven Churches and the like. The “seeker-friendly” approach is inherently contrary to the traditional liturgy. Yet it is the traditional Anglican liturgy which is one of the greatest contributions we Anglicans have to make to the Church and her mission to this world. Are we to give it up for the sake of a particular - and arguably faddish - method of outreach?
There is nothing wrong with holding a meeting to attract the unchurched and to evangelise them. There would be nothing wrong with canvassing the local community to see what kinds of events would attract them. These are the things that Warren did out in California. The man is an evangelist and thank God for every person that has come to Christ through his ministry. But the problem is that he substituted the weekly Lord’s Day worship service of the Church with this kind of evangelistic event. Because of his success – in the style that is so attractive to Americans – churches have been doing the same everywhere. If the Anglicans start doing the same, we will be throwing away one of the most powerful things we have in our arsenal for building the Kingdom.
I encourage everyone to read the recent post by Doug Wilson on his blog about the practices of low church Anglicans in England. You can find it here. His analogy of the fireplace and the fire is excellent and directly applies to my concern. If we in America follow the Warren method, we will be moving in the direction opposite to that which Wilson is recommending. We will be forsaking our fireplaces.
I will not take much space here to argue against “seeker friendly” churches. I will say, however, that it is very wrong-headed to think that “crowds” equal real Church growth. Consider the crowds that followed Jesus and their fickleness. I also think it is wrong-headed to think that people will be drawn to the Christ revealed in the Scriptures when they come to the public gathering of the children of God and find it no different than what they experience at the theatre. Why can they not be converted by being confronted with the culture of heaven in our liturgy? If they are truly seeking a new life, would they not expect Christianity to lead them to something different, something unlike our modern culture? I Corinthians 14: 24 & 25: “But if all prophesy, and there come in one that believeth not, or one unlearned, he is convinced of all, he is judged of all: And thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest; and so falling down on his face he will worship God, and report that God is in you of a truth.”
Is our faith in our methods instead of the power of the Holy Spirit? The Lord uses means, I grant that. But we must be careful that our ends do not justify the means we use. Evangelistic concerns need not and should not result in the sacrifice of the worship of God’s people. God will honour the faith of churches that maintain the priorities he has given us in his Word. Let us do the work of God by faith.
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