We MUST Stop Creating Selfish Christianity!

I’ve always loved this quote.

“You win them to what you win them with.”
— Aiden Wilson Tozer

It’s been repeated with slight deviations over and over again.

This quote sums up much of our current Christianity problems. Let’s go back in time.

[Tweet “Tozer’s quote, “You win them to what you win them with,” sums up much of our current Christianity problems.”]

The Attractional Church

Going back 40 years or so, we see the advent of the attractional church. Churches, like Willow Creek, launched a “seeker sensitive” movement, using church services to “attract” the unchurched to the body of Christ.

One fundamental weakness of this approach is summed up by the Tozer quote. When you reach people with attraction, you win people to consumption. Churches following the attractional church pathway reached massive numbers of people and built giant sanctuaries to fit their growing numbers.

[Tweet “When churches reach people with attraction, they win people to consumption.”]

A key phrase in the attractional church is cultural relevance.

People drawn by the attractional church were mostly consuming Jesus for their benefit. We shouldn’t blame them, though. They were won to consumption. Of course they behaved selfishly. That’s what consumers do.

Here’s a critical question that will help us understand the newer church’s direction: Why did church leaders embrace “attractional” in the first place?

How did “consumption” become the attractional church function?

Well, that goes back to how the surrounding culture behaved. By the 1970s, America was in full-blown consumerism. The mass production of products led companies to sell via mass marketing and advertising. Capitalism drove companies to create a consumerist culture. Consumption is self-indulging. And therefore selfish.

Seeing this move in the surrounding culture, churches decided to leverage consumeristic tendencies to attract the unchurched and de-churched to the church by attractional means. But, “You win them to what you win them with.” Hence, the struggle to inspire engagement, participation, and followership.

Plenty of people were “attracted” to these churches. Still, too many people experienced Jesus as their life coach, not their Lord. When you think about it, inviting people to “come and die” isn’t the most attractive message, especially in a culture of selfish consumption.

Today’s Attractional Church

In an effort to move away from “attractional,” many churches and church leaders launched a new movement. But is it really all that different?

To answer that question, we need to consider today’s culture. What’s happening around us now? What’s a driving force in people’s lives now?

We could suggest several answers, but consumeristic culture has, in a way, given way to contemplative culture. As expressive individualism has taken hold of our world, a desire to “find oneself” or “speak your truth” has become a driving mantra. Just look at the popularity of personality profiling systems. The desire to find oneself is a powerful force. And churches have taken the bait — again.

A key phrase in today’s new attractional church is still cultural relevance.

A Different Form of Attractional Church

Attractional churches are formulated to meet people where they are with what they like to attract them to church. That’s what’s happening again today. It looks different, but it’s attractional.

In a nearly identical way, churches choosing to lean into individual self-expression and emotional health are not vastly different from yesterday’s attractional church. Attraction can look different and still be fundamentally the same.

The previous attractional church used consumerism. Today churches are using contemplation. If you win people with consumerism, you win people to consume Jesus for their personal benefit. When you win people with contemplation, you win people to contemplate faith for, you guessed it, personal benefit. Both are self-focused, and both lead to selfishness.

[Tweet “If you win people with consumerism, you win people to consume Jesus for their personal benefit. When you win people with contemplation, you win people to contemplate faith for, you guessed it, personal benefit. Both are self-focused, and both lead to selfishness.”]

Selfish Christianity is created when churches win people more with culture than Christ.

[Tweet “Selfish Christianity is created when churches win people more with culture than Christ.”]

Is There a Better Answer That’s Still Attractive? 

Perhaps it is time (or past time) to cease using culture to reach culture and, instead, use Christ to reach culture.

The more I study church, church people, and our modern history, the more convinced I am that each version of church was beneficial at the time it was launched. Models are built for moments, and the attractional church model met a need in a moment. Yet, there were ancillary consequences. The same is true for the “missional” church and today’s contemplative Christianity.

I firmly believe that we need to remain attractional. If for no other reason than Jesus was insanely attractive to those who needed him the most. I certainly don’t want to see Christianity be unattractive.

Yet, I can’t think of a time in my life when Christianity looked less attractive.

All the training to consume and contemplate has only given way to selfish and shallow faith. What we see politically is a prime example.

A Possible Answer

What would happen in our churches if we focused on discipleship progress? What if we built a relational, incremental church model focused on movement, not moments?

When you consider how most people come to faith and grow in faith, it’s typically a story of incremental steps partnered with relational connections. That is what today’s church should replicate.

I’ve spent hundreds of hours with churches in the past year. During this time, I’ve seen glimpses of what is working, what’s clearly not working, and the gaps in today’s church models.

I believe it’s time for us to remodel our church model, developing a faithful, yet practical, approach to executing the Great Commission. This new model must be:

• Communal and corporate.
• In-person and online.
• Relational and comfortable.
• Incremental and actionable.
• Progress-directed, not pace-managed.
• Effected for unchurched, de-churched, barely churches, over-churched, and anyone in between.

I’m helping churches around the world understand the Movement Church Model framework. It’s not a one-size-fits-all strategy but a framework that allows any church to bring its mission, vision, and culture into the model while improving discipleship pathways.

I’d love to share more about this church remodel with you. Start here: Remodel Your Church Model

You’ll find some FREE RESOURCES and other insights on church models. If you’re ready to get to work, I’d love to help.