Mike Leuken wonders about our default approach to thinking about our church.
“I am dissatisfied” was identified as a barrier to spiritual growth. Of those surveyed, 17 percent expressed some degree of dissatisfaction with their church; over half of these came from the most advanced stages of maturity. The greatest source of dissatisfaction was the church’s weekend services. The authors imply that if we overcome this barrier, we can keep people from leaving the church.
However, I remain unconvinced that the right question is, “What’s the most important thing you want from your church?” This emphasis on an individual’s expectations and preferences reveals a core problem in American Christianity—the unchallenged assumption that people can accurately evaluate their church based on whether or not it meets their needs. How does this prevailing attitude alter the biblical purpose of the Church in the world? We are a culture of Christ-followers who pay far too much attention to whether or not our needs are being satisfied. And we have become a culture of church leaders who spend far too much time orienting our ministries around the ever-changing preferences of our people.
hat tip to Vitamin Z