“The word “getting” is, I think, the problem with contemporary Christianity. God is the audience of worship. What you get is, quite frankly, irrelevant as a starting point.”
The quote above is from economist James Gilmore. No, I’ve never heard of him either. He co-authored a book called The Experience Economy. That quote is actually an excerpt from a conversation with Gilmore that author Skye Jethani reproduced in his book, The Divine Commodity. Now, Gilmore is a market economist who has written about the importance of creating experiences as a way for marketers to attract consumers to their products. So, naturally, his questioners assumed that he would be entirely in favor of churches reaching out to unbelievers by staging “God experiences” that would be compelling – and address a prospective congregant’s felt needs. They were wholly mistaken.
The text of the conversation is below (all emphasis is mine):
Q: So how does all this “experience providing” apply to the church?
Gilmore: It doesn’t. When the church gets into the business of staging experiences, that quickly becomes idolatry.
Q: I’m stunned. So you don’t encourage churches to use your elements of marketable experiences to create attractive experiences for their attenders?
Gilmore: No. The organized church should never try to stage a God experience.
Q: When people come to church, don’t they expect an experience of some kind? Consumers approach the worship service with the same mindset as they do a purchase.
Gilmore: Increasingly you find people talking about the worship experience rather than the worship service. That reflects what’s happening in the outside world. I’m dismayed to see churches abandon the means of grace that God ordains simply to conform to the patterns of the world.
Q: So what happens in church? Are people getting a service, because they’re helped to do something they couldn’t do on their own, that is, get closer to God? Or are they getting an experience, the encounter with God through worship?
Gilmore: The word “getting” is, I think, the problem with contemporary Christianity. God is the audience of worship. What you get is, quite frankly, irrelevant as a starting point.
Q: But people, especially unchurched people, don’t perceive it that way. They’re expecting some return.
Gilmore: They come that way at first: “Give me, feed me, make me feel good.” But they should be led to say, “Hey, this is not about me, God. Worship is to glorify you.”
Q: But if my mission is to reach a consumerist culture—if I’m going to get a hearing for my message—then I’m going to have to provide something that the consumer considers of value.
Gilmore: That is the argument. But the only thing of value the church has to offer is the gospel. I believe that one result of the emerging Experience Economy will be a longing for authenticity. To the extent that the church stages worldly experiences, it will lose its effectiveness
Gilmore’s take is by no means the majority view. A great number of religious institutions today – perhaps the majority – feel like it benefits the gospel to focus on creating experiences, programs, and services that cater to the desires of their members and prospective members. And, to our immeasurable shame, a lot of us like it – and essentially agree with the approach. However, notice that whether we come at this from a leadership standpoint, (how do we please our membership?) or a congregant standpoint, (how can this organization fill my needs?) we are left with a grim and unfortunate realization: that how can I best serve and honor the living God takes a back seat from either perspective.
That’s a disastrous misstep; one that we should fear to make. Why? Because, in both cases (leadership and membership), we will, in fact, hit where we set our aim. When leadership makes this misstep, we end up with entertainment/catering institutions primarily geared toward people-pleasing – that, in the end, will bear little to no resemblance to the churches we read about in the New Testament. They may indulge their membership, but don’t look for churches like this in Acts or the epistles. You won’t find them.
Now, here’s the subtlety that is easy to miss. It may feel like there is a whole lot of God-honoring going on in these groups. Yes, God is honored, but only because – and to the extent that – God-honoring attracts and pleases congregants. In that sense, it is regarded no differently than providing child care or good coffee in the lobby. Subtle, right? – but significant.
Secondly, we end up with congregants who choose a religious group with the primary (even if unspoken) desire and expectation that they will get their felt needs, and those of their family members, met. Again, God-honoring occurs, but only where and when it satisfies a felt need. God is not excluded, but He serves at our good pleasure. I know. It even hurt to write that. Ask yourself whether God will play that role for any religious body, large or small. No sir and no ma’am.
This “serve my needs” mentality is magnified in our modern consumer-centric society, but it’s origins can be found as far back as you choose to look. Remember in Mark 10 when Jesus and his closest disciples are on the road to Jerusalem? Jesus tells them what He’s about to suffer at the hands of the Romans and the religious authorities. From vs 33-34 – the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles. And they will mock him and spit on him, and flog him and kill him. And after three days he will rise.” The very next thing that happens almost defies credulity. James and John roll up to Him and say “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” Then they proceed to tell Him that they were hoping that they could have the two highest places of authority next to him in glory. Um, if that’s ok with you…
Now, before we start crushing James and John for thinking Jesus came to do “whatever they ask of Him”, we need to stop and check our own approach to worship and service – particularly in the local church. Then, we need to be ready to do whatever He asks of us. And, by the way, in our subjection to our Lord, we get our real needs met along the way – not just our felt ones. Lucky us.
Finally, let’s go to the Bible and check out our Savior’s relationship to His church, as described in Colossians 1: 18 – “And he (Christ) is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.” Now, ask yourself what it means for Christ to be preeminent in a local church. Have some ideas? Yes. It means we obey him with all wisdom and diligence, whether that “sells” or not; whether that meets an immediate felt need or not. It means that we put obedience in wisdom first, before the marketing plan, even if it means fewer folks in the pews. It doesn’t happen when we attend worship assemblies and feel like we had a God experience. It happens when we worship and serve Him according His desires, so that we not only feel he is at the center of our worship, but that he actually is in everything we do; so that we serve God, not the other way around.
The difference can feel subtle – but it’s the difference between Christ being on the throne versus being a single step down, just below our desires or the local church’s desire to increase numbers. Let’s remember that, as his people, we already have all things – so we can stop focusing on what we should be “getting” from him. Let’s thank our God for the inexpressible gift of his Son – and make Him preeminent in everything.