Across the Preacher’s Desk: Consumerism and Christianity

Tim PerkinsJanuary 5, 2023 - In our day and time, we have become obsessed with the consumer mentality. To be sure, it has permeated every aspect of our lives. We look for a restaurant with the best price, menu, atmosphere and location. We shop for clothes at a store that carries our size, has our taste in clothes and the best sales.

Sadly, many take this same attitude with them when it comes to church. To be sure, we call it “church shopping”.

If we have small children, we look for a church with a great program for children. If we have teenagers, we look for a church with an active youth program. If we don’t have children, we look for a church that doesn’t have a “bunch of noisy kids” bothering us.

We want the music enthusiastic but not too loud, t he preacher to be youthful but not too young and relevant but not “trendy”. Most of all, he needs to deliver a life changing message in less than 20 minutes.

And know this, if anything stops meeting our expectations, we are off “church shopping” again.

Friends, the church was never intended to serve the consumer mentality. You see, the church is not about serving us or meeting our “felt needs”. The church is about serving God and others. In the church, we are to be more focused on seeking the desperately lost rather than meeting the felt needs of the comfortably saved.

It’s something to think about... tbp

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