What is it about “seeker-friendly” churches that people love to hate? Are those churches lukewarm? Should our churches be unfriendly to seekers? Do people even know what the term means? Or have some churches given it a bad name?
I began pondering this after listening to a message from David Wilkerson that is being passed around on Social Media. I love David Wilkerson and have listened to him since I was a wee lad. But here it appears that Brother Wilkerson is speaking to those that grossly misunderstand the “seeker-friendly” methodology for reaching people with the gospel. His characterization of what it means to be “seeker-friendly” is not even close to the heart of those that birthed this movement.
Let me see if I can briefly summarize the contrast.
The actual seeker-friendly church partners with the members of their congregation to reach people with the gospel. They seek to create a worship service that their congregation would be excited to invite their friends to. Basically, they get ready for company and treat their guests with respect. They strip away the elements of church tradition and use creative elements to reach people with the gospel message of Christ. The message has not changed, only the methods. The stated mission is to “turn irreligious people into fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ.”
Not everyone who aims to be “seeker-sensitive” actually knows what it means! I’ve actually spoken to many pastors who misunderstand this approach. Some have even admitted to me that they thought if they just started a church with jazz pre-service music, short sermons, and skits, that the people of the community would come rushing in the doors. Most of these wanna-be’s fail because they think seeker-friendly is about watering down the gospel, and they lose the power to reach souls.
Wilkerson also appears to be conflating seeker-friendly with purpose-driven when he talks about surveying the community and creating services geared to that culture. It sounds like he’s not a big fan of “Saddleback Sam.”
When we do this overseas, we call it cross-cultural ministry. We used to make the mistake in missions of trying to convert the unreached people groups to be good WESTERN Christians. We put suits and ties on African tribesman, had them sit on pews instead of the ground, and teach them hymns in English. We stood back and took pride thinking, “now they look like real Christians.”
We’ve grown smarter. Now we go in, study to understand the culture, and figure out how to reach them in their language. Then we train those who receive Christ how to reach more of their own people by building Bible Schools in the field we’re reaching.
I’m currently preaching through Galatians. I agree with brother Wilkerson (and the Apostle Paul) that changing the gospel, watering down the gospel, making people feel comfortable in their sin, and not preaching Christ crucified is a grave error that God will judge.
However, the originators of both the seeker-friendly and purpose-driven models have found a way to reach people with the true gospel in strategic ways. I’ll say it again: The message has not changed, only the methods! Until you have actually studied the strategies and heard the heart of the leaders, don’t judge them based on the assumptions and misrepresentations of others.
So why do we “bash” these soul-winning movements?
Perhaps there are churches that have misunderstood the concept and don’t preach the Good News. Those churches may well be worthy of our scorn.
Perhaps we don’t really know what “seeker-friendly” means, and we’ve fallen victim to online memes and misinformation.
Or perhaps we just enjoy comforting ourselves with the idea that we are preaching the “true” gospel. But if we are not actually reaching people for Christ, then we’re missing the mark. Perhaps we should see if we can learn anything from these movements before we throw more stones.
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Follow up:
Since I first wrote this, some comments I’ve gotten have been enlightening. I see some misconceptions about what “seeker-sensitive” means, so I want to highlight those here.
- Some use “seeker-friendly” as a pejorative for any church that does modern things that they don’t like. The church may not have any roots in the seeker-sensitive movement, but for lack of a better term, “seeker-friendly” works when speaking out against a church we don’t like. Like “Xerox” or “Kleenex”, the brand name of “Seeker-Friendly” has become the term by which we refer to all modern styles of church.
- Many don’t understand that “seeker-sensitive” services are a doorway, not a destination. It was never the intent that the Sunday morning experience be the final destination. Once people are introduced to Christ and get saved, the goal is to move them into deeper levels of discipleship: mid-week “believers” service rich in teaching, small groups, and ultimately serving in their gifts.
I’m sure there will be more to come.
Andrew's Thoughts 