Lakeside Community Fellowship
A Jesus-centered, faith-community offering love & hope to the world
Archive for April, 2007
Free Methodist Preachers
Hi Friends!
Check out the POST I made on my main blog tonight. You’ll find a story about a Free Methodist Pastor at THIS LINK.
Christian Consumerism
An interesting post from “SmuloSpace,” a blog I follow:
“We live during a time when capitalism and consumerism are significant
aspects of western culture, and much of the world. One of the outflows of this is that individuals have high expectations of the companies, organizations, and products that they use. There’s significant competition when it comes from everything to what shampoo you use, to what restaurants you eat at.It appears that there is syncretism between this area of cultural values and the church. It leads me to question, “Has the local church merely become one more dispenser of
goods and services for the consumer to consider?”In my context, at least, it appears that this is the case. Christians refer to “church
shopping”. This involves inspecting the product each local church produces and deciding which services their personal needs best. A church shopping list looks like a typical grocery list, with items such as the following on it:
- Suitable worship music
- Good preaching
- Friendly people
- Comfortable seats
- Excellent children’s program
- Right beliefs
- Right practices
- Good coffee
- Free donuts
I remember a conversation with one couple that went to a former church I pastored who told me that they had been church shopping for two years for the “perfect church” before settling on ours. I didn’t know if I should be flattered or naseous, but I quickly felt the latter.”