Thus says the Lord: "Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls.
But they said, 'We will not walk in it.'" --Jeremiah 6:16

 

21 December, 2006   comments: (0) Today's Pragmatism   Lead Them To The "Dude God" & Ignore The Critics I have to admit, nothing sets me off quite like this kind of thing. I'm talking about the way growth-driven churches irreverently misrepresent God as being just another one of the guys (Psalm 50:21). It doesn't stop there either; the biblically defined office of pastor usually gets a downgrade as well. Any dignity that pastors should have (1 Timothy 3:1-7 and Titus 2:7-8) becomes expendable for the sake of hip and trendy relevance. A classic example made it's way on to national TV this week. If you haven't seen the rap video of Pastor Gary Lamb shaking his behind while dressed-up like a "pimped-out Santa" (as a local news station described him), you can see it here, or watch a summary in this short footage of the Hannity and Colmes show. You can also see the postcards of Santa's backside which were distributed within their community. On this page of his blog, Gary Lamb gave some advice to his seekers, in an effort to help them think properly when they encounter criticism related to the video. His words are in the color red below, my comments are interspersed in black text. I think that what follows is a useful exercise, not because of the video per se, but to demonstrate the talking points that seeker-leaders often use to inoculate their flocks from biblical scrutiny. There have been so many examples of this over the years, that I sometimes wonder if it's a script from one of their "leadership" books. And so what follows, is directed as much at the seeker-sensitive movement in general, as it is towards anyone in particular: 1.) When you are attempting big things for God, you will be criticized Since you are "attempting big things", does that mean that all inbound criticism then - is related to that fact? If you ever do have a sinful blind spot about something, how will you ever recognize a legitimate biblical rebuke? Note: I've asked this question of numerous seeker pastors, and the answer I usually get is "I will know a real rebuke if it comes from within my circle of ministry-friends or family". But those are the people who are most susceptible to having the exact same blind spot. - It happened to a dude in the Bible named Jesus as well! Two problems here. Jesus never used worldliness and pragmatism as the basis for establishing His church, so we must conclude that your methods are in another category than His. He has also never been anyone's dude, homeboy, or buddy. This brings up the whole question of whether the seeker sensitive system misrepresents the very character of God. I've addressed that topic with an audio clip on the attributes of God. 2.) Don't give ear to the critics - Stay focused on getting the word out to your unchurched friends. This is a common defensive strategy that Rick Warren also uses. You can see it in action on this page, as he says almost the exact same thing as Gary Lamb - "ignore the critics". The cults use the same strategy, brainwashing really, by teaching "we're right, and anyone who disagrees with us is wrong, and therefore you should not interact with them on their terms". Time you are listening to critics is time you could be investing in your unchurched friends. It's Mary and Martha all over again, and this time with a modern "evangelism is the only thing that matters" flavor to it. There's no time for making sure that our understanding of the bible is correct. If someone points out a biblical problem in our evangelism, we won't have time to be a Berean, because we are too busy evangelizing. BB Warfield phrased it well when he said: "Passion for service cannot take the place of passion for truth, or safely outrun the acquisition of truth, for it is dreadfully possible to navigate sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, to find we have made him only a son of hell" [Our church] is not for everyone - We know that and that is totally cool. This is the all too familiar tactic of reducing any criticism down to a difference of opinion related to style and personal tastes. Does your church match the pattern in the book of Acts, yes or no? Does your pastor match the pattern in the epistles to Timothy, yes or no? These kinds of "biblical or not" questions are rarely considered. Instead, the opposition is often reduced to the same overly picky category as those who would argue about what color carpeting the church building should have. There are some great Christians out there who don't understand why we do things like we do and will never understand it. It's the assumption that any Christians who disagree, simply don't understand. I was a part of the seeker sensitive system for several years; I read the books and did the training. And yet, I'm sure these folks would still say of me "he doesn't understand what we are doing here". After all, how could evangelism ever be wrong? As long as souls-saved is the motive, we are immune from scrutiny. AW Pink called that superficial lop-sided evangelism. Many of us do understand it, but we recognize that it's unbiblical. That is fine. We'll hang out with them in Heaven one day and laugh about this. Until then we are going to continue thinking outside the box in reaching unchurched people. If pragmatism turns out to be the sin that many of us are concerned it is, nobody will be laughing about it in eternity. The fear that many of us have is that "the box" which innovative seeker churches think outside of, is "the bible". 4.) Consider the source - Some people are offended by everything. When people are getting upset, ask yourself if they were the intended target of the video. Again, other Christians getting upset is not the end of the world and it is nothing new. You get the sense that outside criticism from other Christians is a routine thing. There are a couple of possibilities as to why that would be. Either, the problem is with the critics, or the problem is with the object of the criticism. The latter never seems to be considered. We also catch another glimpse of the innovative church worldview here, in which they are the good guys and traditional Christians are the legalists, or as a friend of Gary Lamb calls them "the steeple people". They are the ones that need to be ignored if they are outside the church, or weeded-out if they are inside, otherwise they will hamper "evangelism". 5.) Keep it up! - I am praying Christmas Eve is packed out and we run out of seats. You do what we can't do - spread the word to those you know, and we'll make sure the message of Jesus Christ is communicated in a biblical, creative, and relevant way to those you bring. Keep sending the video and invites to everyone you know. The flawed paradigm is clear in that paragraph. Church exists for unbelievers, it is a "salvation factory" that takes 'seekers' in the front door and sends them out the back door as Christians. Your job is to bring the unchurched into the salvation factory where the mechanism (trendy team, skits, videos, and rock music) can save them. You don't need to worry so much about going out into the world to evangelize, because your mission is to get the unchurched into church, and "we'll take it from there". There are some interesting similarities between this concept, and the Roman Catholic model of "salvation via the church". He also mentions the word "biblical", but one wonders how biblical someone can be when what is being presented is a "dude God". Perhaps that gets turned off when the church service starts. Maybe then God ceases to be talked about as a "dude", and is instead presented as the thrice holy God of Isaiah, but I wouldn't hold my breath. 6.) Pray - God has given us a huge platform and with that comes a huge responsibility. We didn't make the video because we were bored. We made it to get your friends and family in church so they could hear the life changing message of Jesus. Pray our staff can stay focused on the task at hand. And if I'm wrong about the dangers of unbiblical pragmatism and evangelism via worldliness, as I've been talking about on this website for over a year, then perhaps there really will be scores of people that will one day be able to say: "I'm in heaven now because a pastor dressed up like a pimped-out Santa and shook his butt in front of a camera for me". Time will tell. I would love to have Gary Lamb chat with us in the comments below, but if he follows his own advice, we can expect to be ignored on everything that's said here, regardless of how biblical any of it may be. After all, if someone expresses criticism, that can only mean that they need to be ignored. Let's pray that more Christians will think outside that box, and go to their bible instead, as they reevaluate their participation in churches like these. UPDATE 6/5/07: It's no surprise to find one of Gary Lamb's mentors - Perry Noble - also referring to our Savior - The Lord Jesus Christ - as "a dude", in this blog post. Posted by: Jim B.   Link: http://www.oldtruth.com/blog.cfm/id.2.pid.565   Be the first to post a comment about this article        Home  |   About  |  Videos   |  Calvinism