The Biblical Bankruptcy of the Seeker-Sensitive Church Model

The Bible is full of passages that deal with the mission of the church, but none is as clear and simple as what we refer to as the Great Commission in Matthew 28:18-19, where Jesus commands his followers to go into all the world to make disciples of all nations. In other words, believers are supposed to go out and gain converts, and then train them to be disciples. Logically, if you are going to have new disciples you first need new converts. So, evangelism is fundamental and foundational for discipleship. But, the goal of the church isn't to amass converts. It is to make disciples.

Why do so many churches optimize their church programs for evangelism but completely neglect their responsibility to train and equip disciples?

Gregory Koukl has posted an excellent article addressing this issue on the Stand To Reason website. I will quote this article extensively throughout, mostly because he's much smarter than I am. Greg writes:

Many seeker-sensitive churches use the church for evangelism rather than making disciples. They all get together for a service and they preach the Gospel. No wonder the Christians are dropping by the wayside. They are not getting taught. There is nothing more complicated or deep out of the Scriptures in the Saturday evening service than that which a non-regenerate person can understand. That is shallow. That?s not milk, that?s not even skim milk. That's water. Nothing wrong with water when you are evangelizing, but evangelization is not the Great Commission and it doesn?t happen in the church.

Notice Greg's observation: "There is nothing more complicated… than that which a non-regenerate person can understand." Therein lies the problem. A church following this model spends the majority of their time, money, and energy addressing the needs of "the lost" in their community. Church "members" are expected to bring friends, neighbors, co-workers, and family to the service so they can hear the gospel. The unintentional but common result of this model is that the believer comes to a service that is virtually the same every week and that isn't really meant for him in the first place. If it's the same exact message he'll hear 51 other times that year, why bother showing up? Continue reading this post »