Relevance or faithfulness, 1
Relevance or faithfulness, 2
Favorite quote:
Seeker services were the target of criticism. But the best spokesmen for the seeker movement insisted it was “not about the event” – but about relationships – and that they would be examples to their people of building relationships with unbelieving people so they could be invited to the “events.” I listened to Bill Hybels tell a national meeting that he had taken up sailing and joined a yacht club and had joined a sailing team of all unbelievers. Out of that came many opportunities for the Gospel. I was ashamed of my indifference. I began to change. (As an aside, here is what I found. The more unbelievers I knew, the less I needed to read Barna to figure out what they were like. I have never met a statistical average.)
A good part the criticism had validity – but the critics (like me) were also reactionary. The seekers said, “We need to figure out how to communicate the Gospel in a relevant way.” The critics said, “Forget that – the Gospel is relevant – just preach it.” Some pastors forced a new model on their churches and this almost always led to division and splits and angry departures.
The seeker movement has, by and large, been theologically simplistic and moralistic. The critics have camped on this. But their criticism seemed to be Monday morning quarterbacking because they were not leading churches with immense evangelistic fruit – so it was simple to answer them, “We like our bad methods better than your no-methods.”
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