"The American church as a whole needs to move from selfish consumerism to unselfish contribution. Those are poles apart. To start with a woman who's most interested in how many diamonds she's got in her tennis bracelet, and move her to sit under a banyan tree holding an AIDS baby- that's a giant leap. People in this culture are trained to think about me, me, me; I've got to do what's best for me. Even when we go to church we have this consumer mentality."-Rick Warren serves as pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California. Taken from "It's Not About Rick" in the Summer 2007 issue of Leadership journal.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
From Diamonds to the Banyan Tree
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Decent quote, but I think I like they way Peterson says it even better. Maybe because he uses the term "AntiChrist"
"The great American innovation in congregation is to turn it into a consumer enterprise…If we have a nation of consumers, obviously the quickest and most effective way to get them into our congregations is to identify what they want and offer it to them…We are the world's champion consumers, so why shouldn't we have state-of-the-art consumer churches?
There is only one thing wrong: this is not the way in which God brings us into conformity with the life of Jesus and sets us on the way of Jesus' salvation…The cultivation of consumer spirituality is the antithesis of a sacrificial, "deny yourself" congregation. A consumer church is an Antichrist church."
Eugene Peterson, from The Jesus Way: A Conversation on the Ways That Jesus is the Way, pp. 5-6.
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