First, some definitions. Consumerism: a term used to describe the effects of equating personal happiness with purchasing. “When the going gets tough, the tough go shopping.” Brand Loyalty: The net effect of successful marketing. Buying a specific brand because of the brand regardless of quality or price.Am I guilty of this in regards to Apple? Possibly. However, I maintain that Apple is still a superior computer and that the price for the hardware is justified.

Recently I was involved in a discussion on the topic of church membership. My points were 1) the Bible says next to nothing about official church membership, 2) church membership does nothing to prevent church hopping/shopping, 3) non-members can still be afforded things like benevolence and pastoral visits, and 4) church discipline can be exercised against non-members.

I’m afraid that “high membership threshold” may simply be more marketing, this time employing brand loyalty. The “Levi’s” of church growth, if you will.

I was told that this was the “old” way of thinking about church membership. Missional churches have set a high threshold for church membership. There is a membership covenant that members are expected to live up to. Not everyone is a member because members expect more out of each other. I was referred to the book Shaped by God’s Heart by Milfred Minatrea. Minatrea surveyed missional churches and found that they tend to set very high expectations for membership. Frankly, I was surprised. I thought that with the post-modern attitude many of these churches have they would not have a formal membership at all! Amongst other reason, Minatrea lists:

A cultural reason: it is an antidote to our society. We live in an age where very frew want to be committed to anything–a job, a marriage, our country. This attitude has produced a generation of “church shoppers and hoppers.” Membership swims against the current of America’s consumer religion. It is an unselfish decision. Commitment always builds character. (p. 32)

One church, citing Minatrea, says (PDF) “Skeptics ask how does that church enforce those expectations. The answer is they don’t have to because those expectations are part of the culture of the church. When your church culture is shaped by God’s heart people want to participate, sacrifice, and get involved – not cut corners.” The pastor advocated revisiting the issue of a “membership covenant”.

That struck me as a word game. In the end, those who are committed are committed, those who are not are going to walk when they feel like it anyway. We can define membership however we want, in the end we have no way to enforce it. And that way my point. We live in a culture of consumerism. I don’t like this church or they discipline me? Great, I just walk down the block to Church X and start all over. This is the environment we live in! In the early Puritan days or in the Middle Ages, there was only one church in town. You didn’t go shopping, you didn’t have a choice. If that church exercised discipline on you, you were cut out of not just the church but a large portion of that society. Heck, in the Middle Ages they could execute you if it was bad enough! That doesn’t exist in our society today. So we can play word games with membership, in the end it comes down to commitment.

That is where the term “brand loyalty” comes in. On the way to work today I drove behind a pickup truck for a while and I noticed that in the window it had a big number 8 and a smaller italicized 3 (or the other way round, I don’t really remember). These were the numbers from NASCAR racers. This brought back to mind a piece I heard on NPR this summer which really helped me understand NASCAR better. NASCAR is all about brand loyalty. You get a favorite driver (somehow) and you watch them and root for them. You buy a flag for the front of your house. You buy Tide instead of Cheer because Tide is a sponsor and Cheer sponsors that other guy. You put a sticker on your car with their number to show your loyalty.

So these missional churches are trying to shun consumerism by embracing a high threshold for church membership. But instead might they not be embracing consumerism in its highest form? Might not this idea of church membership simply be an expression of brand loyalty? Here’s what I’m thinking. I hate consumerism/capitalism applied to the church as much as anyone. I fear that church growth can be an example of it when some things are sacrificed for the sake of “seeker”. I would rather have an effective church membership that would prevent someone under discipline walking up the block and carrying on. I’m just not sure that in our democratic/capitalist culture it is a possibility. Instead, why not teach about commitment and unity? Why not preach what the Bible says about being “members of the same body” (Eph 3:6) and “individually members one of another” (Rom 12:5)? In other words, tell them what the Bible says, expect them to live up to it and let the Holy Spirit convict them as to how to live that out in our culture? In the end, I don’t disagree with what that pastor I cited above had in mind. I think a church that is focused on Christ and treats him as holy and glorious will be a place people want to be at. I’m simply skeptical of playing games to gain commitment.

I’m not saying that we should abandon membership, I still support that. I’ve started working on a study of it. But I just don’t want us to expect too much out of a membership role or membership covenant. I’m afraid that “high membership threshold” may simply be more marketing, this time employing brand loyalty. The “Levi’s” of church growth, if you will.

See Part II

This (MP3) is funny because, well, it’s funny but also it makes me wonder why it hasn’t been done you when we have these and these?

Yup, read it here:
Say “Narnia,” Collect $1000
12/5/2005
posted by Philip Ryken

Sunday’s Philadelphia Inquirer reports that Walt Disney Pictures is offering a free trip to London and a thousand dollars in cash to the winner of its promotional sermon contest. To qualify, a sermon has to mention Disney’s new Narnia film. So welcome to a new medium of marketing: the sermo-mercial. It would seem that something more than Aslan is on the move. I wonder: Would mentioning the film while decrying the absurdity of the promotion qualify one’s sermon for the contest?

To which I respond:

But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money! You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart is not right before God. Repent, therefore, of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, if possible, the intent of your heart may be forgiven you. For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity.” – Acts 8:20-23

And that is why it is called simony.

Way back in the mid ’90s (remember that far back? Were you born yet?) there was a magical place on the Internet (yes Virginia, we had the internet back then but it was in black and white) called NetRadio.com. They streamed music back before there were iPods and Podcasts. The cool thing was that you could tweak the station you were listening to. You’d pick the genre and then fine tune it by rating songs and artists. They’d adjust the mix according to your preference. I loved it. Alas, it was a victim of the DotCom Bust at the end of the Clinton era. NetRadio closed down.I just checked, it seems to be back. I haven’t listened yet.

Well, I just came across a new website called Pandora which resurrects that format! You start by giving the site a song or artist name and it grabs music similiar to that and starts streaming it to you. You can then turn down music you don’t like and add artists you do. For example, I started with Derek Webb and eventually was fed Dolly Parton. Big thumbs down on Dolly but when Goo Goo Dolls showed up, they got a thumbs up. I then added Coldplay and Nickel Creek.

This is how radio should be. We don’t need to be fed the music the labels decided we’d like, we should be able to pick and choose. Even those stations that have turned up lately with claims that they play “whatever they want” are full of it. All I ever hear on those stations is the same tired old crap they’ve worn grooves into CDs playing over and over because their corporate bosses decided we should like this band. All they do is play them in a different mix. Big deal. Just because they tell me every 25 minutes that they have a “wider variety” doesn’t make it so. My tastes cross station format lines and now I have a way to indulge them.

At the same time, I don’t mind being exposed to new music. This kind of format works for me because I can mix it the way I want to and they can still sneak in indie artists and new music. What isn’t to love? Thank you Pandora radio!

The 60 Second Trip is one of the coolest “tricking your eyes” thingies I’ve ever seen! Read and follow the instructions and be prepared to freak out.

(HT: FutureFeeder)

I’ve been thinking and reflecting on Christian worship lately. I remembered a quote I posted a while ago and just some other readings and things have kept coming up. Anyway, it was quite timely when Bob Kauflin, the Director of Worship Development for Sovereign Grace Ministries, a Reformed Charismatic church planting organization whom I have a lot of respect for, began blogging on Idolatry on Sunday Mornings (part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5).

Bob makes some excellent observations such as “idolatry can be active in my heart even as I’m outwardly worshipping God. That’s a sobering thought. Whenever I think I can’t worship God unless ‘X’ is present, I’m making a profound statement. If ‘X’ is anything other than Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, I’ve moved into idolatrous territory.” After some great comments on tradition he says, “The complementary idols of familiarity and comfort are often revealed in the words, ‘We’ve never done it that way before.'”I recall JI Packer saying something positive about tradition in Knowing God but I don’t have access to a copy at the moment. It would be interesting to compair the two (Packer and Kauflin) to see how these two godly men approach the question of tradition. This is certinally a trap we can fall in to. “What do you mean we’re doing Communion before the message?”

At the same time, Kauflin is fair and spread the warning all around, “Creativity is never our goal in worshipping God. It’s simply a means to the end of displaying and seeing the glory of Christ more clearly.” Amen. Just because we have PowerPoint and we can use it, should we? Technology (just to pick on a specific issue) has a way of inviting itself into places that it may not actually help. While words projected onto a screen may keep the congregations heads up and the voices going forward instead of into a book or the floor, hymnals are helpful because they have the music printed. Some people (a declining number I fear) can actually read music and may be able to sing parts. I’m not saying that one or the other is best, but we need to make sure that, as Kauflin said, we’re not doing it just because it is new.

I’m looking forward to the rest of the series. I think it will be very helpful and I’m so glad that it is coming from someone who is involved in leading music. Those who can, do. Those who can’t, criticize. I’d like to hear a person who can, criticize.

I think it may be a vanity for us to believe that in heaven our bodies will be perfect, without defect or blemish. Clearly our souls will be but I’m not so sure about our bodies. I think the idea of a “glorified hairline” or “glorified thighs” meaning a full head of hair and slim, cellulite-less thighs is more a reflection of America’s distorted body image rather than a hope of heaven.

When we are in heaven we will be trophies of this immense grace. We will be treasures in God’s storehouse gained from his great conquest. We will not be hollow trophies easily won.

Abel’s blood still cries from the ground (Heb 11:4); will that end when his body is resurrected? I think Abel will be in heaven bearing the marks by which his brother murdered him. Job’s body will still have the pockmarks from the disease that ravaged it. John the Baptist’s head will be attached but I bet we’ll see the scar where Herod had it removed. James, John’s brother will bear the marks of Herod’s sword (Acts 12:2). Paul’s back will bear the marks of his five beatings (2Co 11:24) as well as the thorn in his flesh.

Why? Why would God allow these signs of suffering and pain to abide in heaven? Take a look at the last one I listed above: Paul’s thorn in the flesh. We don’t know what it wasSome theorize that it may have been a problem with his eyes because of his comment to the Galatians, “You know it was because of a bodily ailment that I preached the gospel to you at first, and though my condition was a trial to you, you did not scorn or despise me… For I testify to you that, if possible, you would have gouged out your eyes and given them to me” (Gal 4:13-14, 15b) and “See with what large letters I am writing to you with my own hand” (Gal 6:11). For what its worth, this is possible but it could be that this particular eyesight problem was a temportary condition as a result of his being stoned in Acts 14. but the point is that God did not remove it, instead the thorn was a means of grace to Paul. God told him “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Should that emblem of grace be taken away from Paul in glory? Rather, I think that in heaven Paul might be able to point to it and say “You see this? God gave me this to weaken me so that his grace might be shown to be magnificent! Isn’t He kind to let me show his glory?” The same thing might be said of all of God’s saints who have suffered while under God’s sovereign care.

The doctrine of the preservation of the saintsThe phrase “perseverance of the saints”, in our modern context, makes it sound like something we do. It originally meant something very different. I’d rather save the meaning than the archaic language and so I change the term to “preservation”. is all about God and none of us. John Piper said that, “there are no mirrors in heaven, heaven is not a hall of mirrors” and my wife says “there are no high fives in heaven.” It isn’t about us getting there, it is about God’s grace and glory and justice. To have Job stand in heaven perfectly healed and his potshard-scraped skin spotless would be amazing. But to see Job in heaven, whole and healed with scars of his trial praising God for his mercy would, I think, even more allow God’s glory to shine through those scars.I’m not speaking of some gory, celestial horror movie. These saints are resurrected and healed. For example, John won’t have his head under his arm, carrying it like a basketball. He will be made whole but bear the marks of God’s grace.

The ultimate demonstration of this concept can be seen in the Risen Savior:

And he said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. – Luke 24:38-40

But [Thomas] said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.” Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” – John 20:25b-28

And one of the elders said to me, “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.” And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. – Rev 5:5-6

Jesus will bear the marks of his death for us, even till the end of time. They are marks of God’s tremendous grace to fallen man. When we are in heaven we will be trophies of this immense grace. We will be treasures in God’s storehouse gained from his great conquest. We will not be hollow trophies easily won. The pain and suffering and hurt that God overcame to save us will be present as a reminder of the great things he has done. Glory God and to the Lion of Judah, the Lamb who was slain.

A man can no more diminish God’s glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word “darkness” on the walls of his cell. But God wills our good, and our good is to love Him (with that responsive love proper to creatures) and to love Him we must know Him: and if we know Him, we shall in fact fall on our faces. —C. S. Lewis

As usual, Cartee writes with clarity and a passion for Jesus Christ. He discusses what grace is really all about.