Why are megachurches going open and affirming?

The Seeker-Sensitive Model and Why Megachurches Drift Open and Affirming

There has been a lot of talk the past few weeks about Andy Stanley's North Point Church and how they are becoming affirming towards homosexuals and children who want to become trans. So why are seeker-friendly megachurches going in this open and affirming direction?

It's been reported that they even have ministries specifically designed to teach parents how to affirm children's decisions to pursue this lifestyle. And now there's also talk about how Rick Warren's Saddleback Church is basically on the same road and they're taking an open and inclusive stance towards the so-called LGBTQ lifestyle.

So this is one of the stories in Christian news right now and we have to ask the question why are these seeker-sensitive megachurches going in this direction? A lot of people are trying to figure that out.

Well, I think the answer is very simple. Why are the seeker-sensitive megachurches going in this direction? It's because they are seeker-sensitive. What is that? The seeker-sensitive approach tries to reach out to the unsaved person.

This has been the philosophy now in many churches for the past 40 years. But the seeker-sensitive model tries to reach out to the unsaved person by making the church experience as comfortable, inviting, and non-threatening to him as possible.

So this has been described as church for those who don't like church. And the idea, the concept, is to get as many unsaved people through the door as possible. The church leadership, they are willing to use nearly any means to accomplish that goal.

There is one large church that came into the area, not Greenfield, but it came into this area a few years ago and they were playing just secular music, not even changing the lyrics, just secular 1960s rock, and they were giving away a new mountain bike.

If you come to Easter service, you can get in the raffle for a new mountain bike and just any means possible to bring people through the front door. And for many of these churches, the seeker-sensitive model, church worship for them has become little more than a rock concert followed by a motivational speaker.

The Gospel Is Lost When Church Becomes Comfortable and Non-Threatening

So if these people who are coming in the front door, you have to understand, if they're not being drawn by the Holy Spirit, if there's no recognition that they have sinned against a holy and just God, if they don't recognize the bad news that they're lost, if they don't understand the bad news, they're probably not going to understand their need for the good news of the gospel.

So Christianity then, once you accept that seeker-sensitive megachurch model, out goes the hymns, out goes the doctrine, instead of a sermon, verse by verse through the Bible, it's more like a TED talk or something like that.

Once you create that environment, it becomes more like a social club or an event. Worship becomes more of an event where someone can feel inspired, or if I take part in this, maybe my luck will turn around and I can have my best life now.

So these seeker-friendly megachurches, instead of recognizing that the church is for the body of Christ to teach them the Word of God and to build them up in their holy faith, the emphasis is just on bringing lost people through the door, attracting the world.

What You Win Them With Is What You Win Them To

And what you win them with is what you win them to. 2 Timothy 4, 2 and 3 says, Paul said to Timothy, Preach the word, be ready in season and out of season, convince, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.

For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers, and they will turn their ears away from the truth, the Bible says, and be turned aside to fables.

Basically, these churches are telling people what they want to hear. Get them through the front door with rock and roll or whatever worldly method, and then once they're there, tell them what they want to hear.

That's why they're becoming open and affirming. Because they're trying to reach the world, and to reach the world, you have to cave to the world's... If you try to bring unbelievers in and then preach what the Bible says, they don't want that.

So why are the seeker-sensitive megachurches going in an open and affirming direction? Because that's where the world is, and they are being conformed to this world. They have abandoned the preaching and teaching of God's word, so of course this is going to happen.

They want to appeal to the culture, so the last thing they're going to do is to go against the grain. But biblical Christianity, because it is not of this world, will always go against the grain. You know, Satan is the god of this age.

Believers are called to come out of the world, not to conform to it. You say, so what should we do? What's the solution? Romans 12. Paul says, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to the Lord.

Holiness, Not Conformity to the World

What's the solution? Holiness. In the eyes of a lot of people, holiness is like legalism or something. No. Paul says to the church, be holy. God says, be holy, for I am holy. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.