The Burr in the Burgh

Clint Rainey is a journalism student at the University of Texas. His piece for Dallasnews.com on the inadequacy of megachurches is on the mark. He decries the Church Growthy lust for razzle-dazzle, all in the name of being "seeker sensitive." Mr. Rainey questions what the mega-churches are trying to attract seekers to. Certainly not religion. Certainly not doctrine. Certainly not objective truth. Certainly not Jesus. Rather than having seeker-sensitive buildings, services, programs, music, and kitsch, let's try being seeker-sensitive Christians he advises. There's a kernel of wisdom in that, yes?

I would add that instead of being seeker-sensitive, let's be genuinely warm, honest, welcoming Christian people who focus on the cross and, as a church, embody the Spirit of God. Then he who seeks, will have something worth finding.

I'll probably get in trouble for saying this and maybe it's just me, but in my experience (and I say this often), the Christians who yammer the most about reaching the lost and want to use every trendy gimmick to do it, those that belong to the Church-of-What's-Happenin-Now, are just not that nice. At least not to me. While the stodgy, stuffy, sticks-in-the-mud I like to hang out with are quite warm and genuine. At least I know what they think.

The point is that the mega-church movement, in addition to being impersonal, is shallow. A mile wide and a nanometer deep. Offering feel-good self-improvement with a glossy spiritual veneer. Mr. Rainey criticizes the boomer generation responsible for mega-church-mania, saying they seek after "stuff" and "things" when they come to church. It's a generalization, to be sure, but I think he's right. I hope Mr. Rainey is equally correct in his assessment of his own generation, one that is coming to church, insofar as it does come to church, looking for "meaning."

Oh, just read his article.