Consumer Christianity

The term "consumer Christianity" isn't found in Scripture, but it accurately describes a mindset where the believer approaches God, and the church, mainly as a consumer, rather than as a true disciple of Christ.

Ever since WWII, consumerism in America has grown and grown. People wanted new, better or different products and businesses went to work trying to provide them.

Combine that with “church-growth marketing strategies” that have been around for the last few decades and the result is that churches started competing for attendees the same way businesses compete for customers.

What do you think Consumer Christianity looks like?

Basically consumer Christianity asks: "What can God and the church do for me?"

The opposite would be “Biblical Christianity” which asks: "How can I glorify God?"

Those two questions produce two completely different kinds of believers.

Consumer Christianity sort of turns Jesus into a means to an end:

Jesus helps my marriage. Jesus helps my finances. Jesus helps my anxiety. Jesus helps me succeed. Jesus gives me purpose.

Those things may happen—but they become the goal instead of Jesus Christ Himself.

Jesus becomes useful, rather than Lord. He becomes someone good to know in a pinch, rather than the Almighty King.

Consumer Christianity Changed the Church

1. Church became a product being sold, rather than a place for spiritual growth.

Churches started asking: What attracts people? What keeps customers? How can we get visitors to return?

The “seeker friendly” movement that started in the late 1960’s and continued to gain appeal through the 70’s, 80’s, 90’s and even into the early 2000’s weakened the Christian Church, and directly contributed to the consumer Christianity we see today.

Willow Creek Community Church- Bill Hybels, and Saddleback Church with Rick Warren were great examples the rest of the country began to model themselves after.

Core Philosophy of Seeker Friendly Churches

The movement asked questions like: "What keeps unchurched people from coming to church?" "How can we remove those barriers?" And, "How can we communicate the gospel in language that people understand?"

Even though some of those goals are commendable, in some churches, the desire to remove all the barriers eventually led to removing or minimizing biblical truths just because they made people uncomfortable.

Common Characteristics

Many seeker-friendly churches featured...Contemporary worship music, Casual dress, Drama, videos, and multimedia, Practical, application-focused sermons, Shorter services, Coffee shops and welcoming lobbies, Children's ministries designed to appeal to young families, Messages emphasizing relevance and everyday life.

Again, none of those elements are inherently wrong. But what they deemphasized that caused the problems were things like: Sin and repentance, Self-denial, The cost of discipleship, Church discipline, Holiness, Sound doctrinal teaching, and God's wrath and judgment.

Connection to Consumer Christianity

The seeker friendly movement is where churches started determining success by things like attendance, offerings of a multitude of choices for where, when and how to worship.

This encouraged people to think of church as a place that exists to meet their preferences, rather than as a community where believers are called to worship God, submit to His Word, and be transformed into the likeness of Christ.

The churches quit asking, “What pleases Jesus? What makes disciples? What produces holiness?”

Marketing in and of itself is not sinful. But, when when attracting people becomes more important than transforming people, something has gone awry.

2. Worship became more of a venue of entertainment.

People walked away from church thinking they liked today’s worship, or they didn’t. They do thinks like judging worship by the style of music, it was too rocky, too slow, to many hymns, too many words in the songs, or things like that.

They based their feelings of the service by whether they were emotionally moved or not.

People end up leaving a church because they weren’t “fed” for two weeks in a row.

They look for an need hype and emotion in order to be satisfied with their church experience.

Real biblical worship though is about God’s worth, not our preferences.

3. The church became a service provider.

Members became customers rather than disciples. Pastors become employees instead of shepherds.

For some the church became more about childcare, counseling, concerts, coffee, programs...

Rather than a place for equipping saints, making disciples, bearing burdens, and serving Christ together.

4. Commitment declined.

Consumer culture teaches: "If something better comes along, switch." People like the latest and greatest. When we started this church 17 years ago, i advertised that a new church was coming to town for a couple of months before we opened the doors and we got exactly those kinds of people in the first few months! We were the latest iPhone!

That attitude “if i don’t like it I’ll switch became part of church culture. People church shopped based on what fed their flesh instead of yielding to God planting themselves where HE wanted them.

Because of this, we ended up seeing things like, people church hopping frequently over relatively minor preferences, very little accountability, sporadic attendance, very low involvement and a reluctance to commit to serving.

5. Unfortunately, church success became measured by crowds.

Instead of measuring: holiness, discipleship, obedience and transformed lives a lot of churches began emphasizing: attendance, bigger budgets, nicer buildings, interactive social media and the rise of celebrity pastors became the norm.

Yet Jesus often did the opposite. When crowds grew for the wrong reasons, He taught hard truths that caused many to leave (John 6:60–66

John 6:60–66 KJV 1900

Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is an hard saying; who can hear it? When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, Doth this offend you? What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before? It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him. And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father. From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.

Behaviors That Reveal Consumer Christianity

"What's in it for me?"

Does this church meet MY needs? Do I like the music? Do I like the preacher? Do I enjoy the children's program?

Those questions matter, but if they are the main reason you attend a church, consumer thinking may be present.

People attend, but rarely serve.

"I come to receive." "I don't have time to help." “It’s not what I want to do for service.”

The New Testament tells us that every believer has a function in the body of Christ. And supporting one another is a huge part of that. I was very disappointed in the attendance of this group for the Financial Class we put on. The right thing to do was for very person to show up and hopefully bring somebody!

Some are good at making suggestions of what we should do to reach people, but they are usually things they will be done entirely by other people and not them.

Consumer Christianity causes people leave when challenged.

This is when people prefer encouragement over conviction.

True disciples sometimes leave church uncomfortable because the Holy Spirit has exposed something that needs changing.

We had someone leave the church and their whole family went with them because she finally got her husband to come and he got offended because I said I would not partake of “Rated R” horror movies as a Christian.

People leave because I correct them or speak against their sacred cow. Patricia Hansen left because I asked her to wait a couple months for her 12 year old daughter to move up to the young men’s group.

Consumer Christians avoid costly obedience.

Examples:

"I know God says forgive…but…"

"I know Scripture teaches that…but…"

"I'll obey the scriptures, as long as it's convenient."

Consumer Christians only pursue God when they need something.

Prayer becomes:

crisis management

asking only for blessings

asking only for protection

instead of

communion

worship

confession

thanksgiving ggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggg

My faith is mostly Sunday morning.

Little interest in:

daily Scripture

prayer

holiness

evangelism

serving others

I consume Christian content instead of practicing Christianity.

Hours of:

podcasts

sermons

YouTube

books

but little actual obedience.

James warned against being hearers only (James 1:22).

I become easily offended.

Consumers expect excellent service.

Disciples expect opportunities to forgive.

I measure church by comfort.

Examples:

parking

music volume

coffee

temperature

length of service

instead of asking,

"Did God's Word transform me?"

Signs Consumer Christianity May Be Creeping Into My Heart

Ask yourself:

Is my Bible opened only on Sundays?

Do I seek God's presence or only His provision?

Am I disappointed when worship doesn't entertain me?

Do I obey only when obedience benefits me?

Would I still follow Christ if life became harder?

Do I love Jesus—or just His blessings?

Am I more committed to my comfort than His kingdom?

Do I evaluate sermons by whether they challenged me to obey, or merely whether I enjoyed them?

Biblical Christianity Looks Very Different

Jesus never invited people merely to "accept Him."

He invited them to:

deny themselves

take up their cross

follow Him

(See Matthew 16:24.)

The apostles consistently emphasized surrender, perseverance, and holiness—not comfort or convenience.

Evidence of Genuine Hunger for God

A love for God's Word

Not simply reading it.

Studying it.

Meditating on it.

Wanting to obey it.

"I delight to do thy will..." (Psalm 40:8).

Daily communion with God

Not merely emergency prayer.

Regular prayer because fellowship with God is desired.

Immediate obedience

Instead of asking,

"Do I have to?"

the heart asks,

"How can I obey?"

Jesus said,

"If ye love me, keep my commandments."

(John 14:15)

Repentance becomes normal

True believers are grieved by sin.

They confess quickly.

They don't excuse it.

Serving becomes joyful

Rather than asking,

"What ministry serves me?"

they ask,

"Where can I serve?"

A growing hatred for sin

Not merely fear of consequences.

A genuine desire to please God.

Loving difficult people

Evidence of God's work is shown when believers forgive, bless enemies, and seek peace.

Faithfulness when nobody notices

The consumer wants recognition.

The disciple wants God's approval.

Desire for holiness

Holiness isn't viewed as legalism.

It's viewed as becoming more like Christ.

Love for the brethren

The New Testament repeatedly teaches that genuine love for fellow believers is evidence of new life.

Passion for making disciples

A sincere believer naturally wants others to know Christ.

Evangelism becomes an overflow rather than an obligation.

The Greatest Difference

Perhaps the clearest distinction can be summarized like this:

Consumer Christianity- What can God do for me? Comfort, Convenience, Entertainment , Rights. Preference, Feelings, Church attendance, Jesus as Helper,

Biblical Christianity- How can I glorify God?, Cross-bearing, Commitment, Worship, Serving, Surrender, Obedience, Faithfulness, Daily discipleship, Jesus as Lord

A Final Test

One of the clearest tests comes from Jesus' own words. When many followed Him for miracles and bread, He confronted their motives rather than celebrating the crowds (John 6). After His hard teaching, "many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him" (John 6:66). Jesus did not soften His message to keep them. Instead, He turned to the Twelve and asked if they also would leave. Simon Peter answered with the heart of true faith:

"Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life." (John 6:68, KJV)

That is the opposite of consumer Christianity. The consumer follows Christ as long as He meets expectations. The true disciple follows Christ because there is nowhere else to go—He Himself is the treasure.

Compare all that to true Christian faith...

True Christianity is when the believer remains hungry for the things of God. It’s when you know that God is your source of life and you ask of Him, seek Him, & consistently knock on His door.

True Christians love to spend time with God and His people. Long before I stepped into Pastoral ministy, I pursued God on a daily basis. I would purposely get up an hour or two before i neede dto get ready for work so i could read and pray and study God’s word. I wanted to be able to defend what i said i beelived and even more i wanted to hear from God Himself.

God speaks to His people through the Bible and through other men and women of God. Regardless of whether my friends were going to be at church i would go. It didn;t matter one bit. I was not going for them, i was going to meet with God and hear from Him.