5 Reasons We Are Outsourcing Our Faith
We are living in the age of outsourcing. We pay someone to change our oil, cook our food, care for our yard, clean our clothes and anything else we don’t want to do. And of course we’ve all read the news reports of companies outsourcing business needs to countries around the world.
It’s been years since I got under my car to change the oil.
My family eats out 20-25 of our 90 meals each month.
A company comes by my house monthly to put fertilizer and weed killer on my yard.
IS IT POSSIBLE WE ARE OUTSOURCING OUR FAITH?
We live in an extremely consumer-driven culture that tells us that the customer is number one. The customer is always right. I can have it my way. I deserve the best. This consumerism has crept into the church and turned church members into customers. The church exists to serve me and my family.
To meet my needs. To “feed” me spiritually. To provide relationships. To … entertain me (gulp).
How many people put their money into an offering plate with the thought that “I have done my part, now it’s up to the church staff (professional Christians) to take care of the rest.” I “pay” them to tell me what the Bible means, to organize programs for my kids, to run evangelism and outreach projects to reach non-believers … to ______________ fill in the blank with whatever product or service we think the church should provide.
Here are five reasons a business outsources and how we might be doing the same with our faith …
1. Cost Savings
It’s costs me time and energy to study the Bible, serve others and be a disciple. If the pastor will do the heavy lifting, then I can save some of this time and energy for other things I enjoy doing.
2. Focus on Core Business
The pastor’s core thing is ministry. Mine is work and caring for my family. It will work best if we both stick to our core business.
3. Improve Quality
I am not really qualified to do ministry. I haven’t been to seminary or Bible college and my knowledge of the Bible isn’t great. I should leave real ministry to the professionals.
4. Risk Management
Ministry is messy. To really get engaged in ministry could lead to rejection, heartache and additional work to my already busy life. I’d rather not risk it.
5. Tax Benefit
The most measurable way for me to minister is to give money. It’s trackable and the more I give, the more I can claim as a deductible to the IRS.
HOW DID WE GET HERE?
I feel for church leaders across the country. Culturally, much of our population is caught up in consumerism … so the tidal wave we’re fighting is huge.
Adding to that, I believe the predominant culture among churches over the past 20 years has driven towards church growth as the most prized statistic. As churches get bigger, programs get bigger and more staff is required. Once you have a person on staff, it’s good stewardship to make sure that they are productive. So more and more responsibility is laid on their shoulders. Before long, the church leader feels the pressure to “do it all” which essentially robs church members of their responsibility and opportunity to minister. Tragically, church programs can become more about feeding overfed people rather than equipping and launching people back into the world prepared to represent Christ in all we do.
So it’s a bit of the chicken and egg scenario. Did the church members drive church leaders to be more consumer focused? Or did church leaders create an environment where church members would feel comfortable outsourcing their faith to the professional Christians? Ultimately the source of the problem doesn’t matter. The question is how to turn things around?
HOW DO YOU AND I TURN THINGS AROUND?
There are no easy or quick solutions, but here are a few things I am encouraged by:
1. The recent economic plight of our country is helping people to evaluate their “consumer-driven” lifestyle. I believe God can use those circumstances to wake people up. We are reminded that our faith is about giving and serving … not taking and consuming.
2. There seems to be a lot of discussion among church leaders about the effectiveness of their programs. It’s encouraging hear so many leaders who are willing to look at sacred cow-type programs and ask hard questions. How many of our programs are effectively equipping people to live out their faith in the natural flow of life? How are we encouraging people to be salt and light at work, at school, in the PTA meeting, in the Board room? Shouldn’t we try to measure our programs by the impact we have beyond the walls of the church?
3. I think the “celebrity” voices in the church are really leading the charge towards a more outward-focused future. Matt Chandler, Francis Chan, Erwin McManus, Ed Stetzer, Andy Stanley, Mark Batterson, Rick and Kay Warren and many other Christian leaders are preaching and teaching a very Biblical and mission-centric message. By the way, I hate even using the word “celebrity” but unfortunately — part of our consumer culture says that it takes a “celebrity” to sell me a car, pair of shoes or even bring attention to a Biblical message.
I am hopeful. Like so many things … leadership is the key. We can help people trade in the pursuit of the American Dream (where the focus is on me) for a world that desperately needs Christ (where the focus is on Christ and others).
YOUR THOUGHTS …
- Why do you think people are outsourcing their faith?
- What is holding people back from feeling confident enough to minister beyond the walls of the church?
- What gives you hope that this ship could be turning?
I think consumerism is incredibly enticing and especially in the church. I also believe that there are many examples of churches that have realized this problem and have taken proactive steps to address it head on.
I appreciate the three trends that you list out here. I think another thing that we need to understand as the church is the sense of calling or mission that is given to every believer. Too many followers of Christ think that you have to be a preacher or singer to be used by God. Somehow there has been a disconnect with the idea that God has given all of us passions, skills and talents and we are to use them for His glory. And the crazy thing is that when we actually put our faith in action in this way – then we get blessed as well. We get blessed because we are used by God. We get blessed because we become a part of the solution. We get blessed because there is a sense of peace when we obey.
I truly believe that as you said, it starts with the leadership at the top. They get the ship sailing in the right direction. They cast the vision they’re received from God. Then it’s up to the church to follow that example.
“I believe the predominant culture among churches over the past 20 years has driven towards church growth as the most prized statistic.”
Isn’t this so true? But it’s tragic because numbers have nothing to do with whether “the church” is seeking a life of righteousness and holiness. It has nothing to do with whether they’ve been transformed by the gospel and are being sent out on mission to impact the world. Our measurement should rather be about who is becoming a fully devoted follower of Christ.
I’m hopeful that God will awaken the hearts of many churches who are trying to do it their way, and instead seek God’s will. Thank you for this post.
Thank you SO much for sharing your thoughts on this topic! You are so right – we need to step up and stop “outsourcing” our faith and start taking responsibility for it ourselves. We are living in a consumer driven world, and we have turned to the church to serve us in the same way. We need to step up to the plate and serve the church!
I agree and I think that the other problem we see is the lack of understanding and compassion that comes from this mentality. I think $25 is way too much to pay for an oil change, until I drive to the parts store, buy the needed parts and any tools I’m lacking then have to crawl under my car and spend 30 minutes getting dirty and ruining my t shirt. Only then I realize that $25 bucks is a good deal. When we outsource our faith the same thing is true. We give $25 in the offering and think that is some high price that you are paying to spread the gospel. If we aren’t willing to equip ourselves and risk getting dirty we won’t realize the cost that evangelism really has.
Hi Pastor
The sermon was great until the end.
What is the model for this alternative to outsourcing?
Not the plug for the”well known” ministers but what did He give to.you?
Please finish the sermon?
Wayne-
Thanks for the comment. My post wasn’t meant to be a sermon, but more observation and the beginning of a discussion. I would be interested in hearing others thoughts on the alternative for outsourcing. I don’t think the road to get there is easy … but I think it’s the solution is two-pronged. Leaders have to constantly equip and encourage people that they are “ministers” in their neighborhoods, at work … wherever. They are missionaries no matter their geography. And second I think individuals have to take the Bible seriously. Read scripture and discover the kind of obedience and sacrifice Jesus calls people to.
This is an excellent topic for discussion and it is needed. I do believe that the answer to the consumer driven church has already been identified and a movement in that direction has begun. It is a simple return to 1st century practices. People who are searching for a greater reality in their spiritual life are learning how the 1st century church operated and adopt perhaps not all but many of those principles. It kind of looks like small groups taken to extreme. Brian you’e right it is not easy to leave all the “stuff” behind but I believe that where I have witnessed this in action there is a greater level of involvment by all.
Brian-
I am have been examining the questions posed in your article for about 8 years now. I have had a running debate with my father about whether the church should be considered a business. As a former IMB missionary it is difficult for me to accept the idea that the church is a business. The literal meaning of the word Ekklesia is “the people called out by God”. However, our current understanding of church does not reflect that definition. Our church has more in common with Roman Catholism that has now morphed into the business model of our modern age. I am not trying to attack the church but just to state the facts.
If you ask the average person today what a church is they will point to a buiding, an organization, a pastor or programs. This is not the biblical definition of the word Ekklesia. We have traded the concept that we are all called out people of God and replaced it with the idea that it is something else. What would happen if persecution broke out against the church in America? Do you think the church would look much differently?
What if our current “models” of church and traditions are quenching God’s Spirit and creating a codependency that prohibits people from truly being dependent on Christ?
If you were to ask someone from the first century where they went to church, I’m pretty sure that they would look at you like you had 2 heads. That is because that they understood that they were the church. The people met of out necessity in order to spread the gospel and to minister to one another. They confessed sins to each other and they discussed what they were learning together. They were a people who would go and tell the good news rather than the come and see mentality that perverts our understanding of church today.
I share this with you because I have been passing through this fire over the past 8 years. There are many traditions and non biblical teachings that I God has been purging from me.
I am still connected to brothers and sisters in a more traditional church because I do believe we need one another. What I am finding is that more and more people want to transistion to different understanding of church because they are tired of being fed the same things over and over again. The definition of insanity is doing the same things over and over again and expecting different results.
I think that it is awesome that you are taking a hard look at problems within the church and taking action on those problems. Here is a link to an article that shows some more of the differences in mindsets.
http://www.ptmin.org/Neue.pdf
I would say an even bigger problem is that most parents are outsourcing the spiritual formation of their children to the church. They assume that if their child is involved in church youth group, choir, Awanas, Pioneers, Sunday school, sports, camps, etc. that that is enough. Yet most of those activities in most churches just boil down to so much churchotainment with a little bit of Six Flags Over Jesus thrown in. Research shows that those things have very little long term impact on kids with the vast majority ditching the church by age 25.
Out youth programs should instead be focused on mentoring/discipleship, providing help/materials/encouragement for the parents and a strong dose of ministry/service outside the church in inner city projects, homeless shelters, retirement homes, etc.
Hi, I’ve encountered (and have been part of) a church ministry that has just been an enormous blessing to me, as I was once a cynic of Christian churches because of the detached and sometimes downright inauthentic consumeristic spirituality, and this greatly discouraged me from being part of one. The church ministry I am part of is made up of college students where leaders act as ministers to a small congregation (of college students too). The elders/senior pastor is more of an adviser instead of being the one doing the bulk of the ministry himself (of course he has his own ministry). This leads to a multiplicative growth as the students are the one actively reaching out to their peers and witnessing Christ in their daily lives, and are growing together until they are strong enough to lead others and further reach other people. We have a problem however as students graduate, because of the pervasiveness of the mindset of what church IS in the real, professional world (which is viewed more as an institution, a program, an event). It just becomes so easy to simply earn money and go to a concert-like congregation to be fed and ministered to, instead of putting your heart and effort on the line for, well, people you love. So we are working it out as to how to be the hands and feet of Jesus in our community/spheres of influence in our own personal way.