This Little Church Went to Market: The Church in the Age of Modern Entertainment (Paperback)

by Gary Gilley (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
With many evangelical churches being subscribed to pragmatic rather than scriptural patterns for worship this book calls for the Church to return to its scriptural roots.

Product Details

• Paperback: 145 pages
• Publisher: Xulon Press (May 25, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1591600499
• ISBN-13: 978-1591600497
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.1 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #872,395 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

54 of 56 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If your church is starting a marketing effort, READ NOW., April 5, 2003

By	John Wicklund (Twin Cities, MN United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Simply an excellent work, practical and not a difficult read.

Mr. Gilley hits the nail on the head and if your church is all of sudden enamored with the philosophies of Rick Warren, Bill Hybels or Lee Strobel, spend the money and buy this book. Unfortunately, this book will not get this circulation it deserves.

The evangelical church of today is surrounding itself with man-centered philosophies and teachers that are presenting softened gospel-lite messages for itching ears. (2 Tim 4:3-5) Basically, the message of Mr. Gilley is that today's church is giving the unbelieving visitor a non-threatening environment where they can be entertained and fed pop psychology sprinkled with Christian terminology. Doctrines of holiness, judgment, and hell are never taught; only that God is love and wants to answer your selfish Jabez-like prayer for more and more worldly possessions.

Well, this heresy is resulting in the dumbing-down of Christians. Yes, there is nothing wrong with preaching of God's love and forgiveness; however, when other clearly taught doctrines are conveniently ignored because they would reduce attendance and cash inflows, we have the state of the modern megachurch in America today. (Mark 8:36??)

Mr. Gilley successfuly argues that music and entertainment are also killing the gospel message in the modern church. Too much of christian music today is nothing more than "7-11" songs.... seven words repeated eleven times over. We are attracting too many people to the entertainment and the true message gets watered down because the "cross is a hindrance to the unbeliever." (See 1 Cor 1)

I believe the marketing gurus in these churchs are probably sincere. Their plan is to spring the true gospel on these unchurched people after they have made them comfortable walking through the front door. But how often does this really occur? Only God knows.

Mr. Gilley argues that today's churches need to return to preaching the Gospel and praying that the Holy Spirit will stir and convict the unbeliever. The marketing philosophy removes the Spirit by emphasizing that music, entertainment and a non-threatening environment will cause them to make that decision.

Excellent work and should be read if your church is pushed to study the works of Rick Warren, Bill Hybels, etc.

God bless you in your studies.

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Highly Recommended!, December 8, 2004

By	Tim Challies (Oakville, Ontario) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Though I have never met him, Garry Gilley has had a signficant impact on my life. He was one of two people who was most influential in my decision to begin to review books. His many book reviews were very helpful to me and made me realize that if he could review books and post them on the web, I could too. I have long wanted to read his books and just recently was given a copy of This Little Church Went to Market.

This book is a damning indictment of the market-driven churches that are so popular today. Having extensively studied the issues Gilley writes about in this book, I am comfortable saying that this is the best introduction to "the church in the age of entertainment" that I have read. Gilley contends that the church has sold out to our culture so that the influences of the culture have become the influences in the church. The most significant forces pressing against the church are entertainment, market driven philosophies and psychology. These three are largely absent from the Bible, yet are startlingly prevalent in evangelical churches. The leaders and issues he concentrates on most are Rick Warren and his book The Purpose Driven Church, Bill Hybels and Lee Strobel.

Having discussed the forces that are impacting the church, the author spends several chapters examining how these forces have impacted evangelical churches. He quotes extensively throughout the book from other believers who have covered this topic such as John MacArthur, Os Guinness and Michael Horton as well as from unbelievers such as Neal Postman. Finally he concludes that churches built on seeker sensitive model will be built on the wrong foundation, will teach the wrong message, will focus on the wrong need and will misunderstand preaching and worship. In other words, these churches will bear little resemblance to a New Testament, Christian church.

Through this book Gilley manages to approach the topics in a rational manner and never comes across as being obnoxious or blinded to the heart of the issues. He truly does understand both the New Testament model and the new evangelical model and is able to adequately compare them. The back cover tells us that the book "is a call for the Church to return to its scriptural roots" and that is right on the mark. This book examines contemporay issues and calls the church to return to the source to discover what God would have us be. I highly recommend this one.

17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mark from Oz, November 4, 2004

By	M. Gilmour (Mount Martha, Vic Australia) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Down here in Australia the Market Growth driven church has started to take a foothold like many have found in the US. When Purpose Driven Life was rolled in our church followed by Willow Creek material, I couldn't help but notice something was wrong. Gary's Book "This little church went to market" put the finger on exactly what was wrong. For anyone concerned about biblical truth above Church numbers this is a book worth reading. Gary takes a Biblically based stand and shows where many of our megachurches have missed the mark.