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This Little Church Went to Market: The Church in the Age of Entertainment

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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 this web site and 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.

From the Blog of Paul Apple
[...]

Gary Gilley does what many would consider to be very un-Christian: He names names and points the finger at those who are leading the market-driven church growth movement of today. But how else can one contend for the faith and warn the naïve and the undiscerning except by calling a spade a spade? He takes issue specifically with Bill Hybels and Rick Warren. The sad thing is that many pastors are uncritically embracing some of their methodology and philosophy of ministry without understanding its foundation and its ultimate effect on Christianity.

The most successful arm of the evangelical church in recent years, in terms of growth, money and prestige, has been the market-driven (seeker-sensitive, new paradigm, user-friendly) church. Because of this success these churches are being mimicked all over the country, and indeed, the world. But is this church fully dressed? Is she outfitted in the biblically prescribed robes of evangelism, edification, worship and instruction? Or, is she wrapped in rags composed of empty human philosophy stitched together with bits and pieces of truth? If the latter is true, why have so few seemed to notice? It is the intent of this book to attempt to answer some of these questions.

Gary is careful not to throw the baby out with the bath water when examining the modern market-driven church growth movement. The leaders are reacting against some common weaknesses in evangelical church culture ... but the problem is that they swing the pendulum too far the other direction in seeking correction:
We will say up front that the church growth experts have gotten some things right. They are calling for excellence rather than shabbiness; aggressive evangelism rather than indifference; direction and purpose rather than aimlessness; innovation and creativity rather than traditionalism at any cost; dedication rather than slothfulness. In all of these things we commend them. On the other hand, . . . they have over corrected in important areas. These areas demand careful probing and biblical realignment. (p.16)

Here are some specific tests you could apply to pastoral leadership to determine where they stand in this pivotal paradigm transition:

- Are the church services geared towards drawing in the unsaved, unchurched or towards the edification of the believers to equip them to do the work of the ministry?

- Does the church place a high priority on the communication of doctrine and the authoritative proclamation of the Word of God or is doctrine looked down on as outdated and out of touch and experience made the ultimate goal - without requiring biblical roots to that experience?

- Are the leaders more inclined to turn to demographic studies and sophisticated marketing techniques to fill the pews than to the model of the early church in the Book of Acts and the Epistles?

- Are the leaders enamored with the "eight characteristics of growing churches" as developed by Christian A. Schwarz (p.19) - "empowering leadership, gift-oriented ministry, passionate spirituality, functional structures, inspiring worship, holistic small groups, need-oriented evangelism and loving relationships"? His research documented that "these principles work in any type of church anywhere in the world" - begging the question of how impressed should we really be if doctrinal integrity and the power of the Holy Spirit are not required ingredients?

- Has an inspiring encounter with God in the worship experience and "fun" replaced holiness and a transformed life as the goal?

- Do the leaders buy into the unbiblical strategy that "to win the world to Christ we must first win the world's favor? If we can get the world to like us, they will embrace our Savior?" (quoting John MacArthur - p. 19) How much effort did Christ and the apostles expend in modifying their approach to get the world to like them?

- Are the elements of the worship service (singing, praise time, etc.) more performance-oriented or sincere expressions of spiritual service?

- Is the focus on glorifying God or making sure the worship participants have a fulfilling and enjoyable experience?

- Are the sermons a true contextual and exegetical exposition of God's truth (applied to the life of the preacher and then to his audience) or more of an emotional appeal to serve the interests of the felt needs of the people?

- Does the music ministry reflect a depth of truth or a shallowness of emotional repetition?

- Entertainment or Submission to God? -- "The problem is that the main business of entertainment is to please the crowd, but the main purpose of authentic Christianity is to please the Lord. Both the Bible and history have repeatedly shown that it is seldom possible to do both at the same time, for very long." (p.31)

- Are the people growing in their discernment (ability to analyze ideas and differentiate truth from error) or do they readily accept the minimalistic content that is presented?
"Christianity is designed by God to be a `thinking faith.'" (p.32)

- Is the gospel message Christ died to meet the felt needs of people or is it much more involved and God-oriented than that? (p.36)
"If we are to reach this generation we must then `market' the gospel as something
that works (i.e., relieves pain and provides happiness, fulfilment and good self-
esteem)." (p.39)

- Is the focus on delivering people from their sin and rebellion against a holy God or offering them happiness and fulfillment - irregardless of whether or not they truly understand or respond in repentance to the Lordship of Christ?
"A closer look at Jesus' evangelism shows that he always quickly got to the heart
of the real need of his audience - their sin which separated them from God (e.g.
John 3:4; Mark 10:17-31) - in contrast to loneliness, poor self-esteem, lack of
fulfilment." (p. 48)

- Is there rock solid confidence in the sufficiency of Scriptures for life and godliness or a need to supplement the Scriptures with "truth" mined from psychology or other secular realms? What then becomes the basis for determining what is truth? (p. 54)

- Is there such a clamor for "relevant" teaching and building of "self-esteem" that psychology is substituted for theological insights that don't have as immediate a connection to our felt needs?
"Even the language of theology has been replaced by the vocabulary of the
therapeutic." (p. 63)

- Is the gospel message itself being changed to be made more palatable for the sincere seeking Harry?
"Harry is being told that he is so valuable to God that he sent his Son to die for
him. This is, in effect, a denial of grace, whereby God grants us undeserved
favour. Harry is also being told that if he will come to Christ, Christ will meet all
of his felt needs and that will lead to personal fulfillment." (p.68)

- This movement denies the biblical doctrine of Total Depravity - they view Harry as a sincere seeker after God who may have been turned off by the non-relevant forms of current church life but can be attracted to God if he can be entertained and not offended.

* * * * * * * * * *

Those are some of the key differentiating questions. The first thing to determine is whether Gilley has accurately represented the ministries of Hybels and Warren. Are these observations faithful expressions of the ministry direction and philosophy at Willow Creek Community Church and Saddleback Community Church? From all that I have read I am convinced on this point. Then one must ask why would anyone be attracted to imitate any of their practices rather than be repulsed by the direction of the shepherding. 1 Corinthians 3 makes it plain that we must be careful what examples we follow and how we build on the foundation laid by the Lord Jesus. The above changes strike me as significant deviations from the NT model. I hope this review encourages you to read the book in full and interact with these issues.

"I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry." (2 Timothy 4:1-5)

From the Blog of Paul Apple
[...]

I have greatly enjoyed reading Gary Gilley's book THIS LITTLE CHURCH WENT TO MARKET: IS THE MODERN CHURCH REACHING OUT OR SELLING OUT?. Having been a big reader of Charles Spugeon and John MacArthur, I have seen the problems with the modern church through their writing for quite some time and how we need to return to the authority of the Bible alone and not the fads of our time. This book by Gilley is another cry in their tradition.

In this book Gilley takes on the entire Church Growth movement of Rick Warren, Bill Hybels, C. Peter Wagner, and George Barna. He does a graceful job of presenting both the weaknesses and the postives that Christians can learn from these men. Gilley doesn't question their hearts or motives but rather he simply calls the Church to base everything on the teachings of Scripture and nothing else.

The book reveals who modern evangelicals are moving away from sound doctrine (1 Timothy 4:16; Titus 2:1) for experience or for a more pragmatic approach to ministry and life. He doesn't just pick fights with the Church Growth "experts" but he goes directly to the Scriptures to show what God has to say about the issues at hand. His book is filled with the extensive end notes with many coming directly from quotes of popular Church Growth authors and teachers.

I highly recommend this book for all disciples of Jesus (John 8:31-32). I believe Gilley is a voice crying in the wilderness. We need more men willing to stand up for truth in the midst of our intolerant age of tolerance.

As a seeker looks upon the recent track record of the church, they may have the perception that the church has never been more relevant than ever before. Churches are growing to incredible proportions, religious paraphernalia is sold in droves and people are having experiences that amaze them at a personal level unprecedented in modern times. In "This Little Church Went to Market" Gary Gilley asks a very pointed question on the front cover of the book. Is the modern church reaching out or selling out?

The model churches he uses to answer this question are two of the largest new-paradigm churches in the USA, Saddleback Church and Willow Creek, and they are used not only for their errant display of a gospel not found in the Bible but also because many churches seek to emulate their practices to bring in visitors with a message that Jesus will fulfill whatever felt need you may have. If the leadership of these churches had not actively sought to be the authority in such matters, this angle would have come across negatively, but since they are actively trying to reproduce their ways across the landscape of the church they are fair game.

Gilley sets the tone right off the bat as he discusses the American craving for entertainment over substantive truth, amusement over serious thought. Using many examples on our culture, he shows that this is true in many forums. Sesame Street, for example, has altered the way schools instruct students because these students expect to be entertained if their attention is to be maintained. In a similar manner, many churches have responded to the cultural demand to not be subjected to boredom by livening up their services. While no church should take steps to put people to sleep, we have no business removing the true excitement of the gospel from our services.

The market-driven philosophy chapter begins where the entertainment chapter leaves off by displaying the inevitable results of our idolatry to entertainment. As long as the consumer is king and as long as that consumer is the unbeliever who may be uncomfortable sitting through a exposition of the word, churches that seek to follow in the footsteps of the new-paradigm churches will avoid anything that reveals the discomfort of their target audience. Just as any business wanting to be successful will seek out new products to sell, the church seeks to conform to the wishes of the culture. As I look out at the events that have embarrassed the church in recent years, this practice has caused much ridicule, second only to rogue "pastors" who try to assume the roles of elected leaders.

As Gilley discussed the shift from theology to philosophy, he pointed out some general resumptions of philosophy that do not agree with the Bible. Included among these are the concept that man is either inherently good and that we are victims of our environments rather than sinners. As churches seek to fill roles not granted her by God, we will lose sight of the gospel, making it into whatever the felt needs of the visitor may be. God does promise to be the father to the fatherless and the protector to the widow (Psalm 68:5), but the comforts of God are not to be the reasons one turns to Him. We are to turn to Him as sinners in need of forgiveness and the righteousness of God. Faith and repentance is what is promised, not fulfillment and self-esteem.

As I have come to expect of Gilley through his newsletter, Think on These Things, he does not waste any time delving into the heart of the matter nor does he mince words. Like a doctor, he diagnoses the issues facing the new-paradigm methods and the message that results. He then takes the rest of the book to explain the implications of this progression and prescribes a method of treatment (Luke 5:31-32) from the infallible words of the Bible.

This book is not meant to be the definitive book on how to "do church" but serves a warning to anyone who is seeking a church for their own defined needs to be met. I highly recommend this book, perhaps to be read in conjunction with The Deliberate Church or as a counter point to The Purpose Driven Church.

Pastor Gilley takes a hard look at the modern church-growth movement and comes away with a shocking truth: The "seeker-sensitive" approach to doing church involves subtly changing the gospel message until it no longer *is* the gospel, but still *sounds* like it.

Anyone faced with Rick Warren's "Purpose-Driven Life" or "Purpose-Driven Church" should read Gilley's chapter, "The Gospel According to Warren."

One complaint is that all of the material in this book is taken, verbatim, from his monthly newsletters, all of which are available for reading online. If you need to have paper in hand, get the book, but you'll get more content from his web site.

The chapter on psychology seems a bit harsh, and doesn't square with my experience. Maybe my therapist was the only one to approach things from a more Biblical view, but I doubt it. Instead of discussing the past in order to cast blame and avoid responsibility, as Gilley maintains, the purpose of examining the past is in order to understand why certain situations lead to disproportionate emotional responses and how to handle the emotional response. It is, in essence, taking charge of emotions because the responsibility for the actions we take is squarely on our own shoulders.

There are numerous formatting issues, even with the updated version, mostly dealing with block quotes. Several times, "emphasis mine" is included after a quote when there is no emphasis in the quote. These mistakes can make it a little harder to read.

That said, this book is a must read if your church is looking to grow using the Saddleback or Willow Creek materials.

One of the best complete discussions of the Contemporary Church movement a la Rick Warren/Saddleback, and Bill Hybels/Willow Creek.

This book excellently portrays how the Gospel is being changed into a "different gospel" in order to be appealing. Clearly, a great shift is happening in churches today toward a man-centered philosophy. Easy read for the serious Believer.

Gary Gilley is a student of worship and the direction, or mis-direction, that many churches are taking today. If you are serious about worship and are not afraid to take a Biblical look at the current trends of the "contemporary" church, then you should definitly read this book. Be ready for an eye opening experience.

Gilley does a fine job of showing us how the contemporary churches have lost their focus and no longer understand their true calling.

Still in the process of reading the book...but it clearly outlines how churches sell out to the world...while compromising God's way.