Beyond Consumerism To Community
In an article in USA Today Phil Kenneson is quoted as saying, “Part of becoming a Christian is coming to see that what you thought you wanted deeply is not what you most wanted. It’s having your wants restrained. So it’s pretty hard to appeal to this old set of desires to get people in the door and then all of a sudden say, ‘You know we didn’t quite tell you the whole truth.’ Then people feel betrayed.”
What an interesting insight in light of the Community Church Of Joy’s (CCOJ) experience the past 7 years. My first experience there was 2003. It was a brutally hot day in the desert as I drove onto the CCOJ campus near Phoenix to attend their “Innovative Church Conference.” You couldn’t help but be impressed. Kids were playing outside a building that looked like Toys “R” Us, a stately bell tower lead into Joy Memorial Gardens, and the worship facility looked like a vibrant convention center. There was Joy Leadership Center, Kid’s Country, Oasis Counseling Center, Joy School, and Joy Youth Center. The vision of this 25 year old 13,000 member Lutheran church, the Willow Creek of the West, was to create a “mall” where all aspects of life were addressed.
I was even more impressed when I heard pastor Walt Kallestad speak
and found his passion to reach the lost and take risks for God compelling. So it surprised me to meet Kevin Ford, a consultant with the Transforming Church Institute, and learn he was working with the CCOJ staff that was stretched thin, fearful about the future, and no longer laughing together.
Kevin believes that CCOJ and many other churches are part of a dysfunctional human system. The churches look vibrant and healthy on the outside. But a look inside reveals people consuming the churches products without connecting to each other in meaningful relationships or engaging in the local community with the transforming power of the gospel. A “successful” church can offer outstanding programs and ministries, but if its members are not being transformed, it is not a healthy church. Willow Creeks research suggests a similar conclusion and atheist Matt Casper seemed to sense something was amiss as well when he asked. “Is this what Jesus told you guys to do?”
Since the 1970′s the consumer has moved into the center of our culture, Kevin suggests. Consumerism is the idea that personal happiness is equated with acquiring and consuming products-usually alone. We choose a shallow community based on our consumption. When our individual tastes and desires change so do our friends.
In his book Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business (1985), Neil Postman posits that television is the primary means of communication for our culture and it has the property of converting a culture’s conversations with itself into entertainment, so much so that public discourse on important issues has disappeared. The treatment of “serious issues (like faith)” as entertainment inherently prevents them from being treated as serious issues. The public is no longer aware of these issues in their original sense, but only as entertainment.
In his willingness to take risks for God, Walt Kallestad didn’t realize he risked falling into this consumer driven entertainment trap. A trap that was preventing the exploration of “faith” from becoming a serious journey of discovery for the congregation. And in turn preventing vital connections and a covenant community from developing throughout.“The drift from loving relationships was very slow, and I wasn’t really consciously aware of it,” Walt says. “Over time the business of church took precedence to developing real community and relationships.”
Kevin, who has since become a friend and partner in the CKN effort, further shares in his book Transforming Church : In Walt’s quest to rediscover the healthy heart of community, he came to understand that meeting individuals needs solely by creating excellent programs and products was doomed to fail. He came to believe that consumerism is the antithesis of covenant and creative community. Central to community is “we”; consumerism is “me”.
- Community requires being missional; consumerism demands internal satiation.
- Community shares responsibility greater than self; consumerism demands entitlement.
- Community expresses itself in service; consumerism feeds on endless hunger.
- Community leads to shared freedom; consumerism leads to singular addiction.
- Community actively creates; consumerism passively devours.
It’s sobering to now recognize how the consumerism mindset and “mall” oriented facility design only
accelerated this fall into isolation and despair at CCOJ as well as in culture in general. In fact, there wasn’t one new “enclosed mall” planned in the US as of January 2008 as designers have shifted their focus to community nurturing, multiple use, lifestyle centers.
Just what were we thinking? Remarkable isn’t it!
In part 3 of this series we’ll explore how evolving ministry and facility strategies can help move us to enduring “covenant community”.
Great thoughts – it is so vital that the church look at all they do as an investment, not an expense; discovering the ministry and marketing niche in the community and then contributing – not trying to control. I think I read something about sowing and reaping somewhere in a really cool old book. Seemed like the Author was totally into that system.
Your comments really resonated with me, since I feel most connected when I am actively participating. While helping at food pantry, just doing very simple tasks of bringing groceries to a car, a woman with very little worldly goods gave me a cross that she had made. I keep that plastic cross weaved with multi-colored yarn in my car and smile every time I see it. Her kindness made an impact on me. I need to be helping in some way and giving back, not just enjoying the entertainment for to God reach into my life.