Every ministry effort has its “Unintended Consequences.” As we innovate in our ministries, it’s vital we understand what they may be and minimize them from the outset. Here’s an “unintended consequence” from the “Seeker Sensitive” effort that now plagues many of our churches:
The Narcissistic Church
YouTube. MySpace. And, of course, iPod, iTunes, iMac, and iPhone.
If there is a theme to our day, it’s that “it’s all about me.” The techni
cal term is narcissism. In Greek mythology, Narcissus is the character who, upon passing his reflection in the water, becomes so enamored with himself that he devotes the rest of his life to his own reflection. From this we get our term “narcissism,” the preoccupation with self.
We follow a Savior who said, “I did not come to be served, but to serve;” “Whoever wants to be great among us, must become the slave of all;” and then bowed in submission to the Father Himself and said, “Not my will, but yours.”
Yet a spiritual narcissism has invaded our thinking where the individual needs and desires of the Believer become the center of attention.
Have you ever heard the way we talk?
“I want to go where I’m fed” or “I need to be ministered to” rolls off our tongues without even blushing. We walk out of a worship service and say, “I didn’t get anything out of it” as if worship was about what we received rather than what we gave to God.
And it’s killing the church, blinding our vision, paralyzing our mission, and muting our voice.
But is it simply a reflection of a narcissistic culture? Or could it be something we secretly feed ourselves?
Then it’s not about whether you are fed, but whether or not you have learned to feed yourself and, best of all, feed others.
Then it’s not about whether you are ministered to, but whether you are, yourself, a minister to others.
Then it’s not about whether you got anything out of the service, but whether you gave God anything of service.
And that is a church that has died to itself enough to….live.
The recent missional and discipleship efforts are responses to this narcissistic consequence. What “Unintended Consequences” might we experience from these new ministry efforts?
Quoted content from the Serious Times newsletter and other content from Ed Stetzer
Thanks dad…one of my favorite stories about Jesus is when he talked to the women at Jacob’s well. He was hungry and tired when he sat down, but after “feeding” the women there and ramping up in spirit to teach others coming at her word in Samaria, he says to the deciples when they arrive with food (paraphrased), “I’ve got food you don’t know anything about”. They were confused by it…like anyone would be. I think when we come to a point in our spiritual walk that we understand the inward thriving we can experience serving others…we are able to jump (or fly/mount up with wings) over a huge wall-self. Our needs seem to shrink away and the the reward is a special peace and contentment that takes it’s place. Who doesn’t want that? =o) Sign me up. Now to just be in the word enough to remember it. Thanks for the reminder and your thoughts.
Ann
Ann,
The Bible is full of mystery that confounds our logic. I think you hit on one that may impact our joy in life as much as any.
The last shall be first and the first last fits with the thought as well it seems.
Appreciate you,
Ed,
This kind of contemplation is, in and of itself, a lost art. We no longer take the time (because we, as a culture, don’t have margin in life) to think about the long-term. I have felt my church is way too busy to make sound decisions based on prolonged discussion and extended prayer. The end results are decisions that are more of a “trial and error” approach that can confuse both the newcomer and the veteran.
I wish more was taught on the value of intentionally putting margin back into life – financial, emotional, spiritual and schedule. My family has committed to more “holes” in our schedule for the past 5 years and it has made the difference in how simply we can live and consequently respond to what God has for us spontaneously.
Thanks for the good reminder to take the time to ponder the consequences.
Steve,
Good thought regarding margin space.
I read a book about that subject a few years back. It’s tough to actually discipline margin into your life. If your doing it you deserve an atta boy for sure! When I’ve been able to it does change things.
Sorry this comes so late in the conversation. This is something I’m thinking a lot about right now… Our church is very engaged in the missional/discipleship stuff — we meet primarily in homes and gather as a full group only a couple times a month. We’ve seen significant internal growth — lots of relationships have deepened, and that is encouraging. We’ve seen amazing “results” in terms of mission — our group of 40 odd folks is able to make investments (cash and time) that compare favorably to churches tens of times bigger than we are, and God shows up! But there are unintended consequences. One of the biggest is competition. We struggle to “compete” for time with our own busyness!
When you intentionally limit “program” so that people can have time to be and do stuff together, when you focus carefully on a small number of “missional” opportunities, you can see amazing depth. But we are in a busyness infected culture and we find that we now can say “yes” to lots of other “stuff.” Replacing church program with community program, kids sports, accepting invitations because we suddenly aren’t “busy” with church… Our elders are seeking more time to meet than once a month. Many of our members want to meet more frequently as a larger congregation. And God is challenging us to be sure we’re inviting others to share what we have — the trouble is that we don’t have a “seeker sensitive” option to invite them to! I think that the learning to say “no” (Ed’s more recent post) is crucial. And we have to find ways to “go and be” disciples when we don’t have a lot to invite them to “come and see.”
As always, thanks, Ed, for the prescient questions and comments.