Competing for souls.

A few thoughts on the marketization of evangelical churches.

Photo by Birmingham Museums Trust on Unsplash

In many ways, ecclesiology in the modern era could be identified by the popularization of theological bifurcation, in which religious groups are subdivided ad nauseam. The presence of this impulse among evangelically-minded denominations and congregations makes for an ecclesiological landscape that feels more like a marketplace than a mission field. As local church bodies form, each with its own denominational proclivities and evangelistic philosophies, the market becomes saturated with churches vying for the attention and devotion of the same neighborhoods, which, unfortunately, results in a competitive bias for one’s own community of faith. Insofar as these local churches understand their mission according to the inclination of ministry expansion, the biblical vision for the church is, at best, clouded, if not altogether lost.

Christ’s mission for his church was first announced to the apostles, who were told to “make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matt 28:19). While the notion of expansion is included in the Lord’s command to disciple “all nations,” as the history of the church is revealed through the Acts of the Apostles, the primary focus is not ecclesial growth, but doctrinal fidelity. Therefore, as the church growth movement began to permeate local congregations in the 1980s, new attitudes towards the church’s fundamental mission also began to emerge. The methodologies for growth quickly assimilated the commercial tendencies and practices of secular industries in order to attract newcomers. Accordingly, Jared C. Wilson has taken to labeling these particular organizations as “attractional” since “attraction” has replaced discipleship as “the primary mission” (25).

But whereas the church growth movement prioritized seeker sensitivity, churches with a healthy biblical orthodoxy understand that the methodology and theology of the gospel are uniquely intertwined. “Although Christians should want all men to be saved,” Owen Strachan writes, “we must never allow our missiology to rework our theology” (335). Tinkering with the methods often results in missional interference, if not outright modification. Consequently, biblical ecclesiology is rooted in the proliferation of God’s message of redemption through the ministry of God’s word and sacraments. While church growth experts bring human ingenuity to the forefront of ecclesial expansion, biblical missiology, by contrast, understands that it is “only God who gives the growth” (1 Cor. 3:6–7). The church’s mission, therefore, is fixed within the bounds of Scripture and cannot be improved by modern revisionism. Even as he blesses individuals with manifold gifts and offices “to equip the saints for the work of ministry” and to build up “the body of Christ” (Eph. 4:12), ecclesiological success remains God’s prerogative.

Works cited:

Owen Strachan, “The Holy Spirit and Salvation,” Historical Theology for the Church, edited by Jason G. Duesing and Nathan A. Finn (Nashville, TN: B&H Academic, 2021).

Jared C. Wilson, The Gospel-Driven Church: Uniting Church-Growth Dreams with the Metrics of Grace (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2019).