July 2007 Archives

It may take a crucified church to bring a crucified Christ before the eyes of the world. (W.E. Orchard in The Temple. Christianity Today, Vol. 34, no. 6.)

Paul Metzger has a book coming out in November called Consuming Jesus:

Many Americans think that race problems are a thing of the past because we no longer live under the Jim Crow laws that once sustained overt structures of segregation. Unfortunately, says Paul Metzger, today we live under an updated version of segregation, through the subtle power of unchallenged norms of consumer preference.

Consumerism affects and infects the church, reinforcing race and class divisions in society. Intentionally or unintentionally, many churches have set up structures of church growth that foster segregation, such as appealing to consumer appetites. Metzger here argues that the evangelical Christian church needs to admit this fault and intentionally move away from race, class, and consumer segregation.

Challenging the consumerism that fosters ethnic and economic divisions and distorts evangelical Christianity, Consuming Jesus puts forth a theologically grounded call to restructure the church's passions and practices, transforming the evangelical imagination around a nobler, all-consuming vision of the Christian faith.

The publisher has kindly offered some copies to bloggers who would like to review the book on their blogs. If you're interested, then send me an email with your blog address and I'll give you the information you need.

Update: Thanks to all those who responded. Copies are no longer available.

Internet Monk on our capitulation to entertainment within the church (as evidenced by VBS programs):

Evangelicalism is passing through a period of intense self-doubt regarding the relevance of its message and truthfulness. This doesn’t manifest itself in open doubt, as in classical liberalism, but among children and youth ministries, in the replacement of the unique Christian message and content- the Bible and the Gospel- with entertainment.

Facing a culture that uses entertainment for cultural control, evangelicals have capitulated to the dominance of entertainment in worship and ministry. When faced with the question of how to ‘reach’ anyone, or how to ‘keep the interest’ of young people especially, the answer is predictable: find a way to use entertainment. Deemphasize the Bible and the Gospel, or at least reshape them into whatever entertaining version is workable. Actual engagement with Biblical texts will be tangential and minimal, but present enough to justify the use of entertainment.