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The Hottest Thing at Church Today

According to a new study by Gallup, the hottest thing at church today is not the worship and not the pastor. It’s not the smoke and lights and it’s not the hip and relevant youth programs. It’s not even the organic, fair trade coffee at the cafe. The hottest thing at church today is the preaching. Not only is it the preaching, but a very specific form of it—preaching based on the Bible. And just like that, decades of church growth bunkum is thrown under the bus. As Christianity Today says, “Despite a new wave of contemporary church buzzwords like relational, relevant, and intentional, people who show up on Sundays are looking for the same thing that has long anchored most services: preaching centered on the Bible.” Praise God.

Praise God, but please don’t jump on the bandwagon. The last thing we need is a bunch of preachers responding to this poll by suddenly ditching their series on “7 Keys to Successful Relationships” or “5 Secrets to a Happy Home” to dabble in biblical exposition. What we need is for preachers to search the Scripture, then to commit to biblical exposition.

Pragmatism Dies Hard

For decades, the Western church has been dominated by the church growth movement, a movement that drew heavily from the business principles of pragmatism. Pragmatism insists that the end justifies the means. It demands that we establish goals, determine the best means to achieve those goals, then assume that success proves that both the goal and the means are good. As one of the fathers of church growth said, “Never criticize what God is blessing.” According to pragmatism, there is no distinction between what works and what is experiencing God’s hand of blessing. One proves the other.

The church growth movement established the goal of having as many people as possible profess faith in Jesus Christ. To do this, it would need to make church attractive to unbelievers. This demanded changing the services to make them seeker-friendly, changing the music to make it more contemporary, and even changing the gospel to make it less offensive. Of course, it also demanded changing the preaching to make it more palatable and that meant preaching themes and principles rather than preaching the Bible itself. Pragmatism is so ingrained in the very fabric of the church today that it is extremely difficult to root out. Churches that have been immersed in it have to battle tooth and nail against its seductions. They need to retrain themselves to look not to what appears to work, but to what the Bible demands.

Tim Challies
Tim Challieshttp://www.challies.com
Tim Challies is a Christian, a husband to Aileen and a father of three children aged 13 to 20. He worships and serves as a pastor at Grace Fellowship Church in Toronto, Ontario, where he primarily gives attention to mentoring and discipleship. He is a book reviewer, co-founder of Cruciform Press, and has written several books including The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment, The Next Story, Visual Theology, Do More Better, Visual Theology: A Guide to the Bible and Epic: An Around-the-World Journey through Christian History. He writes daily at www.challies.com.

5 Powerful Stories of Christians Transforming Their Communities Through Faith and Action

Read five inspiring stories of Christians making a powerful impact in their communities, from rebuilding after disasters to supporting the homeless and marginalized.

WATCH: Huge Flash Mob Erupts into Worship in Chick-fil-A With the Song “Every Praise”

A Christian flash mob decided to bring church to Chick-fil-A in a whole NEW way by bursting out into praise with a powerful rendition of the worship song "Every Praise."

7 Key Facts About Tony Perkins and His Role in Christian Conservative Politics

Learn key facts about Tony Perkins, a prominent leader in Christian conservative politics, and his influential role in shaping religious and political discourse.