What disillusions me about church planters...... and myself

So I spent some time surfing the websites of church planters who are starting new, exciting, bold churches.
To enter into a new community and start something from scratch is no small thing. Planters are risk takers, pioneers, faith adventurers.
Most new church starts don’t make it past their first 18 months or remain so small they can barely survive much less thrive – so those that do – you have to be highly impressed with their determination, commitment and ingenuity, along with their talent and leadership.

But as I surfed the websites of the ones that survived and listened to their preaching, read what makes them the ‘church for people who don’t like church’ I became more and more disappointed in these bold adventurers. One by one they had either sold out to the values of church they seemingly were not about (that’s why they were starting a church that people who didn’t go to church would like), or they had lost their boldness.

Click on their websites and you were clicking on to lookalike websites of most large evangelical churches.
Popular pop culture was the flavor of the day.

Want to know about the staff – and their list of interests (including their favorite movie and what they have on their iPod ….seemingly this reveals things about us that would make us want to come to our church); latest reads and seminary qualifications was plain to see.
Hierarchy was the structure of the day.

As for the preaching – formulaic, propositional, ‘say-a-prayer-or-raise-a-hand-and-receive-Jesus’ was Sundays preach.

Where’s the newness, the boldness, the church for those who didn’t go to church?

There’s a big reason why people don’t go to church and very few studies indicate it is because of the old fashioned music or the dull preaching. That turned off my generation, but not the new generation. Today’s generation are turned off because of synthetic theology, shallow living, formulas and self-centered religion.

And in most of the new churches I surfed this was the smelled out flavor.

But then my surfing discovery turned nasty.

Getting myself disillusioned over bold risk taking church planters who were way too conservative, synthetic and predictable in what they had started I blinked hard and realized that I was as guilty as them!

Sure we’ve been involved in helping turnaround a traditional inward focused classic church.
Sure we have done some bold, risky things to shake complacency out and focus on being a church for people who don’t go to church.
Sure we have fought off legalism and traditionalism.
But despite all the progress and newness we have birthed – much of what I was seeing in these ‘bold’ planters is apparent in me.

My earlier boldness – had turned rather predictable.
My earlier freshness in theology – had become somewhat stale.
My earlier contrariness – had seen me sit too much inside a box (albeit a new box).

The one that hit home the most - I’ve shrunk the Gospel down to a message of personal salvation – when it is so much more.

In fact in all of the church planters that I surfed – their theology was rather flat and dull; a cosmetic airbrush rewording of conservative evangelicalism from the 1980’s.

If there is one thing the unchurched masses of America need the church to declare it is a compelling, stirring theology. A theology that isn't used to support the things the church has stood against; or a formula that promises you how to have the best life, the best marriage, the best children or the best job……its only a “decision” for Jesus away!
Rather it is desperate for theology that unpacks the bigness of the Gospel.

Scot McKnight suggests that this “personal salvation” Gospel is deconstructing the church.

So my idle hour surfing the website of some bold risk taking church planters has convicted me. January 2012 will see me join the movement that is boldly declaring that our problem is not so much that our God is too small, but our Gospel is too small.

Starting January 1, 2012 ……..until the end of May we will be making sure that the Gospel this church is preaching is the same Gospel as Jesus preached.