Paul Thompson blogs at “The Bridge” and is a pastor between here and Japan somewhere! He was our second place blogger in the Blue Collar Blog Madness tournament this year.
Last night I read two interesting pieces. One from Medical News Today, the other from J.C. Ryle Quotes.
Medical News Today: Like A Drug: The Rise Of American Megachurches
This article was about recent research by University of Washington about the rise of the American Megachurch. I found the article interesting… I think the observations by researcher, James Wellman could be spoken of more than just the megachurch. The article begins with the following statement…
“American megachurches use stagecraft, sensory pageantry, charismatic leadership and an upbeat, unchallenging vision of Christianity to provide their congregants with a powerful emotional religious experience,
J.C. Ryle wrote a book entitled “Warnings to the Churches”, in it he warns…
The church’s doctrine and practice are in constant danger of being corrupted from their original divinely-given character. Seeing this, Ryle felt compelled to utter a warning, however controversial this might prove. As he observes, ‘There are times when controversy is…a benefit. Give me the mighty thunderstorm rather than the pestilential malaria. The one walks in darkness and poisons us in silence…The other frightens and alarms us for a little season. But it is soon over, and it clears the air’ (p. 111).
Here are some quick quotes from the article “Like A Drug: The Rise Of The American Megachurch” compared with some of Ryle’s warnings to the church from over a hundred years ago.
Like A Drug: “Megachurch services feature a come-as-you-are atmosphere, rock music, and what Wellman calls a “multisensory mélange” of visuals and other elements to stimulate the senses, as well as small-group participation and a shared focus on the message from a charismatic pastor.
Ryle’s Warnings: “There is a great appearance of learning and theological knowledge: many fancy that such clever and intellectual men must surely be safe guides.”
Like A Drug: “Many participants used the word “contagious” to describe the feeling of a megachurch service where members arrive hungry for emotional experiences and leave energized. One church member said, “(T)he Holy Spirit goes through the crowd like a football team doing the wave. …Never seen it in any other church.””
Ryle’s Warnings: “There is a quantity of half-truth taught by the modern false teachers: they are incessantly using Scriptural terms and phrases in an unscriptural sense. There is a morbid craving in the public mind for a more sensuous, ceremonial, sensational, showy worship: men are impatient of inward, invisible heart-work.”
Like A Drug: “Megachurches also encourage their members, such as by saying, “Things can get better, you can be happy,” he added. This comforting message also is a key to megachurches’ success, Wellman said. “How are you going to dominate the market? You give them a generic form of Christianity that’s upbeat, exciting, and uplifting.””
Ryle’s Warnings: “There is a silly readiness in every direction to believe everybody who talks cleverly, lovingly and earnestly, and a determination to forget that Satan often masquerades himself “as an angel of light”
Like A Drug: “Wellman said, “This isn’t just same-old, same-old. This is not like evangelical revivalism. It’s a new, hybrid form of Christianity that’s mutating and separate from all the traditional institutions with which we usually affiliate Christianity.” Megachurches, which rarely refer to heaven or hell, are worlds away from the sober, judgmental puritan meetinghouses of long ago, Wellman said.”
Ryle’s Warnings: “There is a wide-spread “gullibility” among professing Christians: every heretic who tells his story plausibly is sure to be believed, and everybody who doubts him is called a persecutor and a narrow-minded man.”
It was fascinating to examine both documents together. I found Wellman’s, mostly secular, examination of the condition of the western church spot on. Where his research is mostly about megachurches, I think it can be said of many churches, regardless of size. I found Ryle’s warning to be prophetically spot on. He was observing his day and the trends impacting the church as though he just walked out of the average church in America.
Rise up church and be the church!
___________________________________
All 8 Symptoms of False Doctrine by J.C. Ryle:
Many things combine to make the present inroad of false doctrine peculiarly dangerous.
1. There is an undeniable zeal in some of the teachers of error: their “earnestness” makes many think they must be right.
2. There is a great appearance of learning and theological knowledge: many fancy that such clever and intellectual men must surely be safe guides.
3. There is a general tendency to free thought and free inquiry in these latter days: many like to prove their independence of judgment, by believing novelties.
4. There is a wide-spread desire to appear charitable and liberal-minded: many seem half ashamed of saying that anybody can be in the wrong.
5. There is a quantity of half-truth taught by the modern false teachers: they are incessantly using Scriptural terms and phrases in an unscriptural sense.
6. There is a morbid craving in the public mind for a more sensuous, ceremonial, sensational, showy worship: men are impatient of inward, invisible heart-work.
7. There is a silly readiness in every direction to believe everybody who talks cleverly, lovingly and earnestly, and a determination to forget that Satan often masquerades himself “as an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14).
8. There is a wide-spread “gullibility” among professing Christians: every heretic who tells his story plausibly is sure to be believed, and everybody who doubts him is called a persecutor and a narrow-minded man.
All these things are peculiar symptoms of our times. I defy any observing person to deny them. They tend to make the assaults of false doctrine in our day peculiarly dangerous. They make it more than ever needful to cry aloud, “Do not be carried away!”
~ J.C. Ryle
(HT: jcrylequotes.com)