The Poison of Seeker-Sensitive Worship - Reforming Worship #3

One of the great tragedies (and I really mean it) of the modern evangelical movement is what is called the seeker-sensitive movement. My purpose here is not to give you its history or the people behind it, but to highlight some of its characteristics and why it is so detrimental to the church, especially its worship.

The basic feature of this movement is the desire to create a church experience that appeals (or is “sensitive”) to the seekers. Now, you might ask, “Who are the seekers?” For those who embraced this theology, seekers are those who are not yet Christians but are actively or openly seeking the Kingdom of God. And to accommodate these individuals who are not Christians (yet), we should remove all the unnecessary barriers for them to come to church and create an environment they would enjoy—or at least not find too off-putting—with the great goal of leading them to a saving relationship with Jesus. Amazing, right? Well, not so much. Let me tell you why.

Think of it this way: you have two groups of people—those who love high-quality food made with real ingredients, and those who love fast food. Now imagine you want to create a restaurant for the quality-food lovers, but also be sensitive to the fast-food crowd. So, you decide to offer your high-quality food as fast food. You use fast-food language, fast-food presentation (paper boxes, plastic cutlery, cheap napkins, etc.). But then comes the real challenge—fast-food people like it cheap and fast. So what can you do? To make it cheap, you must lower the quality of your ingredients. To make it fast, you can’t give much attention to preparation. What’s the result? Best-case scenario: You have glorified fast food. Worst case: you’re just like every other fast-food restaurant. You didn’t bring people into the “kingdom of good food”—you became another outpost of the “kingdom of fast food,” deceiving even good-food lovers who come to your restaurant and get unhealthy on your food.

Seeker-sensitive churches are just the same. They want to be sensitive to seekers—but the Bible tells us there are no seekers (Romans 3:10–12). What we have in the world are carnal people looking for carnal things to appease their flesh, and that includes religion—and some forms of “Christianity.” These “seekers” are not interested in God, in holiness, in true worship, in taking up their crosses and following Jesus, in having Him as their Lord. What they need is not a church experience catered to them, but to hear the Gospel—and by the power of the Spirit be transformed into true citizens of the Kingdom of God.

The seeker-sensitive church has turned “worship” into a Christian-themed event. People come, are welcomed with smiles and good coffee, and enter a room where a pop-rock band performs, followed by a 20-minute TED Talk sprinkled with Bible verses to make it “Christian.” Then comes an offering and, sometimes, an invitation to “give your life to Jesus,” whatever that means.

This type of “worship” is to true worship what fast food is to real food. It is counterfeit—a form of spiritual junk that poisons the soul, dulls spiritual taste, and slowly kills. Meanwhile, those offering the “service” grow richer and open more branches of their deadly business. True Christians in such churches experience what feels like “ups and downs” but is actually a slow spiritual decline, punctuated by emotional highs mistaken for spiritual life. Some unbelievers will, by God’s mercy, find the Gospel in these places despite the church, not because of it—and will either leave or starve beside others who think Christianity is just that. Many more will never hear the true Gospel at all and will go to hell, numbed by a false assurance that they were Christians their whole lives.

From time to time, these churches—when they sense that the trend is toward “depth”—will add a new menu option for those who “want to go deeper.” Don’t be deceived. It’s the same bad food, just repackaged for customers they fear losing. Some things cannot be redeemed because their foundation is corrupt—the ingredients are not real.

If we want truly healthy spiritual lives, families, and societies that reflect the values of the Kingdom of God, we must begin with the reform of our worship. The seeker-sensitive churches must dwindle and close, and in their place rise good, healthy, biblical churches—led by qualified men, preaching solid expositional sermons, rightly administering the sacraments, singing congregationally, and practicing meaningful membership. Churches led by mature Christian men, serving true Christians.

And then—because Scripture tells us so—the world will be turned upside down. This is the kind of church that plunders hell. The devil does not fear Christian concerts or TED Talks; he may even enjoy them. They distract from the true battle. Satan, the powers of darkness, and the systems of sin tremble before the church that takes God’s glory seriously and worships the true God in spirit and truth, just as He designed it to be.

Nino Marques