Ever since the early 1980’s due to the influence of church leaders such as Norman Vincent Peale, Robert Schuller, Rick Warren, Bill Hybels, and Joel Osteen, the evangelical church has been sold the idea that "bigger is better." Under this rubric, the way to get the church to grow is to make it comfortable or palatable to the unsaved. Such a philosophy "works" in that it can fill massive stadiums with adoring fans. While I am not per se against God-ordained church growth (Matt 16:18; Acts 2:47; 1 Cor. 3:6), what is lost under this seeker friendly philosophy is basic doctrine and Bible teaching since such activities are deemed as offensive to the unsaved. What does not appeal to the unregenerate seeker is quickly discarded. Thus, the church ceases to be the pillar of truth that God called her to be (1 Tim. 3:15). As the seeker movement rolled on throughout the 1980’s and 1990’s some hungering for a deeper spiritual experience became disillusioned with it and adopted something even worse in its place called the Emerging Church. This ministry style places personal experiences and ancient medieval liturgical practices over the proclamation and study of objective biblical truth. Indeed, this emerging spirituality would contend that even the ability to arrive at such objective truth is an impossibility. Both philosophies have produced a generation of church goers who know very little about the very Bible that they claim they believe in.
(Andy Woods, Pastor of Sugar Land Bible Church, Sugar Land, TX)
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