Being Christ's Church In A Consumerist Culture

Eugene Peterson is just about the best and most eloquent biblical interpreter that we have today. He keeps urging us to keep close to the theological purposes of the church and its ministry. We are not merely commanded to reach out to the world, we are commanded to reach out in the name of Christ. In a consumeristic culture, if we are not careful, the church becomes reduced to just another lifestyle option to be used by us for our own selfish purposes, just another means to get what we want before we allow Jesus to use us to get what he wants. In our efforts to reach out to the world in evangelism and church growth, we end up offering the world the same thing that it could acquire elsewhere.
Here is a Peterson quote about the local church that I think we pastors need to placard over our office doors and ponder every time we go to work for the church:
'The congregation is not about us. It is about God. The operating biblical metaphor regarding worship is sacrifice. But this is not the American way. The major American innovation in the congregation is to turn it into a consumer enterprise. Americans have developed a culture of acquisition, an economy that is dependent on wanting and requiring more. We have a huge advertising industry designed to stir up appetites we didn't even know that we had. We are insatiable. It didn't take long for some of our colleagues to develop consumer congregations. If we have a nation of consumers, obviously the quickest and most effective way to get them into our churches is to identify what they want and offer it to them Satisfy their fantasies, promise them the moon, recast the gospel in consumer terms - entertainment, satisfaction, excitement and adventure, problem-solving, whatever. We are the world's champion consumers, so why shouldn't we have state-of-the-art consumer churches?' (Eugene H. Peterson, Transparent Lives, Christian Century, November 29, 2003, pg. 24.)
It's not about us. It's about God! I appreciated Peterson's reminder.

- William Willimon