Yesterday I had posted a piece from GBOD under the title "Megachurches or Megaconsumers" that I had been given written permission by its author to post here. I asked for that permission because the article itself included a note stating that without such permission it could not be posted or used anywhere outside of GBOD.
At the request of the author, I have now removed it and and all links to it. If you downloaded it, I request on the author's behalf that you do the same. We can wait for official release of the final report in November.
The report is no longer here-- but the opportunity for good conversation is not. Indeed, the report may have obscured the kind of conversation we ought to engage-- which is less about what doesn't work to make and multiply disciples of Jesus Christ as opposed to consumers, and more about what does right where you are, where you find your ministry to be. We may have been tempted to say "told ya so" instead of to ask "how are WE actually doing if the same kinds of questions are being posed among the people who participate in being church/joining kingdom with us?" Or perhaps, more critically, if consumerism is Lord in some ministries, how good are we at helping people challenging that in ours-- or even in our own lives?
And consumerism is just ONE of the powers, is it not, even if it approximates the Legion of our own day? Where we are successful in establishing a witness that draws people more to Christ than their own interests, how are we also helping people avoid the other traps that even an anti-consumerist position might open up?
Peace in Christ,
Taylor Burton-Edwards