Should a church be seeker sensitive?

A popular model for many churches today is the 'seeker sensitive' approach to evangelism and conducting church services. One of the most high profile exponents of this is Rick Warren, whose book The Purpose Driven Church was released almost 20 years ago. The seeker sensitive advocated by Warren and many other involves changing church to something which is more friendly, culturally sensitive and appealing to the unchurched, a church experience which is non threatening and which will give them what they want from church. Old style hymns and worship will be replaced with a more modern worldly style of music, including pop, rock and rap. Long expository sermons will be diluted down into a shorter story based talk that meets the perceived needs of the hearers, with biblical doctrines such as sin and repentance being rarely mentioned. The focus of the message will instead be light on doctrine, centred on man and with the Lord Jesus Christ presented as the means of you improving yourself and filling that void in your life. Essentially it is church done the way the unsaved want it to be done, a way that does not cause them to feel uncomfortable or threatened. The seeker sensitive church will also provide for the social needs of the area with numerous programs aimed at improving the lives of those living in the community. These churches have been very successful in seeing large congregations built up very quickly, with thousands of people in attendance and multi-million pound programs being run by the congregation. The question is whether the seeker sensitive approach to doing church is one that we should adopt, and whether it can be supported by scripture.

Punctuality for church: 5 reasons why we should practice it

Whilst on some occasions there are genuine reasons why people cannot be punctual for church meetings, such as work commitments or family difficulties, in general it is not a practice that we should allow ourselves to fall into. Unforeseen circumstances may cause us to be late occasionally, but it should not be our habit to be late for church services. We should seek to be at the house of God early, for whilst it may be 'better late than never', it is even better to be never late. We do not like to be late for important appointments in our employment, or in our social life, and so it should also be the case when it comes to religious worship. We give 5 reasons why we should be punctual for the worship of the Lord.

The Christian living for the weekend

Many people today live for the weekend. Their employments and duties during the week can be endured only with the prospect of 5 o’clock on a Friday evening when they can once again engage in their social life. The entertainment of the world is all that keeps them going during the week; once Saturday night has ended it appears to them that those things which they enjoy most are finished for another week. Next Friday cannot arrive soon enough for them. When we make this statement you might imagine that we are referring to unbelievers, yet it is equally the case with many Christians. They too, like the world, look forward more than anything to those social events at the weekend when they can get back to enjoying themselves. Whilst a time of lawful recreation and relaxation is not to be denied, the spiritual benefit or appropriateness of that which many Christians involve themselves in is questionable to say the least. Are our weekends spent more in the company of the unsaved than with our fellow believers? Do we find ourselves at ease with, and desirous of the atmosphere and pleasures of the worlds entertainment? Is this not a cause for concern? The weekend ought to be a time that the Christian looks forward to, yet for a different reason to the world, for the reason that it includes that one day in seven set aside for the worship of God. Do we look forward to the weekend because we have a hunger for the preaching of God’s Word, or do we live for the weekend in the same manner as the world?

Are we guilty of taking the Lord's name in vain?

The words of the third commandment are well known to most believers; 'Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain: for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain'. The application of these words in the lives of many is however very limited. There are few Christians who would believe themselves to be guilty of breaking the third commandment for their view is that it only refers to those occasions when people will use the name of God, and that of the Lord Jesus Christ, as a swear word. As such they believe that they are not guilty of breaking this commandment. To use the Lord's name in such a manner most certainly is to break this commandment, including the popular abbreviation of 'OMG' as so often used today in text language. The scope of the third commandment is however much wider than that of simply using the Lord's name as a swear word, so much so that in truth we must confess that we are often as guilty as those who will use the name of the Lord as a swear word. Questions 54 and 55 of the Westminster Shorter Catechism give us some insight into what the Lord requires of us in obedience to the third commandment: