Conversion is a lifelong process

A guy was in my office yesterday working on my computer docking station, and seeing theology-related books on my shelf, started talking about church. He said he attends a non-denominational Protestant church here in Dallas, but he's not been going much lately. The problem, he said, is that the preaching isn't deep. The preacher is all about bringing people to an emotional state to prompt conversion, but he doesn't go deeper. This man said, "I'd like to know more about the faith, you know? Why we believe in these things, and what other Christians believe. Why the differences? But we don't get that at my church."

I thought about that conversation when I read two columns this morning. The first is by Chuck Colson of Prison Fellowship, who writes in praise of the influential Willow Creek Church's recent unsparing assessment of itself. In it, Pastor Bill Hybels and his team reported findings that for all the busy-ness going on in their church, with popular activities and whatnot growing the congregation, they were failing to lead the congregation to deeper spiritual growth. Here's Colson:

Bill Hybels understands the problem that the Church is in today. It is into therapy, but it needs to teach doctrine and grow people in the faith. That is why, by the way, I have written a new book to be released in February titled The Faith Given Once, for All, a book Hybels has enthusiastically endorsed.

We have discovered the same thing here at Prison Fellowship—that we cannot just lead inmates to Christ and then not see their lives transformed. So, we have looked hard at what we are doing and whether we are really making disciples—are we transforming people? We, too, have confessed that we could be doing a lot better. And so, we have revised our vision statement and made fundamental changes in the way we work.

I think the lesson that the Willow Creek leaders have learned, and the courage they are showing, constitute a challenge and a warning for all Christians. We cannot let ourselves get caught up in a “just-get-’em-in-the-doors” mentality, no matter how attractive and effective it looks. It can too easily lead to the watering-down of the Gospel, to a “feel-good” faith, and to believers having little impact in society. As the authors of the book, Willow Creek staffers Greg Hawkins and Cally Parkinson, put it in their introduction: “The health of your church is not just about the numbers. It’s about the movement of people toward Christ, toward deep love for God and genuine love for others.” Amen.

And here's Terry Mattingly's latest column, which is about the trend of niche marketing worship according to musical tastes. Excerpt:

The bottom line: Church leaders use different technology to create different music for different generations who choose to attend different services.

The music unites and the music divides. The challenge for church leadership, Crandall said, is to unite these flocks around a common vision when doing evangelism and missions -- primarily through 18-person cell groups that focus on fellowship and prayer.
[snip]
"This is reality," he said. "Everything is about the music. When you go to the mall, you can even tell what kind of people are supposed to be shopping in different stores just by listening to the music that is playing. ... Can you imagine kids wanting to shop in a store that is playing the music that their parents listen to? No way."

Er, wow. Can you imagine a church uniting not around shared doctrine, but around musical tastes? Classic rock versus alternative? The guy TMatt interviewed pointed out that "blended" services, in which different musical styles are used to please various factions, tend to drive congregations apart. I believe it. Catholics, for example, can nearly come to blows over modern hymns. There's nothing like "On Eagle's Wings" or "Gather Us In" to put traditional-leaning Catholics in a foul frame of mind. And that matters: the way the church prays (and by that, I mean both sung and spoken word)

Still, in light of the Willow Creek findings, one wonders if the pastors who are segmenting their congregations by musical preference are paying attention to what they ought to be most concerned with (and, for that matter, if the people in the congregation are too).

Thoughts?