Buying Members

Consumerism (and gnosticism) might be the most poisonous things to ever seep into the church.  It has changed how we see the church.  It has changed how we worship and what is in our services and gatherings.  It has changed why we go to the churches that we do.  Maybe most hideously, it has changed the way we the church interact with the communities we are settled in.
Consumerism is all about buying, purchasing, and getting in greater and greater amounts. While the desire to build wealth and accumulate possessions is not new, this is relatively new to church.  There has been a shift from community to individual and with it the principles of buying power have come to churches.
Churches now are buying the people who fill their pews.  Not with money but with music, performances, and programs.  Since consumerism has come to the church people are jumping from one church to another with reckless abandon.  Churches are experiencing growth as result of church moving rather than growth from new people joining the body.
Christianity Today interviewed T. David Gordon about his new book.  He says that the constant hearing of pop music in our day to day lives has ruined us for hymns and he laments the lose.  In his book he talks about the shift from traditional church music to pop-like music. He attributes it in large part to the seeker sensitive movement.  From where I sit the seeker sensitive movement is the perfect example of consumerism.
We need to move from the over programed approach to a simple disciple building model.  How this fleshes out in each church community will be different, but the basics will be the same.  Firm foundation in Bible teaching, community gatherings to worship, serving the local community (and the world) in tangible ways, and evangelism (likely through serving the community in tangible ways).