The Death Rattle of Consumer Christianity

Photo by Rachel Lynette French on Unsplash

This article is published in Spirit & Truth’s Firebrand Magazine.

The time for reckoning has come. The consumer oriented version of Christianity that has dominated much of North America is finally seeing a needful death. Declining worship attendance, church closures, warring megachurch personalities, constant scandal, and other factors have sounded as a death rattle in recent years. Our current moment, in which we find ourselves in the midst of  a global pandemic and significant racial unrest, has hammered the nail into the coffin.

The consumeristic approach we've taken to church life in the United States is collapsing because it lacks a foundation. We have favored pragmatism over theology, crowds over disciples, marketing over evangelism, coffee bars over catechism. We have shown greater commitment to manufacturing celebrity pastors than lifting up unseen, humble, and sacrificial shepherds…