Thom Rainer, founder and CEO of Church Answers, ‘an online community and resource for church leaders,’ recently posted a blog post to his site explaining what he dubs “Self-Centered Consumer-Driven” Christians and why they leave church.
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According to the website
The website also sells courses valued at over a couple of hundreds of dollars, some thousands, designed for pastors and worship leaders to be better at their positions, and how to grow a church building and organization, member retention, increased outreach, and how to teach for or against current cultural trends and topics. The website offers consulting and coaching, among other things such as books and certifications.
On June 26th, Rainer himself posted a blog article titled “Why Consumer Church Members Leave Your Church.”
The following is what he said:
Why Consumer Church Members Leave Your Church
“I’m not getting fed.”
It’s one of the most common complaints of church members looking for excuses to leave a church. The gripe is that the pastor’s sermons are not providing the person adequate spiritual growth. And most of the time it’s baloney.
Sure, there are a few pastors who preach borderline heretical sermons. And there are some who provide a spiritual pep talk each week instead of a biblical sermon. But, among the 450,000 pastors in North America, most of them are Bible-believing and Bible-preaching.
Most of the time “I’m not getting fed” is a lame excuse to say the church is not catering to my desires and preferences. It’s a clear indicator of [what] We have seen the growing trend of church member consumerism, and it has been exacerbated by the pandemic.
Self-centered, consumer-driven church members are leaving. Here are some reasons why:
1. Because they never get satisfied. That is the nature of consumerism. Desires are met only for a season. Then the church member wonders what you have done for them lately. And if the church members feel like he or she has gotten all they can get from the church, they will move on to another church or drop out altogether.
2. Because they have no greater purpose. We all know church members who are the pillars of the church in the best sense of the word. They are giving, serving, and sacrificial. They have a greater purpose than themselves. They seek to serve the Lord by serving others. They never ask, “What have you done for me lately?” because they are too busy doing for others. The consumer Christian has no purpose beyond his or her own preferences. And that’s really no purpose at all.
3. Because they are often divisive. Consumer Christians seek for themselves. And if they don’t get what they want, they can be critical and divisive. They may leave when they sense the support for their negativity is waning. They will complain that other church members did not support them. And they are, thankfully, correct.
4. Because they know better than everyone else. You can usually count on consumer church members to send the pastor an article or podcast link to demonstrate how other churches are doing things so much better. For the consumer church member, the grass is always greener – until they move to the greener grass of the next church. And then they see problems there.
5. Because they don’t understand the meaning of biblical church membership. Check out the characteristic of a church member in 1 Corinthians 12. It’s all about how the members of the body are functioning for the greater good of that body. And look at 1 Corinthians 13. We call it the “love chapter,” but it’s really how church members are to relate to one another and to the world. The consumer church members can’t relate to biblical church membership because it’s sacrificial and driven to serve others.
So, pastor, know that you are not alone when you hear those dreaded words, “I’m not getting fed.” It has been said countless times by countless self-centered church members. Rejoice in your church members who serve, encourage, love, and sacrifice. They are God’s instruments in your church.
The consumer church members are nothing but noisy gongs and clanging cymbals. When they leave, there is a lot more peace and God-given quiet in the church.
AUTHOR COMMENTARY
[1] But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. [2] And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. [3] And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not. 2 Peter 2:1-3
I’ll try to keep this short and sweet to the point, as I could rant about this for a while, but I don’t have time to type it all out, and you would not have enough time to read it all.
Firstly, I made sure to mention the useless junk this guy sells. What he is selling is nothing different than a secular consulting company that teaches people how to be entrepreneurs, CEO’s, managers, marketers, and so on. People are paying thousands of dollars to learn how to maximize profits for their church building incorporated business.
But moving onto what this guy says, I laughed out loud when he said most pastors are “Bible-believing and Bible-preaching.” I don’t know what he’s smoking, but whatever it is, keep it away from me! I mean, give me a break! And then to sit there and talk about how only “some” pastors preach emotional pep talks and heretical sermons: that’s like literally just about every church in America right now!
Now, I will grant you that *some of the points he makes are true, as there are certainly plenty of people that church-hop just to be catered to their every whim: that absolutely exists, but is one of the primary reasons why these church buildings keep buckling and continue to lower their standards is because they are trying to include more worldly and sinful pleasures with a “Christian” veneer on it, which, is to retain their income. But, ironically, the more they do this, the more membership continues to plummet.
That being said, this Rainer hireling has some serious bitterness towards those that say “they aren’t being fed.” And, according to him, and the rest of these hirelings out there, it is a bad thing to want to ACTUALLY LEARN AND STUDY THE BIBLE! What a concept!?
The man that wandereth out of the way of understanding shall remain in the congregation of the dead.
Proverbs 21:16
I personally, and many others that I associate with, have all gone through the same exact feelings of not actually getting fed the word of God; and as soon as you ask legitimate questions and inquire more, these scumbags in these buildings just ignore you and ridicule you for actually wanting to discuss the Bible! Beyond the fact that the Bible never teaches or justifies Christians building a building and calling it a church, the reason I myself and so many more have left is because they were never learning anything, and so when they realize that, they leave.
As I said, there is a ton more I could say, but I think what this dork said speaks for itself. This is nothing more than typical Laodicean baloney. What this hireling said adds further validation and analysis to our report, “The Exodus From The Churches.”
[15] I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. [16] So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. [17] Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: [18] I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. [19] As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.Revelation 3:15-19
[7] Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges? who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock? [8] Say I these things as a man? or saith not the law the same also? [9] For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care for oxen? [10] Or saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written: that he that ploweth should plow in hope; and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope. (1 Corinthians 9:7-10).
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Such a selfish laodicean money grubbing slime ball! His feathers are all ruffled because people aren’t being spiritually fed and want to actually find God, how dare they decrease my income I MEAN reduce my community numbers! Thank you Lord these Babel buildings are falling apart at the seams and it will only get worse!
Jacob, here’s another hireling ripping request: look into Jimmy and Donnie Swaggart and their SBN Babel channel located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Hirelings to the match complete with their Pentecost charismatic “speaking in tongues” hocus pocus and putting on the theatricals with his shouting and jumping around like a jackrabbit on stage and his fake sobbing, all to elevate the flesh and to get their money! Pray that SBN and those money grubbing southern boy satanists get judged severely.
Jacob, SBN stands for SonLife Broadcasting Network (Sin Life Broadcasting Network) those hirelings make me sick! Their huge Babel building in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, they’re just as obsessed with filthy lucre’s sake as Joel Osteen is!
I can’t wait for your expose on them, Jacob!
I left my church because it was full of Freemasons.
Smart move, Regggie! Church buildings are for teaching lost people religious things. Lukewarm evangelical false converts. God is starting to rip them to pieces high gear!