I found this quote today while googling around on church names. This was from the pastor of a church who changed their name from something that was admittedly a bit tired to something newer:
“We describe our church as a shopping mall of spiritual opportunities,” says (the pastor)[...]. “We’re offering ministry to everyone. We have a divorce-recovery ministry, a blended-family ministry, a grief-recovery ministry — something for everyone’s needs.
Maybe it’s my rabid aversion to shopping malls, but I wonder if that’s a beneficial analogy to use. It is an apt description of a particular model of church, but I find myself so far away from that analogy that it’s weird to me.
Yeah, I'm with you. I'm just not excited about perpetuating the concept of a consumer spirituality. Instead should we call out for others to join us in a "higher calling," Should we start by making the call to ourselves?