This week, we come to chapter two of David Wells’ book The Courage to Be Protestant. This chapter is titled “Christianity for Sale.” Having given a basic overview of evangelicalism in chapter one, Wells now hones in on the “marketer” or “seeker-sensitive” church movement.

Wells says that marketers try to operate the church much like a corporation runs its business. In this case, the church is the supplier, attenders are the consumers, and the gospel is the product for sale. Traditional ways of “doing church” are proving to be no longer effective, so like any other business, we must be willing to adapt our image and repackage our product to regain consumer confidence. In a rapidly-changing, image-driven culture, that means adopting new methods like upbeat music, entertaining videos, therapeutic chats, inspiring drama, relaxing coffee houses, slick advertisements, and an open and affirming atmosphere to reach a whole new generation. Some of the more bizarre examples Wells gives are a pastor’s Superman costume (p. 23-24), sacred graffiti (p. 29), and play-doh sculptures to express one’s feelings (p. 29).

Wells pauses his critique briefly on pp. 42-44 to identify two good motives that guide some marketers. First, many churches are rightly concerned that the evangelical faith has stagnated, if not declined, in America over the past thirty years. Many surveys by Gallup and Barna confirm this. (As does the 2007 ACP.) Second, churches are called by God to engage their culture; it would be insensitive to disregard the felt needs and perceptions of first-time visitors. But after this short “cease-fire,” Wells reloads his weapon and says “despite these two main virtues,” the seeker-church model is built on “naivete” that is “breathtakingly unrealistic and untrue” (p. 44).

It seems to me there are two great problems with the market-driven church:

• First, this model gives authority to the consumer rather than to Holy Scripture. Wells says, “All consumers, we need to remember, are sovereign, and the consuming impulse, once it enters a church, makes individual preferences the deciding factor, the driving factor in what that church becomes. These preferences become the standard by which the church is measured” (p. 38). No longer is success measured by God’s Word. No longer are decisions made by a plurality of wise and godly leaders. Everything is dictated by the felt needs and fickle demands of the people in the pew. This is the exact opposite of what Paul instructed Timothy in 2 Tim. 4:2-3.

• Second, this model de-emphasizes the importance of doctrinal truth and a biblical worldview. “What we have here are churches reconfigured around evangelism that abandon much of the fabric of biblical faith to succeed…Here is a methodology for success that can succeed with very little truth; indeed, its success seems to depend on not showing much truth” (pp. 51-52). And why is this such a problem? Because the gospel is not a product to be consumed, but a command to be obeyed. “The gospel calls us not to use it but to submit to the God of the universe through his Son. A methodology for success that circumvents issues of truth is one that will rapidly emancipate itself from biblical Christianity or, to put it differently, will rapidly eviscerate biblical faith” (p. 52). We cannot downplay doctrine without compromising the gospel message itself.

For next Wednesday, please read chapter three, “Truth.” In the mean time, please share your thoughts and impressions about chapter two by leaving a comment below. I really enjoyed those of you who left comments last week. This is a great iron-sharpening process.

Today, we begin blogging through The Courage to Be Protestant by David Wells. If you’re reading along, you’ll want to read the preface and chapter one for today’s discussion.

My first comment is actually about the dust jacket. Does anyone know what this is a picture of? Is it a set of ladders pointing into the sky, symbolizing our vain attempts to reach God? Is it a piece of postmodern art, representing the postmodern worldview of our age? Am I reading way too much into this? Oh well, let’s get into the book…

Chapter one is called “The Lay of the Evangelical Land,” and Wells’ opening statement is really a summary of the whole book: “It takes no courage to sign up as a Protestant. After all, millions have done so throughout the West. They are not in any peril. To live by the truths of historical Protestantism, however, is an entirely different matter. That takes courage in today’s context” (p. 1). How interesting. We’re told right away that the label of a professing Protestant and the lifestyle of a true Protestant are sometimes two very different things.

In this first chapter, Wells is giving a big picture of the modern evangelical church. Over the last 75 years, he says the church has split into three different groups or “constituencies”:

• Classic evangelicals, who are marked by doctrinal seriousness. Their two core theological beliefs are “the full authority of the inspired Scripture and the necessity and centrality of Christ’s penal substitution” (p. 5). Leaders over the decades have included Harold Ockenga, Billy Graham, John Stott, and Francis Schaeffer. They have produced many fine publications and institutions, but as the centrality of doctrine and the church have diminished, so has their influence.

• Marketers, who have tried to re-package the old evangelical message in new ways. Attempting to reach new people and grow the church, they have borrowed many marketing techniques and entertainment formats (music, drama, video, etc.) from the world. This movement appeals to the boomer generation and has been led by Bill Hybels at Willow Creek Community Church. The problem here is that “form greatly modifies the content…the form, put together to be pleasing, actually undercuts the seriousness of faith” (p. 14). I hope Wells will talk more about this later in the book.

• Emergents, who acknowledge the failures of modernity, preferring instead a spiritual “community” and “conversation.” They are more open to other faith traditions and unorthodox worship styles. They are skeptical of power and its structures, and often see truth claims as “pretentious, fraudulent, and arrogant” (p. 16). Despite these dangers, emergents are attracting many in the Gen X and millennial crowd.

These three categories are very helpful. They give me a better awareness of what’s going on in the church, and where different church growth ideas and methods are coming from. It’s interesting to see how all three constituencies are at work, and in some ways competing, on a large scale in a place like the Southern Baptist Convention. I’m reminded of how important it is to be discerning in what I read and who I imitate.

I’m very interested to hear what else Wells has to say about the emergent church in this book. His last book, Above All Earthly Pow’rs, was published in 2005. It did a great job defining postmodernism, but did not interact much with the emergent church, per se. So, I’m eager to hear more of his critique of emergents in coming chapters.

Wells closes out the chapter by saying our only hope in a postmodern world is a return to the solas of the Protestant Reformation: that Scripture alone is God’s authoritative truth; and that salvation is found by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, to the glory of God alone. “This will take some courage,” Wells admits, but “the key to the future is not the capitulation that we see in both the marketers and the emergents. It is courage. The courage to be faithful to what Christianity in its biblical forms has always stood for across the ages” (p. 20-21).

For next Wednesday, please read chapter two, “Christianity for Sale.” But right now, it’s your turn. What do you like or dislike about the book so far? What have you learned? Did you have a favorite quote from the chapter? A book club isn’t any fun unless there’s some participation, so click on the “comments” link below, and write your thoughts!