The Perils of the Positive Pulpit

The Willow Creek Community Church, the leaders of the “seeker sensitive” movement in the denominational world, decided to assess the success of their efforts of the last several decades. Their own definition of the movement, in part, included “a de-emphasis on taking personal responsibility for Bible study combined with an emphasis on felt-needs based ‘programs’ and slick marketing.” They further define their approach of the last several decades as follows:

The size of the crowd rather than the depth of the heart determined success. If the crowd was large then surely God was blessing the ministry. Churches were built by demographic studies, professional strategists, marketing research, meeting “felt needs” and sermons consistent with these techniques. We were told that preaching was out, relevance was in. Doctrine didn’t matter nearly as much as innovation. If it wasn’t “cutting edge” and consumer friendly it was doomed. The mention of sin, salvation and sanctification were taboo and replaced by Starbucks, strategy and sensitivity.

So what did they find in their assessment?

The report reveals that most of what they have been doing for these many years and what they have taught millions of others to do is not producing solid disciples of Jesus Christ. Numbers yes, but not disciples. It gets worse. Hybels laments:

Some of the stuff that we have put millions of dollars into thinking it would really help our people grow and develop spiritually, when the data actually came back it wasn’t helping people that much. Other things that we didn’t put that much money into and didn’t put much staff against is stuff our people are crying out for.

If you simply want a crowd, the “seeker sensitive” model produces results. If you want solid, sincere, mature followers of Christ, it’s a bust. In a shocking confession, Hybels states:

We made a mistake. What we should have done when people crossed the line of faith and become Christians, we should have started telling people and teaching people that they have to take responsibility to become ‘self feeders.’ We should have gotten people, taught people, how to read their bible between services, how to do the spiritual practices much more aggressively on their own.

Incredibly, the guru of church growth now tells us that people need to be reading their bibles and taking responsibility for their spiritual growth.

Okay, so what does all of this have to do with the Lord’s church? If you are unfamiliar with the general pattern of apostasy that results from denominational influence, nearly every movement that sweeps the denominational world eventually finds its way into the Lord’s church (1 Cor. 15.33; Gal. 1.6-10). This “seeker sensitive” approach of the denominational world found its way into the Lord’s church under the guise of the positive pulpit and positive pen. A positive pulpit is found in churches where preaching directly against sin or calling names is forbidden or frowned upon. That is, the preacher is not allowed to preach against immodesty, social drinking, gambling, withdrawing from those who walk disorderly, etc. (1 Tim. 2.9-10; 1 Pet. 4.1-5; 1 Tim. 6.10; 2 Thess. 3.6). And, he is not allowed to state or connect the name of a false teacher with his false doctrine (“Hymenaeus and Philetus; men who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already, and overthrow the faith of some” 2 Tim. 2.17-18), or state the name of some denomination and their false doctrine (“for the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, neither angel, nor spirit; but the Pharisees confess both” Acts 23.7). A positive pen is found in writing that is designed to be popular (what the people want) and that contains little scripture. In the words of the editors of a now defunct magazine:

Generally speaking, two or three passages should provide a sufficient base for such articles – perhaps even one…Obviously, what we are after is a piece of journalistic writing. The thrust of the article should be practical, speaking to the real needs of the people. The style of the writing should be popular. We urge you to be your creative best: think of interest-catching leads, sharp illustrations, and, if possible, sprinkle in a little wit. [Note: I have been told that the editors later realized the errors of this approach and changed their policy, though they never released this change of policy to the general public.]

Now the question is what are our brethren who have been promoting their positive pulpits and pens going to do now that their fearless leaders in the denominational world have realized that this approach does NOT produce mature Christians? Someone has rightly said, “Preacherettes who deliver sermonettes produce Christianettes.” The denominational leaders of this movement now lament that they have lead millions of people astray! Will our brethren do the same?

Further consider that in the report a part of the strategy of this movement in the denominational world is described as follows:

Thousands of pastors hung on every word that emanated from the lips of the church growth experts. Satellite seminars were packed with hungry church leaders learning the latest way to “do church.” The promise was clear: thousands of people and millions of dollars couldn’t be wrong. Forget what people need, give them what they want. How can you argue with the numbers? If you dared to challenge the “experts” you were immediately labeled as a “traditionalist,” a throwback to the 50s, a stubborn dinosaur unwilling to change with the times (emp. mine, JRG).

In the gospel meetings I have preached, two things have happened every time. One, some elderly widow will approach me and say, “I haven’t heard preaching like that in years,” or “That’s the kind of preaching I remember hearing early in my life.” I don’t say that because I think I’m some great preacher or orator. I’m not. I point this out to say there was a different kind of preaching common among brethren before this positive pulpit movement took hold of our preachers and churches.

The second thing that has always happened is that someone gets upset or offended because I used the name of some denomination or some false teacher. Other brethren have had meetings cancelled or have been blackballed for the same reasons. Jesus offended people to the point that they decided to kill him. Someone has rightly said of Paul that in every town he entered he either caused a revolution or a riot, and generally it was a riot.

I’m not looking for an apology. I am looking for brethren to repent (Rev. 2.5) and to develop the heart of Jesus and Paul (1 Cor. 11.1) who were willing to say what needed to be said by condemning sin (Luke 13.3; 1 Cor. 6.9-10), warning people of false teachers by connecting their names with their false doctrine (Luke 12.1; Matt. 23; 1 Tim. 1.20; 2 Tim. 2.17-18; cf. Eph. 5.11; 2 Pet. 2.1-2; 1 John 4.1), and often preaching “hell-fire and brimstone” (Matt. 25.41-46; 2 Thess. 1.7-10) even if it meant losing their lives, all the while “speaking the truth in love” (Eph. 4.15; cf. 2 Tim. 2.24-26).

Positive pulpits do not win people to Christ and they do not get people to heaven! This is true, not because the report says so, but because the Word of God says so! The responsibility of the preacher is to “preach the word; be urgent in season [and] out of season; reprove, rebuke and exhort with all long suffering and teaching” (2 Tim. 4.1-5). And it is the responsibility of elders and churches everywhere to demand this kind of preaching (cf. Acts 20.28; 1 Thess. 2.13). Preachers, resolve to preach like Paul who described his preaching in this way:

And I, brethren, when I came unto you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. (1 Cor. 2.1-5)

Much more could be said, but I pray this will help you understand the perils of the positive pulpit. As the Corinthian brethren burned their bad books (Acts 19.18-20) so should we do to all the positive pulpits and pens among us.

You can read the entire report by clicking here, or by copying and pasting one of the following addresses into your web browser:

http://www.crosswalk.com/pastors/11558438/print/
http://tinyurl.com/39klpb

That which has been is what will be,
That which is done is what will be done,
and there is nothing new under the sun.
- Ecclesiastes 1:9

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