There is a phenomenon among Christianity these days. It’s called the seeker friendly church and boy, is it ever growing. I’m talking mega-church, mega growth. We know that God is all about increase, “not willing that any should perish, but all should come to repentance.” Jesus’ command to go into all the world and make disciples and the prayer of Jabez, are some of many examples of increase. So we conclude; growth is good, growth is God. While it is true that only God gives the increase, it is likewise true that the flesh profits nothing.
So now we’re left with the challenge of defining true increase. When Jesus met the fleshly needs of the 4,000 and the 5,000, He had the multitudes. (fish/loaves) But when He spoke of “taking up your cross” and “a kernel of wheat must fall to the ground and die”, a very different crowd was present. There is a great difference between being a follower and being a disciple. One is committed to the profitability, the other is committed to the sacrifice. The reality of humanity is that there is an attraction to the path of least resistance. Many are called, few are chosen. The seeker friendly recipe includes positive uplifting messages, recreational gatherings and easy believism. There is nothing wrong with those topics in and of themselves. Taboo topics include preaching on sin, hell, spiritual warfare, or getting extreme in any way. It’s sort of like telling God to be politically correct. While there are many wonderful people in the seeker camp, their focus is on programs and church. What’s lacking is seeking the face of God and desiring His presence. That’s why you’ll never see “snot-slingin’” repentance and the undignified dance of King David. I fear the seeker mentality is like that of the Israelites at Sinai telling Moses to go seek God and then tell us what He said. The highest priority of leadership is to teach the people to feed themselves. Even though one may do charitable acts and be a great giver, is he able to feed himself…or others? When the church incorporates worldly systems, then sprinkle it with a little bit of God, what results can we expect?
Sure, if you want to put the breaks on the prophetic, your services will be neat and tidy and your warfare will decrease, but so will your opportunity to grow spiritually. The seeker friendly appears to be cutting edge contemporary, but is in reality only culturally current tradition. Without the prophetic with all its warts and blemishes, church is a lukewarm history lesson. The prophetic is God’s true cutting edge ministry. With its positive, rational thinking, the people friendly church will struggle during tribulation and end time events. Only where the revelatory operates and God’s rhema voice is heard, can one be positioned for victory. Once you have tasted the prophetic, programs will no longer satisfy. Let us labor to be “God friendly” where He’ll get the glory and our increase will be true increase!
contributed by Mark Perkins
