‘Bait And Switch’, Seeker-Sensitive Style

I was reading an article from the ‘New Covenant’ blog by a e-blog friend Rusty Lopez entitled “When Church Becomes Frivolous… ” Rusty said this thought

Evidently there is a push to get “small-groups” going, which is a good thing. Of course, in keeping with the seeming current trend, they weren’t referred to as small-groups. Rather, they were called connecting-groups. Okay, no big deal, a rose is still a rose…

that eventually led to my response in his blog as documented below:

…” Okay, no big deal, a rose is still a rose…”

That’s the point Rusty. When something that we have known by one name (small-groups) is now called another name (connecting groups), the implication is that the new name shows a ‘fresher’, a ‘more anointed’, and a ‘cutting edge’ thing when it is really the same old tried and worn out thing.

That is one major thing wrong with the seeker-sensitive module. They renamed everything to imply a ‘new and improved’ Christianity in the name of ‘breaking paradigms’ when it’s really the same thing. If this was a consumer product, we would deem this false advertising and call it ‘bait and switch’ and contact the state attorney general to do something about it.

After I typed my comments and pressed the ‘OK’ button. I had more thoughts about this

‘Bait and Switch’ is a salesmanship tactic where a particular product is advertised at a certain price by a business. The consumer, whose interest is peaked for this particular product and/or the price of this product, goes to the business to inquire about the product. The business, with no intent to sell the particular product at the advertised price will tell the inquiring customer something like this:

‘I’m sorry, we just sold out of this product. However, I do have an equivalent or higher quality product here (and non-discerning consumers usually get a lower quality product at a higher quality price) that can be purchased for ‘x’ amount (usually higher). ”

The consumer has two choices of either standing his ground and leave the business without their desired product at the desired price or cave in and purchase the ‘equivalent’ product at a different price. The consumer, when realizing that this was a ‘bait and switch’ will call the applicable attorney general of his state and report the business for legal actions to come against the business.

Here is what the ’seeker sensitive’, PoMo, and emergent churches have done in the name of calling their actions ‘God’s new thing’, “more anointed’ or ‘breaking the old paradigm’

The Church of the Emergent has advertised in their glitzy and glossy information pamphlet their “Malachi Made Men” ministry geared towards men. In the description, they describe their men’s ministry as the ‘cutting edge’ thing God is doing on planet earth to his ’special remnant men’ that is different from the men’s ministry their dad participated in. This ministry is available to all men at the cost of going to a meeting every other Tuesday. So an interested man with his interest perked decides to invest a Tuesday evening to visit the “Malachi Made Men” ministry meeting. He goes to the meetings over time and observes the actions and activities done during the ministry meetings were ‘no different’ that the meetings his dad and he as a younger Christian man went to. He realizes that these meetings were not the ‘cutting edge’ and ‘anointed meetings of the remnant’ as advertised. This man has two choices of either standing his ground and refusing to be swayed by the lie of the same old stuff called ‘new and improved’ to ‘break the paradigm’ and expose it to later on be deemed a ‘cursed heretic’ or he can swallow the pablum hands down and invest in the same old stuff at the so-called new and improved price.

Unfortunately, in many cases, the only ‘attorney general’ that this man can complain about having the Gospel ‘bait and switched’ to is God Almighty because the entire church (and denomination headquarters if applicable) and leadership is ran like the shady business listed above and all the leadership and employees are behind the grand scheme. The church really believes that by changing the name of the same old stuff that other churches call it and deeming it ‘the fresh anointing’,that they are God’s special people set apart and above other churches. The best solution for this man who realizes that the ‘new thing’ is usually a ‘bait and switch’ of a new name behind an old method falsely advertised as ‘new and improved’ is to leave, not buy into the programs and go elsewhere for his spiritual nourishment.

When will we start calling a ’spade’, a spade instead of calling the spade a diamond? When will we call the chuch a church instead of a ‘family worship center’? When will we start being honest and forthright again. When a church does these spiritualized ‘bait and switch’ tactics in God’s name of implying that they are the ‘cutting edge’ church and every other church is not and below them spiritually, they are simply liars.

Let’s call the spade (liars) a spade (liar). Not the spade (liars) a club (truth).