Preference Slavery
Here I was sitting with a group to discuss what God was telling us about the type of people (church) he wants us to become. It was a focus group type setting lead by a Christian who was not part of our body. The leadership had asked us to be praying and listening to what God was saying to us. This was a time to debrief.
There was some really good results and input. Many took the assignment seriously and had devoted themselves to seeking God and listening as he spoke to them.
There was also comments like, “The music is to loud.†“Why can’t we sing more hymns.†“Its wrong to have that post-modern group meeting on Sunday night. They should come on Sunday morning like the rest of us.†“The youth program is not satisfying the needs of our family.†These are sincere and blessed people of God talking and I love them, but what they were saying is that their needs and preferences were not being satisfied.
My intent is not to disparage these wonderful people, but to use this experience to illustrate our continued need to shift the thinking of the average follower of Jesus away from our faith communities being a vendor of religious goods and services designed to meet “my needs,†to a people asking “What will it take to transform my community by the power of the gospel?†Not to do so is to become a slave to preference. And if you think this is only a problem with the institutional church, I believe you would be mistaken. I see much the same problem in all types of faith communities including many who consider themselves to be post-modern and/or emerging.
“One of the most important considerations in breaking the [missional] code is to break from our own preferences. Simply put, being missional does not mean doing things the way we like them. It means to take the gospel into the context where we have been called … and to some degree, to let the church take the best shape that it can in order to reach a specific culture. However, the problem is our preferences. You can’t be missional and pick what you like at the same time†(Breaking the Missional code, page 50).
Ed Stetzer says that the key to overcoming “preference slavery†(I love that phrase) is to become a slave to others and refers to Paul’s model given in 1 Corinthians 9:19-23.
As my fundamentalist pastor friend here might say (played by the great John Colbert), “What preference has you enslaved?â€
Lord, help me overcome my slavery to my preferences and become a slave to the preferences and culture of others.
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January 21st, 2007 at 7:41 pm
powerful post rick
I see the same thing in work with the churches I do
we must get beyond “whats the church doing for me” to “how will our church impact the kingdom”
this is the challenge of the modern church
January 21st, 2007 at 9:08 pm
Spot on Jerry. I only wish I had a easy solution or way of shifting the mind-set of the average Jesus follower.
January 21st, 2007 at 9:19 pm
Rick I think part of the problem is we are at the beginning of the curve. only 2 or 3% of people in the church “get” what we are talking about another 15 to 20% have had these thoughts but dont know what to do about them and are affraid to say anything. the rest - well - lets just say they don’t see any light yet its the law of the early adopter.
our task needs to be connect with the early adopters and provide a safe place for the other 15 to 20% to explore their thoughts and feelings without being crushed
January 21st, 2007 at 10:22 pm
Rick,
Interesting post and I agree with it. I do however find that what is true about “preference slavery” and what can be done to change is the monumental task. I think the reality is that where ever we have a “group, congregation, community” or what have you, we’ll always deal with the issue of “preference slavery”. And, to be perfectly honest, I don’t think “all” preference is wrong. I think a better way of looking at it is “entitlement slavery”. There is nothing wrong with having a good and honest preference, but when we begin to live with a sense of “entitlement”, then we’ve pushed the envelope too far. I think that is the major problem with “Church” as we know it today. Everyone feels they’re entitled to have it their way or we’re entitled to this or entitled to that…as if we really deserve anything. Maybe we can blame Burger King for that, after all they said we could all have it “Our Way”. :-)
January 21st, 2007 at 10:34 pm
Shannon: Good insight and I agree with you about our sense of “entitlement.” A preference is not wrong, but becoming a slave to those preferences is not good. So the emphases in the title (Preference Slavery) would be on slavery.
As a pastor, how do you deal with this issue?
January 22nd, 2007 at 8:04 am
To be honest, I don’t experience too much of it in my church. I think perhaps it’s because I believe in the old adage, “An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure.” I teach and preach regularly on idea that it’s “not about us”. This is something that I keep in the forefront of my ministry. When “preference slavery” or “entitlement” begins to rear it’s ugly head, it’s easier to steer the conversation back to these teachings. I think in a large way Pastors have to lead in this manner and most often, if the Pastor and the congregation have a good relationship, the congregation will follow suit with him. Just as a shepherd has to direct his sheep, I think the Pastor must direct the congregation or set the tone for the entire congregation.
January 22nd, 2007 at 8:14 am
Thanks for sharing Shannon.
January 22nd, 2007 at 8:19 am
Great post! The difficulty for me is in envisioning how a church would look after moving from vendor to missional. Specifically, how does a church seek to fit into its community without, at the same time, falling into a vendor mindset (asking “What do we need to do to reach the people around us” without that leading to a vendor mentality).
January 22nd, 2007 at 9:59 am
[...] (HT: Rick Meigs) [...]
January 22nd, 2007 at 10:15 am
I’ve been thinking lately about the church being a horrible place for evangelism…we spend far too much time catering to others, trying to “sell” Jesus…I’ve struggling with this and your post is helpful…why are we trying to make people happy in the church?…so difficult…graceandpeace…jeff
January 22nd, 2007 at 4:16 pm
Rick, Funny you should pose this question.; I’m working on a post that addresses this very issue as I ask the question, “can traditional churches become missional?” This is a monster of our own making, rooted in the same kind of thinking which brought us the church-growth movement, and now we’re reaping what we have sown. It is a very deeply seated problem, and one which, as you say, threatens the emerging church as well.
Simply put, as long as we are focused on ourselves we will not be focused on others, and true missional faith will elude us. Really, its the same thing God has been trying to teach us from page one, but few ever get it.
January 22nd, 2007 at 8:43 pm
Good stuff Jeff. The building we often mistake for the “church” is not the best place for the primary evangelist focus of the Body. Evangelism can and will occur there just like it will occur other places. The attractional model must be replaced with the incarnate model where we embody Jesus in our communities and proclaim His transformational message as we go.
January 22nd, 2007 at 8:45 pm
Webb: Looking forward to reading your post on “can traditional churches become missional?â€
January 22nd, 2007 at 8:49 pm
Adam. Good question. I think what I was attempting to focus on was how the average Jesus follower sees their faith community, i.e., as their one stop center for religious goods and services where they come once a week to get their spiritual fix. If they don’t like the menu of services, then they move on.
As a missional church, we certainly would serve the community and provide for all types of needs, but the focus of the members would move from themselves to others.