Abandon the consumeristic Christian virus

This post is from the defunct blog “Dying Church”

iMonk on The Christian-Industrial Complex:

Get yourself and your families out of this mess. Look at what's happening and say NO to it. Pastors: Talk to your people about books worth reading. Get your sermons from the Bible, not some marketer. Critique the fads. Most of all, present the savior and the call to follow him. Tell Lifeway to take their next marketing ploy to the shredder. Resist the remaking of the Christian faith into buying stuff, wearing stuff, going to stuff, doing programs and spending money. Remake your Christian experience this year into something that's not just another fad. Get angry if you need to, or just quietly say "I'm not part of this anymore." Get off the train and walk. Wave at the sheep on their way to the next sheep convention to get a sheep shirt and a bag of sheep books.

Get your people reading the Bible, reading good books, talking to each other, doing ministry in your community and grounded in simple Christianity. Reduce your consumeristic discipleship by half, and then look at the half that's left and see what you really think of it. Jesus said that if we find the treasure in the field, we don't buy, we sell. We give away. It's a revolution, not a convention or a market. Jesus went to a religious marketplace once. It didn't turn out well.