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When I think of “seeker friendly” as a label for a movement, I see one thing. And it’s a thing I’m not really a fan of.

When I see the words as simply their definition, I see it as a very good thing. Jesus was friendly to all seekers. He even healed quite a few. As were the apostles. But they didn’t put up with nonsense.

I see those that are really against the whole concept of “seeker friendly” sometimes as seeing it almost as a “even if it’s a miserable experience, if you are not going to church, your salvation is in question” type of attitude.

Having been in a southern gospel band in rural Kentucky for a couple of years, I’ve come across a LOT of small churches that, for me, present a miserable church experience. In fact, I commented to someone in the band about the message from a pastor that was not even prepared. He just rambled. Their response, and I kid you not, is that when a pastor prepares his sermon, it is from him, but when he just shows up and lets the spirit lead him, it is from God.

Just wow. And the latter resulted in an insult and utter lack of respect for the time of the people sitting in the pews. I honestly sometimes wondered if they were their “putting in their time” just in case that hell thing is real and they’re just “hedging their bets” on eternity.

It was a very sad situation in a lot of these churches. At least that was my perception.

Of all the non-denominational seeker-oriented churches, large and small, that my wife and I tried back home in Texas and here in Florida, all of them were too "clique-ish". There was always an inside group that made everyone outside feel like, well, outsiders.

Also, I felt they were a little too light in the gospel. The preacher told feel good stories to uplift you, but did not get much into the Biblical references they used to anchor their sermons.

My wife now attends a "small" mega-church in Ocala and volunteers as a greeter. I prefer to stay home and study the Bible on my own.

YMMV...

Had a pastor years ago make this statement regarding reaching the “unchurched”:

“What you win them with is what you win them to.”

We are a small church that has struggled to maintain our membership. But we faithfully serve the community by aiding the needy, running a knapsack program through a local elementary school to give families food for their children to eat over the weekends during school, operating an after-school program on Wednesday afternoon where they are fed and fellowship, and finally, just preaching the Gospel message . . . as Paul put it, preaching Christ crucified . . . done so in a rational, dignified way. We also provide meaningful support fpr a mission effort of 6 ministers and churches in Haiti.

We don’t have praise bands, but we sing meaning-rich, quality music. We don’t have bowling alleys, but we do have outdoor volleyball and basketball courts and a small fenced playground for younger kids.

We do all that with an active membership of just over 100. If that approach does not result in a healthy congregation and growth that sustains our church, so be it. We just try to be faithful real mission of the church. Right now our church is solid and very healthy financially, but it is aging quickly. I do not expect a strong congregation ten years from now.

Excellent article.

“For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren; and whom He predestined, these He also called; and whom He called, these he also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.”

Romans 8:29-30

[Past tense in God’s mind—this has been done.]

True believers in the Lord Jesus Christ,
we have so much to be grateful for!

A key statement in the article is one I've been making for years, which completely contravenes the "seeker sensitive" narrative:

"Thousands of churches here and abroad have completely restructured themselves as outreach centers for the unchurched. This, by the way, is not biblical. The church is for the maturing and equipping of the saints, who then go out to reach the lost."

The church body is the incubator for new Christians and a training camp for more mature believers for the battle which is to be fought OUTSIDE its walls. If we allow all manner of unbelievers in to dictate what they want the Church to be, for them, a recipe of disaster is brewing.

This might take a gargantuan task of rethinking what church is all over from scratch. But that's what's needed.