I agree that this is not worship and, as you say, counterproductive.
But what would you say of a service that has all of these things (prayer, supplication, humility, repentance) AND simple-to-sing songs? There is no cause and effect between the two, in my opinion.
We pray, we confess, we praise, we read the Word, we hear a sermon on the word, we have a Baptist-style invitation (shhh, don't tell the other Methodists...) .
Anyway, I agree that seeker churches are empty calories, but I also believe that once someone is truly saved, they'll be moved by the spirit to leave for a deeper kind of worship.
just fyi, the form of music doesn't get me too fired up...so long as the lyrics aren't "me" centered and doctrinally erroneous. Scripture says we can lift holy hands and all that, so I don't get very bent out of shape about how the music sounds. Me, I would love all the music to be Bach. But that's probably a minority opinion.....electric keyboards, drums, etc. I don't really mind. It's all about the content.
I would say that if all those things were being done, and being done from Godly motives, then the congregation would see no need for pop-christianity tunes, and would grit their teeth at the sugary-sweetness of them.
I would say that congregation is on spiritual meat, and has no need for powdered milk.
>>Anyway, I agree that seeker churches are empty calories, but I also believe that once someone is truly saved, they'll be moved by the spirit to leave for a deeper kind of worship.<<
Why would any God-fearing church be satisfied with scriptural shallowness and surface-level worship? I simply don't understand the argument for the need of "starter-churches", and I certainly wouldn't have anything to do with one who was satisfied being a first-stage church only.
After I was saved, I left our "seeker" church for a more theologically sound church. Not because I was "ready" to move on to phase 2, but because with my new eyes I saw the blatant apostacy of the church we were in and it offended me. As the spiritual leader of my family, I was wracked with the obligation to lead my family to a solid church rooted in sound doctrine.
This isn't fun n' games, this is eternity we're talking here. There was no time to waste.