I got an email this week about promoting a "Christian Cruise" to raise money for my ministry. I learned that I can make money for my ministry and possibly even get a free cruise for myself.
If you can't view the picture very well, the flyer says, "Come and be blessed as you enjoy pampering at sea, quality time, Christian concert performances, life changing seminars..."
This is blatantly "Consumer Christianity." I challenge the idea that being blessed equals "pampering at sea." Yes, Jesus says "My burden is easy and my yoke is light" but he also teaches that the way of the cross is difficult and that blessing from God is not always about pleasure, comfort, or whatever perceived need we have.
Am I alone in my thinking?
1 comment:
No, my friend, you are not alone. I had a similar reaction to something I got several years ago from John Maxwell's organization. Now I know Maxwell is much admired as a leadership guru, and there's a better than fair chance that the Lord will judge him to be fifty times the man of God I am. But this particular piece promoted a business conference that he wanted we churches to telecast, then send out invitations to all area businesses with the hookline, "We're the church that takes care of business!" My reaction? It isn't hard to find churches that want to reach upwardly mobile professional types. Where are the publicity campaigns by which we the Church show the world that "We're the church that takes care of AIDS sufferers...the unemployed...single moms...people who've failed." In other words, the people Jesus focused on.
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