Articles for tag: Seeker Sensitive

April 8, 2012

By Nathan Smith A few years back, I led worship on a regular basis at a midsized suburban church that was made up primarily of white, middle-class Americans. I often would speak with the pastor, a good friend, about the church”s “brand” and where he felt God was leading it. The worship gatherings were musically and aesthetically appealing, but I couldn”t get over the fact that we were “selling” a product completely disconnected from the worshipping body. The services were being designed for visitor Q rather than the Christian church member. (A bit of a disclaimer here, I do believe

January 10, 2011

Christian Standard

Apologetics & Worldview

The Cure for Moralistic Therapeutic Deism

By Jon Weatherly Nothing alarms church folk quite so much as problems with the young folk. So it was about five years ago with Christian Smith and Melinda Lundquist Denton”s book, Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers. Smith and Denton”s research produced the phrase “moralistic therapeutic deism” to describe the typical American teen”s view of God. It”s “deism” because the god of the typical teen is mostly distant and uninvolved. It”s “therapeutic” because that distant god still wants everyone to have a happy life and occasionally is willing to get involved when a person has an

September 27, 2006

Mark A. Taylor

Mission & Evangelism

The Lobby Test

Vince Antonucci’s “lobby test” reveals whether churches are reaching people who have never attended church before. His challenge invites congregations to see themselves through outsiders’ eyes and pursue Jesus’ mission to seek and save the lost.