A seismic shift is underway in the visible Protestant church—a shift that, in just the last decade, has begun to redefine Christianity itself. This is not a peripheral trend, but a wholesale transformation driven by movements that substitute market logic for apostolic doctrine. The most prominent of these is the Purpose Driven (Seeker Friendly) Church Growth Movement, which has rapidly gained ground by trading the authority of Scripture for the allure of corporate management and consumer appeal. The result is not renewal, but a drift toward a counterfeit system that undermines the very heart of the gospel.
The Market-Driven Church: A False Foundation
This movement, popularized by Rick Warren and shaped by the philosophies of C. Peter Wagner, Robert Schuller, and even secular management theorist Peter Drucker, has imported the tools of the corporate world directly into the church. Churches now blanket neighborhoods with demographic surveys, not to discern spiritual need, but to craft a church model tailored to the preferences of the local population. The goal is not faithfulness to Christ, but maximum appeal to the unregenerate.
To achieve this, anything that might offend the target demographic is systematically removed from the pulpit. The gospel is not denied outright, but it is quietly set aside—its core doctrines minimized or omitted entirely. The official statements of faith may remain orthodox on paper, but the lived reality is one of calculated silence. The church becomes “seeker sensitive,” not by accident, but by design, and the truth is sacrificed for the sake of comfort.
Appealing to the Natural Man: The Gospel Emptied of Power
Scripture is unambiguous: “The natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him” (1 Corinthians 2:14). The message of the cross is, to the world, utter folly—yet it is the very power of God to those who are being saved (1 Corinthians 1:18). To build the church by appealing to the natural man is to gut the message of its power and to fill the assembly with those who have never been born of the Spirit.
When doctrine is minimized and the offense of the cross is removed, the church ceases to be the pillar and ground of the truth. Instead, it becomes a gathering where unbelievers feel perfectly at home—unchallenged, unregenerate, and untouched by the call to repentance and faith in Christ’s blood. The gospel is not merely diluted; it is displaced.
Redefining the Church: From Body of Christ to Social Club
The agenda of the seeker-friendly movement is clear: redefine the church’s purpose to “meet the felt needs” of unbelievers. The focus shifts from equipping the saints for the building up of the Body of Christ to providing psychological and social benefits—community, significance, a sense of purpose. These are not the fruits of the Spirit, but the goals of a therapeutic culture. The church becomes a place for self-fulfillment, not for reconciliation to God.
Fallen man is always eager for spirituality that does not require submission to Christ. He seeks religious experience, but not the cleansing of conscience that comes by the blood. The seeker-sensitive system offers exactly what the flesh desires: spiritual trappings without the offense of the cross, belonging without repentance, and affirmation without new birth.
The Consequence: Churches Filled with Tares, Not Wheat
The fruit of this movement is devastating. Multitudes now fill the pews—many of whom have never heard the true gospel, never been confronted with the claims of Christ, and never been taught the foundational doctrines of the faith. The church, married to the world through its seeker-friendly agenda, is increasingly populated by tares rather than wheat. In many assemblies, the unregenerate now outnumber the saints.
What is lost in this exchange is nothing less than the gospel itself. Where the message of the cross is set aside, justification by faith is obscured, sonship is replaced by self-help, and the inheritance of the saints is traded for the fleeting comforts of this age. The church’s witness is compromised, its conscience dulled, and its power nullified. This is not a secondary matter—it is salvific. To embrace this counterfeit system is to abandon the very foundation laid by Christ and His apostles.
The Only Remedy: Return to the Apostolic Gospel
We must not be deceived: the church cannot be built by the wisdom of this world. The Body of Christ is formed and sustained only by the proclamation of Christ crucified, risen, and coming again. Any system that seeks to attract the world by minimizing the offense of the cross is, in the end, a system that denies the gospel’s power to save.
Let us return, then, to the message that alone brings life: repentance toward God and faith in the redeeming blood of Christ. Anything less is not merely inadequate—it is a betrayal of our inheritance and a surrender of the church’s birthright. The time for compromise has passed. The call is clear: contend for the faith once delivered to the saints, and refuse every counterfeit that would rob Christ of His glory and His people of their hope.
