Been to any "modern" churches or church websites, lately? Here's a few examples:
Irving Bible Church (TX)
Prestonwood Baptist Church (TX)
Fellowship Church (TX)
Lakewood Church (TX)
Very slick. Almost as much Flash animation as as a sports-related site (that's not a compliment). Stock photos of beautiful, happy, shiny, well-fed, well-dressed, trendy people. Is this what the church is supposed to look like? Why are we marketing "the church" like we're some cheesy consumer-products business?
It seems like it starts when things in a church get better organized. When churches are smaller, there are fewer rules, things happen without much overhead, and there's a little more freedom to fail. When the church starts to get bigger (called "success"), more people are involved, the relationships are harder, and there's more to "loose" if you fail.
This same pattern happens in businesses. And the larger a business is, the more they try to get a handle on this complexity. The fruits of this labor is called QUALITY. There's quality standards (ISO 9000, for instance), quality methods (Total Quality Management, Six Sigma, etc.), quality competitions (Malcolm Baldridge Award), etc. These implement ways for business to manage the various levels of complexity in their organizations in an efficient way -- for the purpose of meeting customer expectations.
Churches have seen this, and noticed that they struggle with the same things. Little by little churches start adapting the methods, practices, and concepts of quality from the business community.
The problem is that quality does not mean a high standard of excellence. When it comes to businesses, quality means a very repeatable standard of excellence. In other words, McDonalds -- hands down a leader in business quality -- offers up a high-quality product: The Big Mac. I would not say that it's excellent, highly precise, or really even good. However, if you order a Big Mac in New York, and another one in California -- you will get the exact same thing. This is what business calls quality. (It's probably different from what you mean by "quality.")
One great effect this has on businesses is that customers rarely end up with a dud or a lemon or a defective part. The customer knows exactly what he's getting when he pays money to get the product. He knows there's very little risk of being disappointed. However, one minor side effect of this is that exceptionally great products don't get to the customer either. It's not because they're weeded out, but because the processes and procedures tend to prevent them from happening. (For example, you'll never get a Big Mac with ground sirloin for the meat.)
Churches adopt this way of thinking, and they end up with nice, neat, clean, wealthy, beautiful churches. Full of beautiful people serving God. Purpose-filled churches. Very safe. Very marketable.
So, what do you think? Total quality churches: good or bad? Is that what God wants? How have you seen it happen (or not happen)? What does it look like? Let me know. I've got more to say, but this article is already too long.
I hate long blog posts. I've implemented a policy that all blog posts shall be between 300 and 700 words, 2-6 external links, 0-2 photos, and at least 1 lame joke.
