{"id":89963,"date":"2025-09-01T14:19:55","date_gmt":"2025-09-01T19:19:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=89963"},"modified":"2025-09-01T14:19:55","modified_gmt":"2025-09-01T19:19:55","slug":"seeker-friendly-churches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/seeker-friendly-churches\/","title":{"rendered":"Seeker-Friendly Churches"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t<p>by Perry Hall<\/p>\n&#8220;How can we get the unchurched to come to church?&#8221; This important question was asked by a certain soon-to-be &#8220;mega-church&#8221; Pastor. His answer came from listening to the radio. Soon, his church was modeling its worship services after what the world liked in music. Their attendance grew.<br \/>\nThis method became the practice of many seeker-friendly churches. Their approach is found in a book called <em>A Purpose-Driven Church<\/em>, by Rick Warren. If you search &#8220;seeker-friendly church&#8221;, here is what you find:\n<p>A &#8220;seeker-friendly&#8221; or &#8220;seeker-sensitive&#8221; church intentionally designs itself to be attractive to the &#8220;unchurched&#8221;. Sounds thoughtful. The primary goal is to create an environment that is free from intimidation by traditional church practices. Again, sounds like good intentions.<\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s the problem: These churches decided to let the world determine how they would worship God. Instead, churches should let God decide how God should be worshiped by churches!<\/p>\n<p>Attendance increased, but discipleship did not grow. Even those in the mega-church revolution are realizing the errors produced from prioritizing Seeker-Friendly agendas:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Compromised biblical truth for worldly appeal (the same issue with modern &#8220;Affirming Churches&#8221;), instead of repentance for God&#8217;s kingdom.<\/li>\n<li>Shallow sermons and worship where feelings lead and are substituted for spirituality.<\/li>\n<li>The gospel is viewed as a product to be marketed and sold, rather than a life-changing message.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Sadly, &#8220;Churches of Christ&#8221; started following this approach. Like so many &#8220;Golden Calf&#8221; practices borrowed and imitated, the &#8220;Churches of Christ&#8221; begin a generation later and discover the same errors a generation after the Denominational world stops. Unlike the original Seeker-Friendly churches, which allowed the world to determine how to worship God, &#8220;Churches of Christ&#8221; are allowing other churches to be their model. And often attendance will grow.<\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s the solution:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Don&#8217;t follow the world.<\/li>\n<li>Don&#8217;t follow denominations.<\/li>\n<li>Don&#8217;t follow &#8220;successful&#8221; movements.<\/li>\n<li>Don&#8217;t follow business models.<\/li>\n<li>Don&#8217;t follow &#8220;church traditions&#8221;.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><strong>Follow God as presented in His Word.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Perry Hall &#8220;How can we get the unchurched to come to church?&#8221; This important question was asked by a certain soon-to-be &#8220;mega-church&#8221; Pastor. His answer came from listening to the radio. Soon, his church was modeling its worship services after what the world liked in music. Their attendance grew. This method became the practice&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[300,152],"class_list":["post-89963","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-denominations","tag-social-activities"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":54001,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-we-looking-for-questions-or-answers\/","url_meta":{"origin":89963,"position":0},"title":"Are We Looking for Questions or Answers?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 22, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer There is a difference between the one who is constantly seeking questions and the one who is seeking answers. The following is not intended to be a list of hard rules with no exceptions. Rather, these are observations I have found to be fairly typical in my\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":69676,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/leaving-the-church\/","url_meta":{"origin":89963,"position":1},"title":"Leaving the Church","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 7, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Perry Hall Meditate on this thought: \"What I believe about God's word is more important than how people treat me.\" Many people will leave churches where they are mistreated and start worshiping with a friendly church that practices and teaches things contrary to what they believe. Whether they want\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":95705,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/plant-the-word-not-churches\/","url_meta":{"origin":89963,"position":2},"title":"Plant the Word, Not Churches","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 19, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Clay Gentry In today's religious marketplace, \"church planting\" has become a specialized industry. It's a world of demographic maps, branding consultants, and launch strategies borrowed more from Corporate America than from the New Testament. Some say the secret to reaching the lost lies in the novelty of a new\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":33715,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/canceled\/","url_meta":{"origin":89963,"position":3},"title":"Canceled!","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 26, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jefferson David Tant During our recent Christmas holidays, several churches around the country canceled their Sunday services. Some of the statements made by church spokesmen probably revealed more than they realized, as they not only reflected an attitude towards the mistaken idea concerning the birth of Christ but an\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":46596,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/choosing-a-church\/","url_meta":{"origin":89963,"position":4},"title":"Choosing a Church","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 4, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"by Edward O. Bragwell, Sr. The New Testament teaches that there is but one church and also that there are\u00a0many\u00a0churches. Paul said he persecuted \"the church\u00a0(singular)\u00a0of God\" (I Corinthians 15:9). The record shows that he persecuted Christians in various places. In the same epistle, he spoke of \"the churches (plural)\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":44197,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-does-it-seem-that-there-isnt-that-much-difference-between-the-christian-church-and-the-churches-of-christ\/","url_meta":{"origin":89963,"position":5},"title":"Why does it seem that there isn&#8217;t that much difference between the Christian Church and the churches of Christ?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 16, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi, When I was 15, I was baptized in a church of Christ. Originally the church had been non-instrumental but later used an organ and piano. The minister was also a professor of Greek at a nearby college. If the Christian Church has so many differences, as is indicated\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89963","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89963"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89963\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}