I was spoken to by a member of a new church building located not too far from where I exercise my ministry. This person spoke of how that with their new building, its facilities, etc. they were hoping to "attract" (his words) new people to the church.
I think the problem with an attractional model is that it fundamentally contradicts the teachings of Jesus, especially that we can’t be his disciples unless we deny ourselves, pick up our crosses and follow him.
The attractional model is based on “come here and see all the stuff we can give you” and Jesus gets buried deep in all the "stuff" we reckon we've got . It may be well-intentioned (maybe) but it ends up as consumerism with a little Jesus sprinkled on top.
We’ve rightly shared that life with Jesus is life to the full but in countless ways we’ve sold the notion that you can live without first dying. It may not be catchy or appeal to felt needs, but an important part of the Church’s message is “you need to die… we can help.” But until WE die to self (individually and corporately), such a message rings hollow.
The church has too frequently preached Jesus’ “deny your self” message when what we’ve really meant is deny yourself as an individual, give to “the church”, then we can live selfishly as a group - the best Sunday morning show, the nicest coffee area, the biggest and best childen's area, etc. etc.
How did it come to this?!
You can see the problem throughout Christendom in the building of elaborate cathedrals, but I think the full blown attractional/consumeristic model is a fairly recent phenomenon. As I see it, maybe its just grown to the point that we can no longer avoid wrestling with it.
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