What the Heck is McChurch?

"It's the Doctrine, Stupid!" Or, rather, it's the lack thereof in the worship of the American Dream

The
short answer to that question is that McChurch is the drive-through,
fast-food temple of the Christian Right. Grace is cheap at McChurch,
and the walls are bulging with seekers of a user-friendly Jesus who
can wash your sins away one moment and enroll you in the Republican
Party the next.

It
is estimated that there may be as many as thirty-million members of
McChurch – ten percent of the American public. Out of an estimated
ninety-million Evangelicals, that leaves sixty-million, more or less,
who are standing on the sidelines in shock.

Take
heart if you have been "McChurched," or eased out of this great
model of the dumbing down of God into Caesar. My book,  McChurched:
300 Million Served and Still Hungry, is
targeted toward your new ecclesiastical hope – the Church in Exile.
Not an official church, the Church in Exile is where all of us end
up who know there is something wrong with this AMWAY faith but don't
know quite what it is.

"It's
the doctrine, stupid!" Or rather, it's the lack thereof in the
worship of the American Dream.

I
must confess that I did not originate the word, McChurch. If you do
a keyword search in Google, you will find to your astonishment that
there are 31,000 pages directed to McChurch. If you check with
www.Answers.com,
you will find the following definition:

McChurch
is a McWord
and a derogatory
term used for a megachurch
based on the perception that such churches are more concerned with
entertainment than religion
(although some people, criticizing religion in general, use it in a
much wider context).

By
way of explanation, the Answers.com site implies that these churches
cater primarily to white, upper-middle-class suburbanites at the
expense of poorer citizens and require the use of an automobile to
get there. Such pesky Christian doctrines as original sin, the
sovereignty of God and the presence of the Kingdom of God often are
in short supply.

And,
by the way, the Sermon on the Mount is for a later time when Jesus
comes back to establish His kingdom in Jerusalem. Very convenient,
of course.

Because
the Kingdom of God is perceived as being away, its descent to earth
is often the focus of political policy in the Mid-East. If the
United States, God's instrument of judgment against evil in the
oil-rich world, can trigger the Battle of Armageddon, Jesus will have
to return to clean up the mess.

The
critical feature of McChurch, however, is that it be in growth mode,
be primarily Republican and adhere to a 5^th grade
theology, which is, of course, fine so long as you are in the 5^th
grade. But don't take my word for it.

One
of the McChurch pages is an article by Chuck Colson, famous Watergate
figure and evangelist: www.rebuildjournal,org/articles/McChurch.html.
The title to the article is, Welcome to McChurch:
Millions are Served, but Are They Fed? Upon
picking up a brochure from one megachurch, Colson exploded to his
wife, "Look at this nonsense! They're saying that you can do
whatever you want so long as it makes you happy! And they call this
church?"

Theologically,
McChurch tends toward wedge issues of sins not especially prevalent
in the congregation, like abortion and homosexuality. While the
American disease may very well be sin, the strategy for holy living
is to legislate the symptoms into the closet so that the nation will
at least take on the appearance
of holiness. The outside of the cup will, at least, be clean.

McChurch
is a fun target. There is, however, a very serious side to this
apostasy. The best way for me to convey that serious side is through
some thoughts from the forward to my book:

Over a stretch of nearly seven
decades, I have been a member of the Christian Right, a Republican, a
Democrat, a Baptist minister, a theologian and recently a Maine State
Representative.

Care has been taken to remove
the personal anguish that would threaten to distract you, the reader.
But it is important to me that you hear the great wail that emits
from my spirit. In the words of Mary Magdalene on the first Easter
morning, "They have taken my Lord away, and I don't know where
they have put Him" (Jn 20:13).

They have, indeed, taken our
Lord away and replaced Him with the American Dream of prosperity and
success. And they have moved on to the polling places to shake hands
and court votes.

It has been a long time coming,
but it is here at last. Core doctrines of the church have been
subsumed by whatever works best. The fruits of the Spirit have been
made obsolete by the gifts of the Spirit. Worship experience has
trumped relationship. And those who hunger and thirst after
righteousness are hard pressed to find it in the House of God.