OPINION (CP) – Matt Chandler, lead pastor of The Village Church in Flower Mound, Texas, recently criticized the amusement-driven church and encouraged Christians to participate in the Body of Christ for the purposes of discipleship and community — not entertainment. In a sermon delivered May 12, Chandler shared how, shortly after he began his ministry at The Village Church, his congregation grew from several hundred to several thousand. “My passion has not changed. I do not want to be a conference speaker.
That is not what we’re doing,” he said. “You and I are so overstimulated, you and I are so overwhelmed with fast-paced, energized entertainment that we have developed a real idealized sense of life with a real low pain tolerance. The Church herself no longer is about discipleship, no longer is about being shaped, no longer is it about being formed. It’s about being entertained in the gathering.” While The Village Church continues to expand, the pastor emphasized that his plan is “not to ever develop an arena culture.” READ MORE
