Lyle Schaller, church consultant, addressed the influence and implication of consumerism in the church, at the recent Leadership Network conference, Gathering of Church Champions. He cited 3 major changes: (1) “Arrival of the ministry of the laity—lay people get satisfaction from ministry, not administration.” (2) “Unintended Consequences”, the ecumenical movement is the undermining of denominational distinctives, resulting in baby boomers and later generations paying little attention to denominational affiliation in choosing a church. (3) “Freedom to leave a church and go to another one as opposed to an earlier day when social pressures would have kept them at the first church. This partially explains the explosion in mega-churches that have the resources to supply the demands of a consumer population. (NetFax 1/18/99)
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