Rise of the 'seeker-sensitive' church

A few years ago I started to read about this phenomenon in the church called the "seeker-sensitive movement", and I was fascinated for two reasons. First, it felt all too familiar. Some churches I have attended, and many others I have observed from afar, are right in the middle of this. Second, it was completely contrary to my understanding of what a biblical church should look like. But let us not get ahead of ourselves. It is important to define the issue properly so the real problem becomes clear.

The seeker-sensitive movement describes the phenomenon where churches begin to organise themselves around what I would call the “ideal attendee.” This idea is borrowed from the business world and often arises from "purpose-driven" or "vision-casting" models, where church leaders attempt to run the church like a start-up. The model begins by identifying a “customer” or “target audience,” followed by research into their interests, frustrations, and expectations. From there, the church develops a range of offerings designed to attract these people and is often willing to alter both the content and manner of church life in order to retain them. A lot of watering-down of doctrine and teaching is usually a by-product of this approach.

Now, it must be said plainly that a church does exist to serve its people. There is no dispute about that. The local church is called to care for the spiritual needs of its members and must be structured in a way that allows it to do so faithfully. It would not be surprising, for example, if a church with a large elderly population had ministries focused on later life, just as one would expect a church with many young families to give serious attention children’s ministry and parenting. Every church, to some extent, adapts its organisation in order to care well for those God has placed within it, and scripture itself recognises this diversity of need.

We see this principle reflected in Scripture. Apostle Paul, writing to Timothy, gives careful instruction on the treatment of widows within the church. He distinguishes between those who are truly in need and those who have family able to care for them, and he exhorts the church to act with wisdom and responsibility (1 Timothy 5:3-16). Similarly, in his letter to Titus, Paul outlines how older men, older women, younger women, and younger men are to be taught and shepherded (Titus 2:1-8). The church is clearly called to attentive, thoughtful, responsible, and practical care.

However, the anchor of that 'care' must always be the Scriptures. The church does not simply respond to needs as they are perceived, but does so in line with God’s Word. This applies not only to doctrine, but also to the way the church understands its purpose and mission. This is where the seeker-sensitive movement begins to drift.

The seeker-sensitive movement is not primarily about caring for the church as it already exists. It is not simply a matter of recognising the current demographic makeup of a congregation and deploying ministries to meet genuine needs. Rather, it looks outward and deliberately crafts strategies to attract outsiders by anticipating what they want and offering it to them. Some may not find this troubling. After all, they ask, should the church not be reaching the lost?

The difficulty with this, is that those we are "trying to attract" do not yet have a biblical understanding of truth or righteousness. Scripture is clear that the natural mind is not neutral toward God.

Paul writes to the Romans:

“For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot.” (Romans 8:7)

If the church allows itself to be shaped by the preferences of those who are still in rebellion against God, it will inevitably lose its distinctiveness and, eventually, its faithfulness. The result may still resemble a church in outward form, but its inner substance will have changed.

The church exists to gather believers so that they may grow in their faith. This is often misunderstood, but it is consistently how the church is described in the New Testament. The church is for Christians. We are indeed sent out from the church to evangelise the world, but the gathered church itself is for those who already belong to Christ and are being taught to walk in obedience. Paul writes that Christ gave shepherds and teachers to the church “to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ” (Ephesians 4:12). The emphasis is clear. The church gathers in order to form and strengthen believers.

This does not mean unbelievers should not attend church. Absolutely they can and they should! But the church cannot consistently organise itself around unbelievers while neglecting those within the fold. Even the parable of the lost sheep is often misused here. Christ was rebuking self-righteous religious leaders who despised repentant sinners, not suggesting that the ninety-nine sheep were unimportant (Luke 15:1-7).

The church is not designed or intended to be "attractive" to the world in the way the world defines attractiveness. Scripture prepares us for the opposite.

Our Lord said:

“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.” (John 15:18)

This should not surprise us. Yet we also trust in the power of the gospel to transform hearts, so that what people once hated they may come to love. The seeker-sensitive movement reverses this order. It assumes that attraction must come first and transformation later.

In practice, this rarely works. If people are brought to church on the promise of entertainment and spectacle, they will leave once the entertainment fades. Paul warned Timothy that a time would come when people would prefer teachers who suit their own desires rather than sound doctrine (2 Timothy 4:3). The seeker-sensitive approach often accelerates this problem.

“For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions.” (2 Timothy 4:3)

Some churches put on elaborate shows, invite worldly entertainers, elevate celebrity culture, and turn worship into another brand of secular performance. Others rebrand the church as a kind of self-help centre that exists to support people’s personal aspirations. This is a serious misrepresentation of what the church is. The church is not a self-help programme. We are not in the faith to become "better versions of ourselves" or to "achieve success in life". We are in the church to grow in our faith, to edify one another, to serve Christ, and to bear witness to the gospel (Acts 2:42).

At best, and I am being charitable here, many of these churches may have good intentions but are wrong in their approach. If the gospel is known, yet people are invited under false pretences, that is deception. Some justify this by believing that the end justifies the means, but Scripture gives no such permission.

Paul writes:

“We have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God’s word.” (2 Corinthians 4:2)

God’s work must be done in God’s way.

It is likely that some churches began down this path with sincere intentions. But sincerity cannot replace obedience. When the church loses its way, the answer is not innovation, but repentance. Not reinvention, but return.

The church must once again give itself to what Scripture emphasises. In the church we must hear about repentance and faith, Christian conduct, prayer, the study of God’s Word, endurance in persecution, faithful preaching of the gospel, and the hope of Christ’s return (Acts 20:21; Ephesians 4:20-24; Titus 2:11-13). These things may not appeal to the world, but they are the life of the church.