The Futility of the Seeker Movement

William E. Brown, PhD, associate professor of Evangelism and Church Planting and Nehemiah Project director at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina has written an article for SBC Life, The Seeker, that delves into the whole “seeker” movement. It is refreshing to see an article that acknowledges that man does not seek after God without God first changing the person’s heart and thus his desires.

I do wonder how many in the SBC will read this article and realize the folly of so many of the methods used to “Grow Churches.” From catching the next wave, currently Purpose, to organizing around a smorgasbord of “ancient” rituals (Emergent) churches seem to be more promoting the individual rather than God. The adage “what you do to bring them in you will need to do to keep them” when applied to the church means those churches that cater to the unregenerate will forever be having to change what they do. Also, how you evangelize says much about your view of the Gospel and that is clearly evident in today’s church growth movement. What is said is that man’s will is paramount to God’s sovereignty and just as important is that man’s desires trump scripture. Scripture is so clear, as seen in John 10, that only those that already belong to God, His sheep, will hear His voice so why does the church seem to look everywhere but scripture to “do” church? So biblically there is not such thing as an unregenerate seeker.

I pray that those that read this article will see the futility, regardless of the size of the church, of the seeker movement, in whatever form it presents itself, and change what they do. That they will replace results based evangelism with scripture based evangelism. I now that those that this article speaks about will claim to rely on scripture but I think this is simply a case of making scripture fit ones methods rather than methods fitting scripture. As with all things orthodoxy leads to orthopraxy, right doctrine leads to right practice.



For a video that asks “Do You Go To a “Me Church”, click on picture below.