New Series: Beyond American Churchianity: The Consumer in the Pew

This is Part 1 of a 6-part series examining how consumer culture has infiltrated American Christianity and what Scripture teaches about authentic fellowship.

We live in a consumer culture, and none of us is immune to its influence. Walk into any store, browse any website, or scroll through any app, and you’re immediately positioned as a customer with preferences to be satisfied, needs to be met, and desires to be fulfilled. This isn’t necessarily wrong in the marketplace; it’s simply how commerce works.

But something troubling happens when this same mindset follows us into our Christian fellowships.

The Subtle Shift

Consider how we often talk about our experience with local fellowships. We “shop around” for the right fit. We evaluate the music, the preaching style, the programs offered. We ask questions like, “What can this fellowship do for me?” or “How does this make me feel?” We might even leave when our preferences aren’t met or our expectations aren’t fulfilled.

Sound familiar? It should—it’s the same language we use when choosing a restaurant, a gym, or a streaming service.

I’m not suggesting that discernment is wrong. Scripture calls us to test all things and hold fast to what is good (1 Thessalonians 5:21). We ought to seek fellowships where God’s Word is faithfully taught, where Christ is exalted, and where biblical community flourishes. But there’s a profound difference between spiritual discernment and consumer preference.

The Heart of the Problem

When we approach church fellowship as consumers, we fundamentally misunderstand what we’re walking into. We’re not customers entering a religious marketplace; we are family members coming home. We’re not clients seeking services; we are disciples called to serve. We’re not individuals pursuing personal fulfillment; we are members of one body called to build up one another.

The consumer mentality asks, “What can you do for me?” The biblical mentality asks, “How can I serve?” Scripture calls us to “outdo one another in showing honor” (Romans 12:10) and reminds us that “as each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace” (1 Peter 4:10-11).

• The consumer looks for comfort; the disciple expects to be challenged.
• The consumer seeks entertainment; the worshiper comes to offer praise.
• The consumer evaluates based on personal preference; the believer evaluates based on biblical truth.
  

Consider how the apostle Paul describes our role in the body of Christ: “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ… If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together” (1 Corinthians 12:12, 26). This is the language of mutual interdependence, not consumer transactions.

The Deeper Issue

This consumer approach doesn’t just affect how we choose fellowships; it shapes how we participate in them. When we’ve mentally positioned ourselves as customers, we expect our preferences to be catered to, our comfort to be prioritized, and our satisfaction to be maintained. When they’re not, we take our “business” elsewhere.

But Scripture paints a different picture. We’re called to “bear with one another in love” (Ephesians 4:2), to “consider others more significant than yourselves” (Philippians 2:3), and to “build up the body of Christ” (Ephesians 4:12). This requires commitment, sacrifice, and a willingness to be shaped by the community as much as we shape it.

Paul’s instruction to the Corinthians is particularly relevant: “Let all things be done for building up” (1 Corinthians 14:26). Notice that the focus isn’t on personal satisfaction but on the edification of others. When we come to fellowship, asking first how we can contribute to the building up of the body, we’ve begun to think biblically rather than commercially.

A Gentle Invitation to Reflect

Before we explore this further in the coming posts, I invite you to examine your own heart. How do you approach your local fellowship? What criteria do you use when evaluating teaching, worship, or community? Are you primarily asking what you can receive or what you can contribute?

This isn’t about condemnation; it is about the transformation of our minds and hearts. We all carry the residue of our consumer culture into our Christian walk. The question is whether we will allow God’s Word to renew our minds and reshape our expectations.

In our next post, we’ll explore how the very structure of many modern fellowships—driven by fiefdom and franchise mentalities—actually enables and encourages this consumer approach. Understanding these systemic issues will help us see why individual heart change, while necessary, isn’t sufficient to address this problem.

The goal isn’t to make us feel guilty about our consumer tendencies, but to help us discover the joy and purpose that comes from genuine fellowship, where we serve and are served, where we give and receive, where we’re challenged to grow rather than simply affirmed in our preferences.

After all, we weren’t designed to be customers of the gospel. We were designed to be disciples, and disciples find their deepest satisfaction not in being served, but in serving others for the glory of Christ.

SDG