Attractional Evangelism
False teachers will build a theme around your insecurities and invite you to cast them off because of who you are in God or how God sees you or something along those lines - only further securing you into the darkness of trying to be your own god. They read you the scriptures wrong so that they mean different things than they actually mean. We don't have an insecurity problem, Biblically, we have a security in sin problem and need to be plucked out of there by Jesus.
If you're insecure, you don't find your security deep down in yourself because some other louder human hasn't pointed that out to you yet. True security and eternal contentment comes with a transformed heart by the Holy Spirit through faith in Christ from scripture. Suddenly, God's Word starts to make sense, and following it becomes a joyous thing rather than a confusing cloud that I want to rebel from and avoid. Do not, "lay down your insecurities on the altar" as I heard Craig Groeschel say. Only holy sacrifices were ever accepted by God...it's why our works don't save us. Only Jesus' sacrifice was worthy.
Attractional evangelism can be a useful tool if used properly...but that's hard to do. If relied upon too heavily, or if placed as the central strategy to get people in our doors week in and week out, it teaches people to be consumers of a professionalism and an excellence standard that the church has to then always continue upward or the people will lose interest. Our greatest fear in church now is boredom. Now, none of us WANT it to be boring because Jesus is ALIVE, but if we're constantly jingling colorful, noisy, and shiny keys in front of babies instead of truly seeking the Lord through the Word in our services, we will end up with thousands upon thousands of false converts, and starving sheep. The Holy Spirit and the Word end up taking back seats to our awesomely creative work. When we do that, we end up leading people to become devoted followers of our organizations, rather than Christ alone. Suddenly, the church down the road is antiquated.
They aren't cool and exciting, so they there's NO WAY I'm going there, right? They don't have nearly as much to offer, and I can't feel the music like I could at the other church. Look, the hard truth is, we can't make much of Jesus in our buildings if we are attracting people with carnal means. We only have their attention for maybe 4 hours a month, and we want to use ANY of that time to bring the decaying culture into the context of the church to prove that we're cool? We NEED our services to, first and foremost, honor Christ. Just because there are a lot of people involved in something, or it gives you feelings of spirituality, or makes you want to be a better person, or claims to belong to Christ...that is no indication that the people at that church are people of the Book. I believe God wants us to strategize and work, but never at the cost of His glory. How would He be most pleased and glorified in our church services? I'd bet my next paycheck that it's not playing Purple Rain to try and impress people into the Kingdom.
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"As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesha and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." Ephesians 2:1-10
