Franchising Church, pt. 2

In my first article on this subject, I introduced the phenomena of franchising church, describing the interstate expansion of Northpoint Community Church of Alpharetta, Georgia. In this article, I want to describe the dangers of franchising church.

When I speak of franchising church I have in mind the multiplication of one church into multiple locations, copying nearly everything from the original church.

One can think of many dangers in franchising church. The stifling of creativity, the lack of local contextualization, and promotion of ministry by affinity are just a few. But for this article, I want to focus on one particular aspect of franchising church that is gaining adherents rapidly. That is the trend to reproduce the pastor's message in multiple locations via modern technology, be it DVD or live satellite feed.

Five potential problems come to mind quickly that warrant serious reflection from everyone who is concerned about the health of American Christianity:

First, there is the dangerous trend toward churches becoming personality-driven. Rick Warren rightly identified one of the reasons why this is dangerous: "One obvious problem with a personality-driven church is that its agenda is determined more by the background, needs, and insecurities of the leader” (Purpose-Driven Church, 77). This is also dangerous because it will increasingly encourage people to identify a church based on its leader instead of by the character of the people who are the church or by the content of the message. The Apostle Paul was far more concerned about the content of the message and the Person behind it, than the man who was delivering the message (see 1 Cor. 1.11-17).

Second, and closely akin to the previous point, is the danger of developing a celebrity mindset in the church. When the day arrives that each city has churches that pipe in Joel Osteen, Bill Hybels, Andy Stanley, or T.D. Jakes (or insert famous preacher), it will only increase the celebrity status of these mega-church superstars. For weak Christians that are already struggling with biblical literacy (see any amount of research by Barna or Gallup over the past decade), the last thing they need is to struggle with idol worship in the form of celebrity pastors. But the temptation goes both ways. Pastors who will rise to this level of celebrity will struggle with temptations (both subtle and siren temptations) to a much greater degree than ever before. And if they fall, how much greater the fallout!

Third, how can church become any more impersonal? Can you imagine being a member of a church in which you never meet the pastor because you never had the opportunity, unless you traveled to the mother church and were willing to stand in line after the service to meet him? I cannot. If I were not a pastor myself, I would not want to be in a church where I could not at minimum, walk up to him before or after church and ask him a theological question if I needed.

The problem with modern technology is that it enables us to feel like we really know a person when we don't. I remember when a certain contemporary Christian artist was publicly exposed for having an ongoing adulterous affair. I recall a close friend of mine saying, "I cannot believe she would do this, she is such a godly person." I held my tongue, but thought, "How do you know she is godly? Because she looked so spiritual up on stage singing Christian songs? You really have no true knowledge if her faith is real or not." The same could occur in a franchised church. The preacher could be the biggest hypocrite in the world and yet the throngs of followers would follow him blindly because of his charismatic personality and entertaining style and his carefully crafted image.

Fourth, I struggle with putting a "taped" preaching event in a “live" worship service. Everything in a worship service should be an act of worship. "Here, Lord, is my taped act of worship for this service." Call me old fashioned, but there is something about preaching a message in a live setting with real people and a real Holy Spirit guiding the speaker and the audience. I doubt that can be adequately reproduced through a DVD of the Saturday night message. Wouldn't that be roughly similar to watching the game on television versus having front row seats at the game itself? I want to be there when it happens. Doubtless we can be blessed and convicted and comforted by a message that is pre-recorded. In fact, I am continually blessed by listening to men of God on radio, internet, or CD, but that is to aid my Christian growth. It's not in leiu of my Sunday morning corporate worship experience.

I have preached several of my messages multiple times, but I have never preached the same message the exact same way. I do not change the content of the message according to the live event, but any preacher worth his salt acknowledges that there is a live, threefold relationship going on in the preaching event: the preacher, the Spirit, and the congregation. That live interaction is lost in a prerecorded message or satellite feed.

Consider the preaching in Acts. The apostles preached the same Gospel message in various settings; each time a unique presentation. We don't find Peter saying, "Wow! That Acts 2 preaching experience was awesome! I'll say the exact same thing the exact same way everywhere I go!"

Fifth, by taking one preacher and multiplying him many times over in various satellite campuses, a church is (by default) failing to raise up other men to accurately handle the Word of truth. Part of the calling of a pastor is to take the Gospel message and entrust it "to faithful men who will be able to teach others also” (2 Tim. 2.2). This is what makes church planting so attractive. Raise up a church planter who has been adequately trained to handle the Word, and send him out. As a pastor, it may be much riskier (and perhaps humbling) to multiply yourself through many men instead of many screens, but it is God's appointed method.

In "Franchising Church, pt. 3" I will comment on an article in Christianity Today regarding the multi-site church.