The Franchised Church!?

We’re going to talk about the franchising of Christianity in America. The term franchising is usually used as a business term. It's used when a business begins to have results, begins to have a working model, and they want to repeat that model at different locations. They want people to come in and have the exact same experience everywhere they go because it works, because they have good results.

Too many times as I look across the landscape of Christianity in America, I begin to see this occur: a franchising model for the church.

Everywhere you go as you drive down the street, churches all seem the same: they have multiple services, they have children's church, they have Sunday school, the worship teams all seem the same. There's a whole Christian subculture that has evolved over the last 40 or 50 years to which we all seem to just fall in line with. And it's not correct. Our God is a God of individuality, not individualism that pushes and shoves and wants its own way. But individuality, which realizes every person is created uniquely for a specific purpose for God, and for what God wants to do. Same thing’s true for a group of believers as they’re birthed, as they're created for what God wants. In fact, we've lost even those kinds of terms in today's Christianity. That in the New Testament realm and reality, a church was birthed. A church was created by the life of God in Jesus Christ indwelling believers who gathered together not for a specific service, but rather around the person of Jesus Christ. We seem to have lost that.

While many will disagree with me and shout quite loudly, “No! It's not about the building. It's not about the programs. It's not about the budgets. It's about the people.” But really, it's not even about the people -- it's about Jesus. And we've lost that.

You see, years ago we had a prosperity gospel. Now, I know people will tell you, “No, all that's gone and many preachers aren't preaching that anymore.” And that's true. And thank God for that, that so many of those charlatans have fallen by the wayside. But the truth is, the gospel of success, of numbers, of getting things right, of feeling good about ourselves, and of good works has taken such a hold and become the foundations for so much of Christianity. That's why ministry is so prevalent today. Everybody wants to be in the ministry. Many churches have more people on staff than some of the churches that I've even gone and ministered in. Why is that? Because people are seeking not to just simply be available for their God for whatever He wants. They want to be used so they get their self-worth. They want to feel good about themselves. They want to do something good, instead of doing the God thing.

We must always remember when Jesus Christ walked the earth, He did not come to do good things. He did not come to start a religion or a denomination. In fact, Jesus started nothing. He came here to obey His father and give His father what He wanted, which was a people.

If we take it a little further, and cross over to the day of Pentecost, where his Holy Spirit came and filled all those believers, then we see what the Apostle Paul did. Interestingly enough, the Apostle Paul called himself a master builder to a group of Christians in Corinth who weren't really listening to him because he simply dwelt in a tent. He had no office. He had no supporters. He had no budgets. He had no YouTube channel. He had no video channels. He had no major outlet. He built nothing -- except the Kingdom of God. And even the apostle Paul, the master builder, maybe, just maybe, had 13 struggling Christ-centered churches by the time he left this world.

Today, we boast of multiple campuses. We boast using terms like: megachurch and mega pastor. Can you believe we put those terms on ourselves? Then we find what works and we simply just reproduce it. Now, don't get me wrong, the Holy Ghost can move over here in one location and move over there in another location and do the exact same thing. I believe that. But that's not what I am seeing. What I mostly see is franchising. This is what works and that works. Like Yonggi Cho in South Korea started cell groups, but now, no church can exist without these cell groups. So many believers will tell me the cell group is where you have fellowship. The cell group is where you really get to know each other. Brother and sister, that's called church! That's what church is supposed to be. And where did the multiple services come from? When I was a Catholic, we had 5 o’clock mass, 8 o’clock mass, 10 o’clock mass, and 12:10 mass. And if you were too lazy to get your religious behind out of bed, you could go to mass on Saturday at 5:45. Now, I pass evangelical churches that offer the same things. We've lost what it is for a group of believers that find Christ, find each other and minister around Him. I'm a musician. I play multiple instruments. I've led God's people into worship in many places, in many locations, and in many ways. And I'm going to tell you, the most beautiful worship I ever hear is when the congregation, on their own, begins to sing and worship their God, and honor their God without any instruments.

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We have franchising in the way we budget and build our churches.

We have Hollywood in the way we do our music.

We have lawyers, CPAs, and marketing men trying to run the Kingdom of God.

Fire them all!

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People will say the way to correct what's going on in Washington is to take the salary away from all those politicians. I say, “Great, take the salary away from all the preachers.” Now, I believe the workman is worthy of his hire. But let's find out who really wants to work for God. Touch a man's bread and you touch his life. Just take their salaries away and let's see them work for God and go for God.

I know the things I'm saying sound harsh, but look around you, especially down here in the Bible Belt -- America's undone. There are things we're doing that this nation will never recover from. I'm not saying God won't move. I'm not saying God won't continue to save people, because He will. But the nation, as a nation, cannot recover. And yet, when I drive down the street, I see the church is rich, and increased with goods, and having need of nothing as if everything's just fine. Where are the preachers that should be weeping in their pulpits instead of pontificating and teaching on how we're supposed to live our daily life, how we're supposed to get through this situation, how to have a happy marriage? Jesus said He came to bring a sword. He wants to make us holy, not happy.

The point is, and I think I've just made it, we franchised Christianity in America. Are you going to a religious KFC or Taco Bell or McDonald's? Or, are you gathering with a group of believers broken, blessed by the very presence of Jesus, and all they care about is getting a hold of him?

Go find Him.