The cultural-captivity of the contemporary church has caused it to give away much of what it means to be the body of Christ. This is the conclusion of David E. Fitch in his book, The Great Giveaway: Reclaiming the Mission of the Church from Big Business, Parachurch Organizations, Psychotherapy, Consumer Capitalism, and Other Modern Maladies.

Fitch’s main thesis “is that evangelicalism by virtue of its marriage to modernity has not only failed to engage the current cultural shifts of postmodernity, it has indeed structured our churches out of meaningful existence” (17).

It is impossible to completely escape the formative influences of our culture. We cannot embody the faith in a local setting without sharing in its cultural heritage. Problems arise, however, when we fail to think critically about our cultural setting and unintentionally accept its values. This is exactly what we have done in our uncritical acceptance of the philosophy and values of modernity.

Even the most conservative evangelicals (and perhaps this group more than any other!) have been influenced by the inherited values of modernity, most notably, (1) the autonomy of the individual (or, rugged individualism) and (2) the primacy of reason. American evangelicals are individualists at heart who “center salvation in the individual and private experience” (32). Fitch argues that evangelicals’ uncritical embrace of individualism – reflected in the emphasis on an individual’s decision for salvation and “personal relationship” with Christ – has undermined the role and mission of the church as the body of Christ.

Because individualists assume that God primarily works through individuals, the necessity and importance of the church is lost to contemporary evangelicals. The result: essential aspects of the church – aspects that largely define what it means to be the body of Christ – are farmed out to others. This, according to Fitch, is “the great giveaway” – a giveaway that has occurred in every major area of church life including our definition of success, strategies of evangelism, leadership philosophy, worship, preaching, practice of social justice, spiritual formation, and moral education.

Defining Success

The modern values of individualism and corporate efficiency have impacted the church’s definition of success. Large numbers and a well-oiled, efficient organization are the two chief indicators of success patterned after these modern values.

Fitch’s analysis is painfully true: “Despite the disclaimers – ‘we know that numbers are not what is most important but…’ – we evangelicals remain obsessed with them whether they be decisions for Christ, church attendance, church finances, or otherwise” (31).

Success measured by numbers is misleading – but it is misleading in a way that goes beyond attempting to distinguish between the so-called “visible” and “invisible” church.

It is nothing new to say that numbers can mislead in the measurement of a church’s success. Yet we need to be explicit as to why this is true. Numbers miss measuring how well a church is functioning as the body of Christ. Numbers often miss measuring the progress of discipleship in a church. Numbers do not reveal how a church group is functioning internally, whether people are building up each other, ministering to each other, and ministering in the outside community as the body of Christ. In short, numbers, on their own, say nothing qualitative about what is going on in the church when viewed as the body of Christ. (29)

Success should be measured by faithfulness, not numbers. Evangelicals need to recognize that bigger is not necessarily better – it is simply bigger. And bigger actually makes many crucial aspects of discipleship more difficult.

Instead of “the autonomy of the individual and the necessity to organize for economic efficiency” as our focus, “[w]e should organize ourselves consciously from the goal of getting big toward the goal of being the body” (42). In this way, “[b]igness will be a problem to be overcome along the way, not a goal in itself to pursue” (43).

Leadership

The redefinition of success as numerical growth and streamlined efficiency has transformed the moral character of Christian leadership – and not for the better. Fitch warns,

If pastors view their vocation in terms of success and view the church as a corporate entity, their pastoral character will be formed toward those ends. Success will be the goal of their character and not faithfulness in life and mission. And so when evangelicalism trains a pastor to view the pastorate more in terms of leadership models taken from American business as opposed to those received with the callings and gifts given to us in Jesus Christ, we should expect corresponding changes in moral character, plus moral failures of the same kind. (72)

There is a great difference between spiritual character formed for the goal of faithful service and character formed for the goal of efficiency and success. Fitch explains this in detail:

“Effective leadership” instructors describe a world where technique and skill can control the outcome of organizations. Effective leadership pictures churches as organizations to be run for goals that determine success of some kind. Effective leadership subtly trains pastors to act and behave as if they are in control of the church. These CEO-pastor-leaders do not serve, they lead; they do not submit to the community and the mutual gifts of the Spirit, they direct the organization; they do not see the church as an alive organism in which the Spirit moves to discern the future, they discern the future. This is the new language of church leadership, and it cannot help but shape the way pastors are oriented toward their churches and themselves. Such pastors’ character cannot help but become more controlling, authoritarian, and bottom-line oriented. (82)

An emphasis on success as defined by the American business model inevitably leads to a higher risk of moral failure:

In addition, the pastor-formed-into-effective-leader acquires character prone to moral failure, because the effective pastor-leader’s desires are shaped toward success in ministry not personal faithfulness to Christ… As a result, pastors fail because they have character molded for success more than character for following Christ in marriage, work, ministry, and every other calling in life. (83)

Postmoderns are suspicious of power. They realize that power is easily abused for selfish gain. For this reason, the recovery of servant leadership is necessary. However, in a climate so heavily influenced by the business model, even this can be distorted. Therefore, servant leadership must not be viewed as just another “technique” to achieve personal goals, but the way to most faithfully reflect the love of Christ to others.

Worship

Fitch puts his finger on “the problem of worship for evangelicals. We just do not think in terms of defining good worship by the way that it forms people into good Christians. Instead, we look to the level of the worshiper’s emotional involvement as a sign that we have worshiped God well.” (96)

Evangelicals tend to focus on the mind, leaving parishioners’ imaginations to be formed through “the local movie Cineplex, art galleries, concert halls, or sports arenas” (97).

In order to engage the whole person, Fitch argues for a recovery of liturgy and art. On liturgy: “Liturgical worship invites the worshiper into a worship that was going on before the worshiper arrived and that will continue after he or she is gone (Heb. 12:22-23). Liturgy therefore cannot be self-generated, only participated in” (107). On art: “Art in worship provides the visible witness which the unbeliever cannot argue against, only reject or be drawn into” (110).

Truth must not be reduced to the mind. The truth of God calls us to participation in beauty, goodness, and love. It is reflected best in “immersive worship, the coalescence of language, music, art, ritual, and symbol enable the faithful to participate in the truth, thereby enabling the worshiper to fully experience it and know it as truth” (113).

Preaching

Preaching must be more than an analytical dissection of a passage resulting in numerous application points. Fitch writes,

Let us then move beyond seeing Scripture as a collection of truth propositions that need to be scientifically dissected… Instead, let us come to Scripture as the grand narrative of God… It is real history, but let us not make it into scientific history where we know it only as distanced selves dissecting an object. Rather it is the narrative of God into which we have been invited to participate… Preaching must invite us into this narrative. (141-142)

Preaching calls people to enter into and redefine their world according to God’s story of salvation. It calls us, not simply to a laundry-list of to-do items, but, even more importantly, to see things differently; to a “transformation that comes from a new way of seeing” (145). A list of application points detached from God’s story quickly descends into legalism. Fitch challenges, “Let us move from the first goal of preaching as the production of a set of application points to the goal of unfurling a reality we could not see apart from being engulfed in the story of God from creation to redemption” (142).

Evangelism

Evidential apologetics, which tends to give science and reason primacy over faith and tradition, may have appealed to moderns, but it carries little weight with postmoderns. In the name of complete objectivity, evidential apologetics unintentionally endorses the authority of science by setting it up as the final arbiter of truth. The problem is that complete objectivity is impossible and science is not unbiased. There is no such thing as objective truth available through unbiased reasoning – even when this truth parades as “science.” Postmodern philosophers have rightly exposed that “science is a theory-laden, faith-requiring enterprise” (51).

Science, in other words, is not objective. It is a purveyor of webs of belief that we believe in for their heuristic value. As a result, science is just one more way of depicting the world that has pluses and minuses. And modern science has limits. As a result, it may yield powerful results regarding the manipulation of the physical world, but it cannot explain a lot of human behavior and is stumped when speaking about the moral and religious issues of human life...

Science, it seems, is as prejudiced and perspectival as any other realm of knowledge. In postmodernity, people recognize that science is limited, sometimes given to a narrow understanding of the world, and often prone to an agenda of power. (51)

Postmodernity calls for a new kind of evangelism – evangelism not done primarily through an isolated individual arguing another to faith, but evangelism done within the context of community. In this way, the church takes on the mission of evangelism rather than farming it out to experts and their arguments. The life of the community becomes its own defense of the faith, rather than reason alone. “[W]hereas traditionally evangelicals have sent evangelists out from the church with the message of the gospel, this evangelism requires the church itself to become the message” (50).

In postmodern evangelism, the body of Christ invites others to participate in its community life. By doing so, the church “becomes the postmodern portal to truth” (56). Truth is personalized, localized, and embodied. In a word, it is incarnational. “Within the community, postmoderns can taste truth, test it, recognize its fruit, and see that it is good” (56). This has more weight for the postmodern. “The postmodern is convinced of truth through participation, not consumer appeals; through wholly lived display, not merely by well-reasoned arguments” (54).

Fitch’s challenge is inspiring, placing the emphasis where it belongs – with God’s church. “Evangelicals often preach that what the culture needs is absolute truth, but what the culture needs is a church that believes the truth so absolutely it actually lives it out” (57).

Conclusion

This is just a brief sampling of the type of penetrating analysis, careful critique, and substantive remedies Fitch offers.[1] The book is full of rich insights and helpful solutions. It deserves to be widely read by pastors, leadership teams, and parishioners. Overall, this is the single best resource I have read that diagnoses significant shortcomings in the church and offers solutions to advance forward and recover what we have lost.

Quotes excerpted from The Great Giveaway by David E. Fitch
Review © Richard J. Vincent, 2005