I want what is mine and while I'm at it I want yours too!

Within the suburban mix is the new, since 1948, phenomenon of the suburban shopping mall. The mall is the center of suburban life. The reason to gather at the mall is three fold, to socialize, to consume and be entertained. In Winter’s book he says the reasons for going to a suburban church are remarkably similar to the reasons for going to the mall.

In Church Growth circles the analogy of a church functioning like a shopping mall is common. Smart churches are full of boutiques where consumers can find a wide range of services to meet their felt needs. Churches have Men’s Ministries, Women’s Ministries, Youth Ministries, Children’s Ministries, etc. Think about it: we are the first generation of Christians in 2,000 years to use the expression, “church shopping?”

Of course there is nothing wrong with providing ministries that people are shopping for. We have both spent our fair share of time dealing with shopping list issues in church staff meetings, and we feel no need to make any apologies. But let’s not forget that the Shopping Mall mentality begins and ends with consuming.

Consumerism in middle class America is voracious. How else can the fact that about 6% of the world’s population living in America consumes 50% of the world’s resources and produces an inordinate amount of the world’s pollution? It’s all that wrapping on all the stuff we buy at the mall, and the gas we use to get there in our really over sized vehicles! (We will resist asking the question, “What would Jesus drive to shop till he dropped at the mall”)?