Since this was uploaded others have been talking about the success of having a Starbuck's coffee in their church building.
In Calvary, since I started going pretty much, we've been going through the books of Samuel (with a break for Christmas, 1 Thessalonians and 11 weeks of Psalms called mixtape.) This past week we have been looking at 2 Samuel 6, and I feel like it has something to say about the McDonaldization of the Church, to steal John Drane's phrase, though I am sure when he wrote his book he didn't even foresee someone suggesting opening a McDonalds in the actual church!
"David again gathered all the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand. And David arose and went with all the people who were with him from Baale-judah to bring up from there the ark of God, which is called by the name of the LORD of hosts who sits enthroned on the cherubim. And they carried the ark of God on a new cart and brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. And Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, were driving the new cart, with the ark of God, and Ahio went before the ark.
And David and all the house of Israel were celebrating before the LORD, with songs and lyres and harps and tambourines and castanets and cymbals. And when they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah put out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled. And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Uzzah, and God struck him down there because of his error, and he died there beside the ark of God. And David was angry because the LORD had broken out against Uzzah. And that place is called Perez-uzzah to this day. And David was afraid of the LORD that day, and he said, “How can the ark of the LORD come to me?” So David was not willing to take the ark of the LORD into the city of David. But David took it aside to the house of Obed-edom the Gittite. And the ark of the LORD remained in the house of Obed-edom the Gittite three months, and the LORD blessed Obed-edom and all his household.
And it was told King David, “The LORD has blessed the household of Obed-edom and all that belongs to him, because of the ark of God.” So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-edom to the city of David with rejoicing. And when those who bore the ark of the LORD had gone six steps, he sacrificed an ox and a fattened animal. And David danced before the LORD with all his might. And David was wearing a linen ephod. So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the LORD with shouting and with the sound of the horn."
(2 Samuel 6:1-15 ESV)
In the above episodes from 2nd Samuel we see two attempts at bringing the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem. In the first attempt to move the Ark King David, in his hastiness, followed the most recent practice, that of the Philistines. In 1 Samuel the Ark is captured in a battle and the Philistines have it for some time but God proves Himself better than their god, Dagon, and they start getting tumours, so they send the Ark of the Covenant back to Israel on a cart.
Mike (Neglia, teaching pastor, Calvary Cork for those who don't know), mentioned that it was like David knew about this and decided it would be faster to carry the Ark by cart then on some people's backs and he adopted the Philistine practice into the worship of the people of Israel, in a way God had said not to. The result: disaster, Uzzah died.
So, later on they try it again. This time though, David follows all of the proper procedures, he has the right people carry the Ark, he recognises its Holiness and his sinfulness and he worships God in the right way.
In the Wednesday night 'Deeper' study on the above passage the question was put to us about worship services and how you often hear people say 'I got something out of that'. However, a worship service is about us worshipping God, so the question was put do we think about how God feels about our worship services? Another question asked whether we do something similar to David and his people, do we see something in culture and attempt to adopt it for use in the church when really we shouldn't?
Okay, so what has this got to do with the above video? Maybe you see where I am going with this.
I believe, strongly, that the opening of a secular franchise in your church's building is comparable to the first of David's attempts to bring the Ark to Jerusalem. The Church often engages in evangelistic activities, coming up with new ways of making the church contemporvant (a mixture of contemporary and relevant that I like). This is not a slight to many of those ways.
I think having a restaurant in your church building that helps make a little money, which can be used to fund other ministries and do some outreach at the same time. Similarly, a coffee shop run by the church can be a nice idea too.
There is a difference between these things and a non-Christian franchise though. There is little in the Bible to tell us about how a Church should be run, there are things about elders and leaders, taking communion and being at peace with one another, but not much about how a Church service should look.
The one verse I can think of, and most churches I know of point to, is Acts 2:42: "They devoted themselves to the Apostles' teachings, to the breaking of bread, to worship and to prayer."
This sets up a foundation for what the activities of the church should be: teaching, fellowship, worship and prayer. You can add evangelistic to that as well.
Yes, a McDonalds in your church would cover two of those five, but it could counter the other three.
When you buy into a franchise you buy into a worldview and a mentality and a mission statement. Buying into McDonalds' one is fundamentally opposed to a Christian worldview, mentality and mission statement. McDonalds are part of the consumerist, capitalist worldview. They exist to prey off of people's need to have things.
I believe it was John Ortberg who wrote about the deception of the Happy Meal, it doesn't actually bring lasting happiness.
McDonalds is also a business, and out to make money. It doesn't care about the ministry of the church. Add to that McDonalds initiative called "McDonalds Pride" and it should send most Bible-believing churches heading to the hills.
During Calvary's Wednesday study we actually talked about this very issue, as in writing this blog it has been on my mind, at one point in the discussion someone made the point that a person working in a church-owned McDonald's franchise would be able to evangelise from the cash desk. I said nothing at the time, but the obvious answer is that no, the person could not evangelise from the cash desk of the church-owned McDonalds.
Here's why:
1. When you buy into a franchise you buy into their ideals.
2. One of the statements a quick Google search on "McDonalds' proselytizing policy' shows that McDonalds forbids the promotion of religious beliefs.
3. You have bought into the rules of running a McDonalds franchise when you decided to buy it.
4. Evangelism can't happen.
5. People would be within their rights to complain if you did.
Imagine walking into a McDonalds and ordering pig and a Muslim man was serving you, and he proceeded to give out to you for eating Haram pork? Would you be happy? No.
Think of every experience of McDonalds you have, do you know anything about any of the staff from only attending the restaurant? No, because that is not the kind of experience McDonalds wants you to have. They want every McDonalds everywhere to be the same.
So, you might argue that people will know that your McDonalds is different because it is run by a church.
Again, here are the reasons this isn't true:
1. You buy into a franchise and into the rules that come with that franchise. You become McDonalds, not McDonalds becomes McMass.
2. McDonalds want every franchise of McDonalds to be the same, have the same look, feel, food etc. There is no room for individual expressions of McDonalds (the same is true for every other franchise).
3. When you buy into a McDonalds franchise (which starts at $300,000) McDonalds, according to their franchising website charge you rent for the building (as it is now looking like McDonalds and belongs to McDonalds). So the church building isn't even belong to the church anymore.
It's great that churches want to try something different in order to stay relevant in a changing, and increasing post-Christian, world. Buying into a secular franchise is not the way. The teleos or goal may be honourable and godly, like King David's was in bringing the Ark to Jerusalem, or Uzzah's was in trying to catch it as it fell, but the means does not justify the end. God has commanded us how to worship Him, He has said things that give us a worldview contrary to that of capitalism and consumerism, to buy into those worldviews would be to bomb the rock on which Christianity stands.
Pastoral theology and pastoral care have been learning about this recently. Pastoral care, feeling the need to be professional, bought into modern psychological ideas. Over time this has led to a distance between the church and the pastoral carers. This distance has recently been recognised and efforts are being made to bring pastoral care and counselling back to the Bible and the Christian worldview.
I can guarantee, 100%, that a church that buys into a franchise, over time, will similarly move away from having their worldview grounded in the teachings of the Bible to that of consumerism and capitalism. It may not even be noticed, but in a century the Church will look back and wonder how they wandered so far from the Biblical truth. The McDonaldization of the Church (figuratively and literally) is not a good idea.
