DATE: JUNE 2011
NOTES:
I bought this book for two dollars in a bargain bin at Chapters. The reason that I bought it was almost purely based on the advertised forward by Rob Bell. At the time of purchase I had not read any Bell but the name was familiar. (I am currently wading into Velvet Elvis.)
The premise for the book is interesting: Hemant Mehta is a self professed Atheist from a Jane background. He posts an add on eBay to "sell his soul". The soul selling was not actually part of the original deal but a magazine used it and it ended up sticking. The real deal was that Mehta offered to attend any religious service as a full participator for a fee.
A Christian group essentially bought the right to send Mehta to a handful of church services. Mehta attended the gatherings and reported his findings back to the organization in an article format that I presume they published. In this way he was acting a little bit like a secret shopper. Mehta is careful to sell himself in this way throughout the book. He presents himself as the every-atheist. It is this point that causes the book to be a little bit uninspired in my opinion.
Mehta visits a variety of churches ranging all the way from small suburban venues to Mega churches. He examines the churches based on sermon content, sermon delivery, musical talent, style, length, parking, seating etc. Although this information is very helpful for the specific churches and it is of some general interest to the Church at large I do think it is incomplete. Perhaps the most important thing that Mehta's evaluation highlights is a flaw in perspective that many Christians share with him.
Mehta is approaching the Church as a purely consumer experience. He is examining the Church as a "drop in guest" that is shopping for a place that is selling the product he wants marketed in a way he likes. The problem with this approach is that Church is a living community. Church, in my opinion, is better viewed as a family reunion rather than a Broadway show. While I can see the value in Mehtma's critiques and I sympathize with his bad experience at some more bigoted places of worship I don't think he is using the proper criteria for a true evaluation of Church success.
Mehta continually refers to himself as the "target audience" of the Churches he visits. I disagree with him on this point. Firstly, I think it is a mistake to think that the main goal of Sunday service is to attract a "target audience" with the goal of conversion. It is true that a major facet of evangelical belief is the desire to evangelize; however, I do not believe that the primary goal of Sunday service is evangelism. While I would hope that all churches would welcome non-believers to partake or observe a worship service I believe that the primary goal of the service is corporate worship with fellow believers.
I also do not believe that Mehta can claim, in any real sense, to represent all non-believers or even all atheists. In my limited experience I have met a huge variety of non-believing folks with a vast array of beliefs, personalities, and preferences. The truth is that much of what Mehta found unappealing may be very appealing to another person. This is also a good reason for Church to be thought of less as a shopping experience and more as a family function. If we only go where we like to music and the sermons than our commitment is not a religious one but a decision of entertainment. Their is much more to the Christian experience than a good show once a week.
