1. Personally, I have never been part of a church that imitated business and market paradigms in matters of polity. I, however, have observed that the churches that do so seem to sacrifice too much of the Gospel. Whenever I drive down New Cut Road, I get to read this church advertisement that says “Church for those who don’t like church.” If that’s not sending mixed messages, then I don’t know what is. The Church is fundamentally hated by the world, because she has been redeemed by Jesus, Who was hated first. Of course they mean well, but we know that one can be sincere and be wrong.

2. Yes, I believe we can. It’s just a matter of living out the Gospel and demonstrating that true evangelicals are faithful to the Gospel. I mean, it’s on the name. However, I am starting to prefer the term “humble orthodoxy.” And that’s how we want to live, orthodox in beliefs but humble in practice and speech.

3. I don’t believe you are being too harsh. Sometimes, the truth is harsh. We have to decide what’s important. The Gospel or getting people in? Especially in the Word, a lot of times, the case is that the Word of God keeps people away. 1 Corinthians 1:23-24 says, “But we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” To paraphrase the saying, “Preach Christ and His gospel to ‘em all; let God sort ‘em out!”

4. I don’t think any church can AVOID that kind of temptation in the first place. They can RESIST it, only by the grace of God. It starts by faithfulness to what the Word says. Through the Spirit, the church must be intentional in living and preaching the Gospel in every way. The church must not lose sight of what Christ demands of His church–the Great Commisssion, loving each other as Christ loved us, to name a few.

5. First, pastors need to preach the Gospel in their sermons. Even if they’re going through Song of Solomon, the Gospel still applies to it. They need to stand up on their pulpits and preach the Gospel: Christ became sin for us so that we might become God’s righteousness. Second, churches need to not only preach the Word to the members, but also to disciple them. Investing our lives in each other, edifying each other, admonishing each other, ad infinitum. Third, and probably the most important thing, we need to pray that God would move our hearts to “Gospelize” our churches. Human effort is more “affront” than “effort” when it comes to spiritual matters. God will be faithful in completing His good work in us. Besides, if God be for us, who can be against us?

You guys should get paid for doing this…just kidding. Seriously, you guys have been an encouragement to your readers. You will probably never know the full extent of what God is doing through this blog. Grace to you, bros!