Peter Drucker and the Megachurch
Drucker is often the whipping boy for critics of the megachurch movements. They see leaders of these megachurches - two well-known examples being Willow Creek and Saddleback - using techniques taught by Drucker to grow huge churches that are more business than church. Drucker was also known to be an advocate for megachurches, seeing them as the next step in the life of the church at large.
Drucker was wrong about megachurches. They may already be past their prime. But he was wrong about them whether they're past their prime or not.
Still, what he taught was, in itself, not the problem. They asked the right question. They got the wrong answer.
Peter Drucker was known for three basic questions that he said every organization should ask of itself:
- What is our business?
- Who is our customer?
- What does our customer consider as value?
The first question doesn't apply only to for profit entities. Its essence is to ask: what are we about? For a church, its "business" is doing the work that God called it to do. I don't think there's any major disagreement on this point, in the broad sense, between megachurches and their critics.
The problem comes about in the second question. The wrong answer of the megachurches and most of the church growth movement is that our customer is the person in the pew, or the person we want to get into the pew - Unchurched Harry or Sally. If that's the answer to the second question then the only logical way to answer the third question is to go ask them what they want, what they value, what will get them into church. This is good old market research. Quite frankly, the Willow Creeks and Saddlebacks did their homework, found out what people wanted, gave it to them, and have crowds of people flocking through their doors. Whether those crowds are meaningfully Christian, that is, whether or not they have a deep conviction of sin and saving faith in Jesus Christ, is a matter of much debate.
If they have the wrong answer, what is the right answer? Our "customer" is God. This is something the Reformed branch of the Reformation understood well. When they set out to reform worship, they needed a guideline. They saw in Scripture that God is jealous for His own worship. He only may be worshiped. He may not be worshiped in any visible representtion since no man has seen Him, and therefore any image is false by definition. He seeks after those who will worship Him in spirit and in truth. He punishes those who worship falsely. The Westminster Divines had it right when they concluded that the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. This is what God wants from us, what He values.
Peter Drucker's questions, used rightly, lead to the historic regulative principle of worship, and to the realization that it is God whom we are to please, not ourselves, not even the unchurched. We find what pleases God in Scripture. This is where we should be doing our "market research." God's Word sets boundaries for our worship according to His desire, but also allows for flexibility within those boundaries (e.g., we should sing praise to God, but how many psalms, hymns or spiritual songs we sing is not dictated, nor is a given style). God's Word insures that He is pleased, that He is glorified, and that ultimately He is enjoyed forever.
Labels: Church Growth, Peter Drucker
