Why the Seeker-Friendly Gospel Will Ultimately Fail

The scariest thing in America isn’t the reality of ISIS or warnings of an economic collapse—it’s a powerless church and the seeker-friendly gospel movement. 

We have been offered so much and have done so little with the power of God lately. What do you do with the Book of Acts? When the modern church was established it was formed out of a prayer meeting that had a head-on encounter with the Holy Spirit. 

God said you would have power, but still so many churches deny the power of God. This power is what God gave us to set us apart from everyone else. Yet we are seeing the reality of 2 Timothy 3:5, “having a form of godliness, but denying its power. Turn away from such people.”

When churches began to walk away from God’s power they ultimately begin to walk away from God. Luke 9:26 declares, “For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when He comes in His own glory and in the glory of His Father and of the holy angels.”

If we know the Holy Spirit fully and then deny others of the fullness of that relationship, we are robbing them.

Jesus offered these words, “Nevertheless I tell you the truth: It is expedient for you that I go away. For if I do not go away, the Counselor will not come to you. But if I go, I will send Him to you” (John 16:7). God our Father didn’t just send a helper but the Helper!

“But the Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, Standby), the Holy Spirit, Whom the Father will send in My name [in My place, to represent Me and act on My behalf], He will teach you all things. And He will cause you to recall (will remind you of, bring to your remembrance) everything I have told you” (John 14:26, AMP).

So let’s get this straight. Churches want to take away the Holy Spirit and remove the Comforter and Counselor that God Himself sent to help. When this happens the pastor is thinking he is smarter then God. How can you remove two-thirds of the Trinity from God’s church, you ask? When the church is more about the leader, that’s when this starts to happen. When people focus more on structures and programs than the prayer meeting and outpouring of God’s Holy Spirit. 

When I was in school if you got two-thirds of the problems right you failed with a score of 66.6. I’ve seen that number (666) before. God isn’t in the mix when you remove the Helper, which is scary because you have a church run by the wisdom man without the power of God. Therefore you must sustain the congregation with more of the world; You must lower your standards and preach less on sin, cut out the prayer meeting and definitely remove the Holy Spirit because He is one who convicts people of their sin. 

We need a revival in America where God is still in control of His church.

The seeker-friendly church is a false representation of the Book of Acts! Meditate on these Scriptures:

“Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies. Examine all things. Firmly hold onto what is good. Abstain from all appearances of evil” (1 Thess. 5:16-22).

This passage is so powerful for this topic. Verse 17 promotes prayer. The prayer service is the most important service of the week and also the most neglected. Verse 19 warns us not to quench the Holy Spirit. It’s plain but so many churches are guilty of this every week! One night in prayer the Lord spoke to me and said, “The churches that continue to quench my Spirit in my church will not have to worry about it one day.” 

Verse 20 admonishes us not to despise prophecy. What are the two offices most churches neglect? It’s the prophet and apostle. Yet they have responsibility is to set things in order and be a voice to the church. Some pastors will not listen to anyone, unless they are telling them what they want to hear. The church as a whole is out of alignment. 

Most seeker-friendly churches are being built by men who have left the prayer room and went and took polls about what the people want. These leaders have become passive and insecure and have forgotten who they are in Christ! I’ve personally seen so many leaders who used to burn for God, now value the applause of man. 

Consider the words of Paul: “For you are dead, and your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Col. 3:3) The church of America should be all about God. Ephesians 3:19-20 exhorts us “… to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly beyond all that we ask or imagine, according to the power that works in us”

Wow! That’s why we should be asking for an awakening in America! We should be asking for more of God and the fullness instead of watering down service and trying to take popular opinions about service. I ask you this: Where are the salvations, the healings, miracles and signs and wonders? God wants His church back! 

We must have a revival in the American church before we can have one in the American government. The ugly fact is that altar fires are either out or burning very low. It’s like Leonard Ravenhill said, “The prayer meeting is dead or dying. By our attitude to prayer we tell God that what you started in the spirit we will finish in the flesh.”

Joe Joe Dawson is the president of Burn Texarkana Revival center and House of Prayer. Pastor Dawson also serves as staff evangelist for First Assembly of God in Texarkana, Texas, where he also is now the Tribe College/young adult pastor. Burn Texarkana has one revival/awakening service a month at First Assembly and also has Burn on the Road meetings in neighboring cites monthly. There are four Burn Texarkana prayer meetings each week! Joe is married to the love of his life, Autumn, and together they have three kids: Malachi, Judah and Ezra. He also serves on the leadership team of New Bread Revivalists Network.