rhythm+hue

Biting the younger generation

January 22, 2008

I wasn’t totally surprised to see an article in Sunday’s Herald Sun here in Melbourne about Planetshakers church. For some time now I have been thinking about church and what it means to be the church and wondered specifically about Planetshakers and some of the larger churches in light if Pagan Christianity which I have been reading. But, I guess I was more taken with the fact that the article exposes what PS wants to do with all the money it is taking from the younger generations.

Some of the kids in the article comment that “enjoyed going to the church, but was concerned about the focus on money”, or “Planetshakers seemed more commercial television station than church.” The Pastor claims that only 10 minutes of a two hour long service was dedicated to  calling for donations. He goes on to say, “If people do buy our products (DVD’s of sermons cost $135 and CD’s are $99) or use our commercial services it gives us the capacity to provide and respond to the needs of the community.”

The article goes on to say that the church has 10 paid pastors who visit the sick and pray for those in need. Putting aside all arguments about the size of the church and what it functions like, what caused me to take a second look was the mention that the Planetshakers want money to pay for their own home. They don’t want to rent Dallas Brooks Hall or Festival Hall (two of the largest public venues in Melbourne). The article also claims that they have more than 4000 teenages at each service. But, again putting aside theology etc, I ask why they feel the need to buy or permanently rent their own premises when a congregation much larger and also quite creative in Los Angeles can manage to base itself in several locations each weekend and not feel the need to own their own stadium?

And what is this community work that was mentioned buy the pastor? A google search of Planetshakers reveals pages after pages of music and DVD links and enthusiastic blogs by teens but nothing about their work with the poor or needy. Ok, maybe that is too simplistic - another search, this time for Planetshakers  + charity revealed that they were a charity registered by the tax office in Australia and the US, but again no indication of the community works.

I will give them the benefit of the doubt, but it is hard not to cringe when articles like this appear and wonder what sort of impact that it has on others seeking Christ. It is also hard not to see Planetshakers and NOT see the music and commercial hype. Even talking to friends who have been or go seem to reflect more of the music and less of Christ.

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