"The McDonaldization of the Church" Book Review · 2010-07-08

In his book THE MCDONALDIZATION OF THE CHURCH, John Drane seems to have grasped the essence of what has changed in the way present generations determine what is true and important. For the present generations “truth itself has also been redefined, and tends to be understood not in relation to some external authority, but from within the experience of the individual.” He accurately describes the present generations as having rejected the rational in favor of the subjective and experiential. He noted that they are more likely to be attracted to images as opposed to words. And they are eager for and seeking to experience worship as the whole body exercise of active participants rather that passive spectators.

I think he has confused the role of believers and unbelievers related to worship. He seems to assume 1) that meaningful worship can be experienced by an unbeliever, 2) that the form of worship must accommodate unbelievers, and 3) that worship is the main tool of outreach.

Unfortunately, for him, none of these assumptions is accurate. Late in the book he is harshly critical of Marva Dawn. But she got one thing correct, it is the individual member of the congregation that represents the entry point into the church. As individuals live incarnationally (one of Drane’s favorite concepts) unbelievers experience the truth of the Gospel in living and loving relationships.

Drane’s observations that the church has bought into a marketing and business-like approach is accurate enough to cause one to be embarrassed and convicted of programming the life right out of it. The symptoms of McDonaldization are Efficiency, Calculability, Predictability, and Control.

The church seeks to maximize efficiency sometimes at the expense of creativity. The church seeks to accurately calculate numerical growth at the expense of evaluating quality of spiritual growth. The church seeks predictability at the expense of awe, wonder, mystery and surprise. The church seeks to tightly control through clear divisions between clergy and laity at the expense of greater involvement of the whole body in dynamic ministry and mission of the church.

— Chuck Deglow

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