The schism over “prosperity gospel” in southern churches
The idea of prosperity gospel has existed for hundreds of years and has recently captivated the attention of southern churches, where “traditional churches” are the dominant base in the region.
Prosperity gospel/feel-good gospel, by definition, has been described as a “modern” telling of the gospel or in the case of ones against it, a perversion of the gospel meant to only preach the goodness of the Christian religion or the perversion of the teachings of Christ.
While attendees of “prosperity gospel” churches only make up about 17% of overall churchgoers according to a TIME magazine study, college students and white evangelicals are a big part of that population.
The whole idea of the prosperity gospel is essentially preaching the good things out of the Bible, hence why it’s “association” with the feel-good church culture.
Theodore Trost, professor of religious studies at The University of Alabama, says the feel-good church culture helps millennials and college students have a place to gather together to escape the hostile nature of the outside world.
“To the extent that ‘feel good’ churches overcome social divisions, are welcoming to all sorts of people, and provide a safe and encouraging environment in which young people can meet one another,” Trost said. “These churches offer an alternative to the hostilities and divisions of contemporary culture.”
Trost agrees that the prosperity gospel church allows people to feel good about themselves is great, but also draws up a concern with the “feel-good” culture; when they feel “good,” will they continue attending a church (feel-good or not?)
“Traditional” and “feel-good” churches have been at odds with each other for many reasons and the traditional population base has been shrinking whilst the feel-good church has been prosperous due to its “feel-good” outreach.
The traditional church containing hymnals and other facets that turn away most millennials and younger generations, because those generations were mostly raised on contemporary music and LED lights that are in most modern churches today.
With that said, should traditional churches change with the times and develop more modern traditions?
Zac Langer, the pastor of the Taylorville United Methodist Church, believes that traditionalist churches should be willing to endure some change to attract a younger base.
“As a 26-year-old pastor of a traditional United Methodist church, I am convinced that substance rather than style is what draws younger folks in and that authentic relationships are more valuable for reaching late Millennials and Gen Z than anything else,” Langer said. “The purpose of reaching out to younger folks is not to bolster the population, because the size of the church is never the point; our goal is to change lives.”
Langer also stressed that if electric guitars and synthesizers help reach a younger population vs. the use of hymnals and organs, then it should be that way to further spread the gospel.
Prosperity gospel has been found to avoid negative things the Bible discusses and focuses more on the positives.
With how the Bible states in Revelation 22:19: “and if anyone takes words away from this scroll of prophecy, God will take away from that person any share in the tree of life and in the Holy City,” could it be said that changing what the Bible states is not following its message?
Scott McCown, a minister at the Central Church of Christ in Tuscaloosa, described that he thinks it is damaging to only focus on the positives of the Bible.
“I think to lead people to think that God’s grace is about this life only and success here is dangerous and damaging to their faith in God,” McCown said.
The Southern Baptist Convention was reached out for comment on its stance of prosperity gospel and the full statement can be found here.
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