I’ve never cared much for the “seeker-sensitive” model of worship and church life, from the time I first encountered it something like twenty-five years ago on a “field trip” to Willow Creek Community Church during one of our Covenant midwinter conferences. It seems like Bill Hybels and Willow Creek have modified their approach along the way, but even now there is discussion about whether creating a “wide on-ramp” for folks who would generally give church a miss is the right thing to do, for instan
ce, this article on the CT website three years ago.
However, our text from Acts 8:26-40 this week reminds me that “seekers” have always been around and reaching them is part of the Christian mission. I see them arrive at our church door, like a 10-year-old boy who dropped by when worship was over a couple weeks ago to ask questions of the pastor, including whether one could be a Christian and still believe in evolution!
The Ethiopian eunuch’s story shows us that “seeker-sensitivity” is less like bringing popular secular music into worship and serving Starbucks in the narthex (but of course it would be the “foyer” or something non-churchy like that) than it is having one-on-one conversations of explanation and exploration like I had with that young man asking questions.
One gets the impression that Philip was winsome and gentle in his approach to the Ethiopian, as he leads with his question, “Do you understand what you are reading?” Yet that question was more than simply meeting that traveler “where he was.” Philip didn’t offer to join in some traditional Ethiopian music or a conversation about what the eunuch did for a living. Instead he immediately and directly offered to take the man to a new level of understanding of the faith and spiritual life for which he was already looking.
My guess is that we might bless the seekers around us more by treating them like Philip treated that ancient seeker. Let us be forthright both in worship and in conversation about who we are and whom we worship, ready to come alongside with good explanations of the Gospel so that seekers may rise to a new spiritual level rather than Christians trying (and failing) to appear less committed than we are.
Finally, though, we should also remember that before the Lord we are all seekers, all of us lacking in understanding of God’s Word and in need of whatever help we can find in community with other believers to grasp what we are reading.