Product Description

“A theology which comes pre-packaged, and in which there are no loose ends, is not true to life nor can it adequately reflect the richness of the Gospel.”

Why are churches struggling to maintain credibility in a culture in which there are more spiritual seekers than at any time in living memory? John Drane believes that churches have become stereotyped structures, offering uninventive formulaic worship to a dwindling minority. But there are exciting opportunities for growth, he argues, if only churches will rediscover their own creativity and flexibility. If only they will offer something more nourishing for post-modern spiritual appetites than the equivilant of fast food.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #371130 in Books
• Published on: 2008-03-11
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 215 pages

About the Author
John Drane is Head of Pratical Theology in the Department of Divinity at the University of Aberdeen. He is the author of "What is the New Age Still Saying to the Church?" and "Biblical Faith and Cultural Change."

Customer Reviews

Challenging, Thought-Provoking & Readable!
John Drane takes George Ritzer's McDonaldization theory of contemporary society ('The McDonaldization Of Society') and applies it to the church.

The McDonaldization of society is the view that corporations are trying to fit us into a pre-packaged rationalist system, left over from the modernist age, despite our post-modernist veneer. Drane's contention is that the church (which should be challenging and liberating) is essentially trying to do the same. That we are haemorrhaging congregations because, in this post-modernist world, people value choice and do not want to be boxed in to the limited choices that the church provides.

In doing this, Drane is not merely targeting one form of churchmanship. McDonaldized formulae transcend cultural barriers, so that an evangelical setting with a pastor talking from the front each week is as formulaic, in his view, as a high church service with carefully scripted liturgy.

This is a very personal book and Drane begins by explaining his own position as an optimist, despite the critical tone of much of the rest. The hyphen in post-modernism is important to him, because he suggests that we are living in a world that has moved on from modernism, with its belief in absolute answers for everything. But he does not view post-modernism as a movement its own right, merely a stage on a journey to somewhere else. And he rejects the conventional postmodernist view that we live in a society that has no need of meta-narratives.

In chapter 2, he moves on to look at the way we have caged ourselves in to rationalised systems in the workplace and therefore value our human freedom even more in our leisure activities (which includes church - or the choice not to go to church).

He then views the specifics of McDonaldized rationalism (as defined by Ritzer) and applies them to the church Efficiency, Calculability, Predictability and Control. Here he challenges Ritzer's view of McDonaldization as a purely modern phenomenon, pointing out that the church effectively invented globilization, with the conversion of Emperor Constantine in 312 AD.

As an optimist, Drane goes on to ask who the church could reach, if only we would change our ways. He identifies 7 people groups (whilst acknowledging the irony of this rationalist pigeonholing of people): The desperate poor, hedonists, traditionalists, spiritual searchers, corporate achievers, secularists, the apathetic. Of these, only the traditionalists and the corporate achievers are attracted by the rationalist structure of the church and the latter are not being challenged by it.

He then focuses on the McDonaldized way that we celebrate our faith, looking beyond simple issues of worship 'style' to address the ways in which we use our worship space, and the potential (and biblical imperative) for movement in worship. This leads on to a chapter on mime as prophetic witness (firmly biblical) and clowning (which I didn't find quite so convincing, but maybe that's just me). Finally, in this group, a chapter on telling the Christian story to a culture that has come to value story over abstract concepts - which also addresses the issue of why McDonalds itself has thrived when the McDonaldized church is ailing.

Drane concludes with a chapter that looks at the church of the future, through community & mystery, words & images and mission. Drane resists providing a prescriptive blueprint, but highlights strengths that the church would do well to play to.

This book is well-written and engaging and provides a broad view of the church and the world through which it moves. There is much to consider here and many jumping off points for churches to discuss their own positions. My only criticisms would be that some aspects of the personal journey that Drane is undoubtedly on do not convince me (clowning) and the references to the novels of Douglas Coupland (which I have never read) do not seem to add very much. Even so, I have no hesitation in recommending this challenging and thought-provoking book.

BOOK CRITIQUE
I have chosen to critique two chapters: Whom are we trying to reach? and Dreaming the Church of the Future.

INTRODUCTION
When we reflect on McDonalds and the Church we see several differences: The origin of one is by man and the other is by God; one's primary aim is to make money while not caring holistically for its members, while the other seeks to prepare everyone for eternal life and lead them to holiness; one unites her members with mere food, while the other unites her members with spiritual food which not only nourishes the soul but brings eternal life by the grace of God and the receiver's response.

John Drane, Head of Theology in the Department of Divinity at the University of Aberdeen, claims that the Church does not effectively reach out to the majority of society, resulting in the massive loss of members in the mainstream churches. The groups he says the Church is missing the mark on include: the desperate poor; the hedonists; corporate achievers; secularists; and the apathetic. But in this critique I will show how the diversity of the Church has met the needs of most of these groups.

SPIRITUAL POOR
Drane fails to include any well known examples which the wider Christian community would have known. While the desperate poor have at times been neglected, God has raised up people such as Saint Francis of Assisi, Blessed Mother Teresa and Saint Vincent de Paul to inspire others to continue to care for the poor. In fact the Church continues to serve in such economically poor countries as the Philippines, Africa and Latin America.

HEDONISTS
These people merely see life as one big party. They don't have time for God because they work or study, then party and spend the rest of their weekend recovering. In this regard I think the Church may not be meeting their needs as she respects their free will. However there are Saints, for example St. Augustine who also viewed life as a free for all. But God brought them to their knees, called them to a radical repentance and they have become pillars of the Church.

CORPORATE ACHIEVERS
The Corporate Achievers are those whose life is their job. I agree with Dane that the Church has failed to reach this group. When someone is so absorbed in their job I believe it is difficult to reach them unless the Church utilises the media, such as the newspapers, smaller TV stations (due to enormous cost of advertising), and radio.


SECULARISTS
They are usually highly intellectual but "defend the conventional "liberal beliefs of an Enlightenment worldview."1 The Church is full of intellectuals and Pope John Paul II reached out to this group in his encyclical "Faith and Reason" where he illustrated that Faith and Reason "are like two wings of a bird that soar up to the contemplation of truth."2

THE APATHETIC
Lastly these people don't ponder much on the meaning of life. Their lives are stereotypical, follow predictable patterns so much that their daily rituals cannot be interrupted e.g. walking the dog, watching a specific TV program, smoking at a certain time of day, and getting up and going to bed at set times, etc. Author James Redfield says that "they use their routine to distract themselves, to reduce life to only its practical considerations. And they do this to avoid recalling how uncertain they are about why they live."3
While I agree that the Church has not reached these people, I do not believe the Church can as it may take something big, like a tragedy, to break the apathy.

DREAMING THE CHURCH OF THE FUTURE
Drane asks, "Is the Church dying or living?" Historically there have always been times where the Church was so to speak decimated or seemed to be dying - e.g. persecution of the early Church or a crisis of unbelief by members of the Church.
But the Church is in fact living because of the Grace of God, the Holy Spirit. Jesus promised His Holy Spirit to be with the Church until the end of time.
When there has been a Winter faced by the Church, Spring is always around the corner. Pope John Paul II had two analogies for the Church in our time. He saw her as a ship ready to set sail out into the deep and he viewed us being in a spring time. So let us not lose hope that the Summer is coming and the Church will blossom as God intends her to.

This book is a great one for Theology as it leads one to ask questions, ponder one's faith and faith community to see whether we have failed these particular groups or are reaching them with the Gospel. With the insights gained we can look for solutions to how we can continue to bring the living Church to those in need. This book is especially suited to those who care about bring the love of God to the unchurched.

Please check out my book on this site. Currently it is has a sales rank of under 170,000.

God bless
Brendan

Clowns and McDonalds
This book's thesis is sound and the book is well-written, however, it seems a very British book to me. The American church certainly needs to hear how it has become driven by consumerism and this doesn't quite hit the mark for the American context. Also, there is something a little ironic about the fact that Drane uses his wife's ministry of Christian Clowning as an example throught the book, a book about McDonaldization. I couldn't really take that seriously. The book has its moments but . . . .