disgusted with consumer-oriented theology

I have recently become more and more disgusted with the consumer-based theology that so dominates the American religious scene: the short snipets of cliched theology intended to "simplify" God (or god) for the masses; the hit-and-miss "evangelism" that focuses the entire conversation on a transaction rather than a relationship; the "see people as targets rather than people" mentality. Ugh!

Maybe I should explain a little about myself. I grew up Southern Baptist and am an ordained Southern Baptist minister. Having recently graduated from a (fairly) prominent evangelical seminary with a masters of theology and having been an active part of American evangelical churches all of my life, I feel I have seen more than my fair share of asinine theology finding its way into the everyday practices of those who claim to be religious.

Let me back up a moment before I come across as overly critical (I only want to come across as critical ... not overly critical). I am not against anyone wanting to share their faith--evangelical Christian, liberal Christian (are these even fair modifiers?), Buddhist, Islamic, or otherwise. In my opinion, the more people are talking and sharing about God, god, and/or gods ... well, the more people do that, the more interesting discussions for the world to hear, analyze, critique, and get up in arms about (that is what we all do, right?). However, I am against the idea that God (or religions, etc.) should be used as some sort of excuse to sucker punch someone with unthought-out, trite axioms that may or may not have anything to do with the recipient of this particular evangelistic effort. Sadly, I find this to be the method-of-choice for some evangelicals of the day.

To be fair, I also find that most evangelicals who are interested in sharing their faith are well-intentioned and kind-hearted. Unfortunately, good intentions and kind hearts do not always lead one to a legitimate or beneficial methodology when it comes to evangelism or faith-talk (or practically anything else, for that matter). For all the good intentions, evangelical attempts to force anyone into a particular understanding of God without so much as paying attention to the makeup, character, lifestyle, etc. of the person involved comes across as nothing short of a farcical attempt to appease one's own religiously-mandated (perhaps self-imposed?) "acts of service."

Perhaps we (as Christians ... and others as Buddhists or followers of Islam or ... but I can only credibly speak for Christians--and American evangelical Christians, at that) should re-think our attempts at evangelization and move from an end/result focused evangelism to a person/understanding focused one. We should move from a transaction-based approach (only pleased with a "decision") to a relationship-based one in which the goal of evangelism is faith-talk rather than faith-imposition. Perhaps ...