A Critique on a Sermon From the Second Largest Church in America

I am writing this article for the sole purpose of sharing a viewpoint that differs from many in efforts to get individuals to think for themselves. I do not have anything against the Church of the Highlands nor do I have any animosity towards the members. This is simply a critique of the teachings in this particular service titled “Increase” — linked here — as I believe it is a harmful oversimplification of Christianity.

I appreciate that Church of the Highlands opens its doors to everyone, including those with constructive criticism like myself. Even though I do not agree with many of their viewpoints, I enjoy going to their services to challenge my own faith and learn from others.

On October 27th, Church of the Highlands shared a message titled “Increase”, the third part of their “Signature of God” series. I don’t go to Highlands regularly but I wanted to attend as I haven’t gone to church in a while. I was expecting a simple service about how God is present in all our lives and wants to see us succeed. But… that is not the message I got at all.

The pastor talks about the power of each individual’s influence and how it can be used to share Christianity. Well, I want to use my influence to do just that, share the gaps in this Highland’s service and get others to challenge, question, or strengthen their current faith.

Highlands and I have the same end goal: more true believers. But I believe true believers come from deep insightful questions that this service, unfortunately, brushes over.

Funnily enough, their theme revolves around painting and brushstrokes so mission accomplished.

You’re so Vague… You Probably Think This Church is About You.

“I like my more but can I have some more?” (timestamp: 11:20)

The pastor talks about how God provides us so many blessings and that we should continue to ask for blessings so that we can share His word.

“I need some more for my husband. I need some more for my coworkers.”

He repeatedly mentions he doesn’t mean more stuff but more “goodness.” Goodness. An interesting word could mean anything from a pay raise to a change of heart towards Christ.

Goodness. Vague, right? I find it tactful.

In my opinion, he spoke purposefully vague so that the most amount of people possible could find his service applicable to their lives.

But there is a tradeoff — a big one — when you simplify a message for the sake of a large audience, the message itself.

As a writer, it took time to find the line between being oh so relatable and being flat out disingenuous. I wanted as many people as possible to connect to my viewpoint, to care what I had to say. I liked the idea of influencing others and —I’ll admit it— at the beginning of my writing journey, I wrote blog posts with this power of influence in mind, keeping things descriptive ~just~ enough to appeal to the masses.

There are tidbits of “details” for every type of person. And the less detailed you are, the more people can connect with your words.

But you lose authenticity when you prioritize relatability over your message.

Once you break that wall and use vulnerable words or express an unpopular opinion that turns off some of your audience, you are authentic. Congratulations! Not everyone will like you. Which is a good thing.

If everyone likes what you are saying then you probably aren’t saying anything worthwhile.

Because the pastor continually used terminology that “related” to a variety of different groups, the essence of the message can be very easily misconstrued into a superficial one. Arguably, you can twist any message to be a bad one; but the pastor should care about ensuring clarity if his goal is to share God’s word, not his influence.

I can sympathize with this pastor because I’ve been there. I don’t believe his choice of words had malicious intent. But I do find it completely irresponsible and a tad self-serving to beat around the bush with his message.

It’s as if he said to himself “Alright don’t completely discount those who are praying for financial gain because if they relate to the message that means more members and more “Christians”. What’s a word that will cover the prosperity preachers and devoted followers? I got it! Goodness. It’s perfect.”

If you stand for everyone, you stand for no one. Church of Highlands should consider making their messages less cryptic so they can clearly delineate God’s Word if that is their true intention.

God of Increase

Look at every miracle Jesus performed in the New Testament. It was about increase; It was about overflow. (Timestamp 14:52)

He may be right. Maybe miracles in the New Testament are about increase in some form or another. But notice how he didn’t say all miracles in the Bible. The pastor selectively chose the New Testament when there are countless stories in the Old Testament of God taking away or — if you prefer to think this way— allowing the devil to take away blessings from followers of Him.

One prime example is the Book of Job. Job was a devout follower of God yet the devil took away many of his blessings including his wealth, physical health, and children. God is not always a god of increase, and that does not mean He’s a bad God or not benevolent. It just means He’s multifaceted in a way that humans have not been able to comprehend yet. People spend their whole lives studying theology because of its complexity. That’s the beauty behind faith. it’s not easy. It’s actually really complicated… just like our God.

To call God a God of increase is a gross oversimplification of Him. Religion is messy and that’s what makes faith a lifelong journey, and a great one at that.

What is the More For?

“We get to be the more! Because there’s more to do.” (Timestamp 29:52)

The pastor mentions that “Grow” has trained 10,000 churches, saying “this is what your more is doing right now.” He’s providing the audience with a sense of purpose. Their generosity, their resources made this possible. It’s a nice sentiment.

But what exactly is Grow?

I think one of the most beautiful things about faith is its diversity. That is why I go to multiple churches: Catholic, Non-Denominational, Greek Orthodox etc. However, Highlands believes the best way to worship is their way. This is not an uncommon way of thinking. Most people stick with a church or a certain denomination because they believe it’s the right way. But Grow is a conference that encourages church to worship exactly like Highlands.

Here is a video that explains their methodology linked here. In the very beginning of the video, the speaker says this: We believe the vision of Church of the Highlands is God’s vision for His people. I find this hard to believe, but at least Grow has a good mission: wanting people to become closer with God. But if a megachurch is spreading its particular system of service to thousands of churches, what is the result? Groupthink is what stops people from questioning and -ironically enough- from growing. And although I recognize the benefit of reaching underdeveloped churches that are struggling to connect with their followers, I don’t believe the answer is breaking down faith into four easy to follow steps.

I think faith is supposed to be tumultuous.

And I think Grow hinders growth.

We need to allow questions, deep insightful questions that we don’t have the answers to. We need to study other faiths and question our own, We need to do self-study and speak to nonbelievers without the intent of evangelizing them but for the sake of hearing their side. Grow encourages individuals to get into small groups of those who are being fed the same bible story. Where is the growth in that?

There are hundreds of denominations for a reason. And although Church of the Highland’s Grow project has good intentions, it may inadvertently encourage others to blindly follow a paved path without looking up from the ground to see the dozens of other trails.

White Washing Jesus

That’s the man who saved me. That’s the man who put the fire out. That’s the man in white! (Timestamp 33:20)

The pastor closes his service with a heartfelt story of a Middle Eastern boy being saved by Jesus. The little boy caught on fire but only his clothes were burned: a miracle. The boy’s father assumed the neighbors put the fire out. “Thank the neighbors,” the father said. But the little boy claimed a man in white put the fire out. Two weeks later, the boy had the opportunity to see The Jesus Film, and when he sees Jesus on the screen, he gets up from his seat and says, “That’s the man who saved me!”

Everyone in Highland’s applauded and cheered. They made that possible! They were the ones that showed Jesus to that boy!

Touching. But let’s look at this with a deeper lens.

I believe in conversion stories, and I’m not trying to come off as a pessimist but this story is not an authentic conversion, in my opinion. I’m not claiming that Highland’s is faking a conversion story. I am claiming Highland’s does not recognize when you share a faith internationally, you are westernizing the faith without trying.

The Jesus Film was made in America and will inadvertently be a westernized version of Christianity. Because of this, Jesus did not look realistic. He looked white because that’s what relates to the majority of us, a white Jesus.

If the Middle Eastern kid truly saw Jesus put the fire out, then it is likely that he would have seen a more realistic Jesus, a darker-skinned man with Middle Eastern facial features. But the actor in the movie was “White Jesus” with white people's facial features, pictured below.

So, if the young boy actually saw Jesus put the fire out it would’ve been based on his interpretation of Jesus, which would have looked more like realistic Jesus and not our white people Jesus.

Here’s what I think. I think you have a lot of young children surrounded by adults with a specific purpose: help these children find God. Children will discover the “correct answer” to say to make the adults happy. And the boy who pointed out “Jesus” probably thought he could get a cupcake or gold star for giving these missionaries a good story, whether it’s true or false.

It’s sad. We made the missionary about us, about us making a difference without considering our tactics may not be entirely impartial. We wanted a good story, and we got it. But what difference did we truly make in these children’s lives?

This brings up another issue of white superiority complex. When we go to these countries to spread Christianity, we forget that this is our interpretation of the message. And our interpretation of the Bible is based on our privileged upbringing, our culture, our DNA, etc. It is unreasonable to assume we are the ultimate deliverers of Christianity and that our interpretation will be able to relate to everyone. We pay no attention to their culture, their upbringing, their struggles, or their success. We want to share OUR message, assuming it’s the best out there, and leave.

And it’s a superior way of thinking that should not be promoted in the Christian community. Rather than share our “resources” like a movie about Jesus that portrays him inaccurately, we should be focused on helping children in OUR community, people we can relate to and engage with more. We need to stop using missionaries as an excuse for touring exotic areas. We need to stop acting superior. We need to humble ourselves and consider the fact that our message is not without flaws and our missionaries may be slightly self-serving. Because what did that story of a young boy pointing to Jesus accomplish?

It made us feel good.

It made the Highland’s audience happy.

And that’s it.

Church of the Highlands, just like any church or religious organization, is not without flaws but I hope that this article encourages others to attend a Highland’s service, appreciate the ideas you love and critique the ones you don’t. Think for yourself. And grow.