Some pastors care more about being cool than being Christ-like, says Christine Caine

Some churches have replaced prayer with smoke machines and clever lighting, says Christine Caine (Photo: Unsplash/Rachel Coyne)

Prayer has been relegated to the "basement with the grandmothers" as churches prioritize their "smoke machines" and "skinny jeans", says Christine Caine.

The popular Christian speaker and author said she was on a mission to "pull prayer out of the basement and put it on the pulpit and put it front and center." 

The A21 Campaign leader, speaking during a Virtual Townhall, suggested some churches cared more about being cool, even though being cool wasn't necessarily saving souls. 

"We got a bit embarrassed because in our coolness, in between our skinny jeans and tattoos, beautiful light section and camera, we thought, 'prayer is not cool, prayer is embarrassing. A smoke machine will do the job,'" she said.

"And what we've discovered is smoke machines haven't saved anyone. Look at the mess that the world's in."

Caine suggested churches need to get over being cool and get back to being God-centered.

"Instead of being in the world, not of it, we became of it and we're no longer in it. And so the challenge is then you've got no power, and power comes through intercessory prayer," she said.

"Show a lost and dying world and a religious world, 'I don't care if you don't think I'm cool. I am utterly dependent on God.'"

She went on to say that some pastors cared more about "getting likes and getting clicks" than about being Christ-centered, and that they "need to get over being slick career-builders". 

She said revival would only come when the church cares more about righteousness, and gets on its knees and prays. 

"We got a whole generation that knows how to market themselves, but they're not marked," she said.

"If you are not marked by God in the prayer closet, you are never going to see God open doors.

"God opens doors that no man can shut, and you'll get that in the prayer room with the Holy Ghost."

Newsletter Stay up to date with Christian Today
News
Government under fire for incentivising more 'lunch hour' abortions
Government under fire for incentivising more 'lunch hour' abortions

Sir Edward Leigh said it seems as if "abortion providers now writing government abortion policy".

Street pastor case is a 'shocking' attack on freedom of religion and speech
Street pastor case is a 'shocking' attack on freedom of religion and speech

The Christian Institute, which is supporting the pastor, accused the police and Public Prosecution Service of "overstepping the mark".

Christian man prosecuted over ex-gay testimony urges Europe's Christians to take a bold stand for truth
Christian man prosecuted over ex-gay testimony urges Europe's Christians to take a bold stand for truth

A Christian man in Malta who was repeatedly dragged into court over three years for giving his testimony about leaving the homosexual lifestyle urged his fellow Christians to stand boldly for Jesus Christ amid rising cultural hostility.

Artemis II astronaut who isn't religious cried seeing the cross after Moon mission
Artemis II astronaut who isn't religious cried seeing the cross after Moon mission

NASA astronaut and Artemis II Commander Reid Wiseman said that although he is not a religious man, he “broke down in tears” after returning from the mission and felt such intense emotion that he asked to speak with a Navy chaplain.