This week, MHGS professor Dwight Friesen, D.Min, was featured on an NPR story about online church reviews on Yelp and Churchrater.com. As people search for a church in new cities, these online reviewers offer their personal opinions about certain churches, whether they’re helpful or destructive. Professor Friesen sees this as problematic:
Dwight Friesen, who teaches theology at Mars Hill Graduate School, which is not affiliated with the church, says these reviews are akin to an “ecclesiastical bandstand,” with people ranking places of worship as if it were an Olympic competition. He also says online reviews present bigger theological problems.
“It reduces church to a commodity to be consumed,” says Friesen. “The church, at the end of the day, is not a commodity — it’s more like a family.”
