I wonder if God is impressed with influential churches? “Hey look at how awesome we are; God sure is working!” But isn’t your church “da bomb” if it’s working to love God and love your neighbor? What else would you want in a church to do and to be? And, by the way, your little local congregation is not going to “redeem your city.”

Researchers believe that today’s 20-somethings are not only the most narcissistic generation in American history but are also drowning in an American culture that feeds their narcissism.

In The Narcissism Epidemic, psychology professors Jean Twenge and Keith Campbell explain that American individualism has denigrated into an obsession with “me, me, me,” adding that “Americans love to love themselves.”

The authors go on to define a narcissist as someone who has an “overinflated view of his own abilities,” and is simply “overconfident” and sees himself as fundamentally superior, special, entitled, and unique. Narcissists want to feel important even when they are not. Moreover, they often use other people in a “grand game of deception,” the authors note, adding, “If you do this well—convincing yourself and everyone else that you are as terrific as you think you are—you can be a winner in the game of self-admiration.”

As I read through the book I began to wonder if some aspects of evangelical culture actually spiritualize narcissism in the following ways…

Read More: http://online.worldmag.com/2011/04/evangelicalisms-narcissism-epidemic/