This! Church! Is! Exciting!
As I was traveling this weekend, I saw a billboard along the highway that caught my attention. It was advertising a local church, and the slogan at the bottom read, “One of America’s Most Exciting Churches.”
Says who? President Bush? Jerry Falwell? Your mom?
That’s a pretty bold statement to make. I wonder how the experts conducted the research and developed their conclusions. I’m pretty sure the Exciting Churches Review Board never visited MY church, but perhaps their sources had already told them we wouldn’t make the cut. And it’s too bad they limited their research to the United States. I mean, with just a little more effort, they could have collected Excitement Factor data on all of the churches in the world. And really, why stop there? If there really IS life on Mars, wouldn’t you want to know whether there might also be exciting churches there?
And how exciting IS this church? Do people camp out 48 hours in advance just to be first in line to get a seat? Do the ushers swallow your offering money and then magically pull it out from behind their ears? Do they feed 5000 people at their potlucks with only a loaf of Wonder Bread and a can of tuna?
OK, I probably shouldn’t mock a church’s efforts to draw people in to hear the Gospel. But seriously, I can’t imagine ever attending a church that has the audacity to claim to be one of the most exciting churches in America. Unless the Fruits of the Spirit are amended to include “Excitement,” I won’t be making a Sunday morning commute to this oh-so-exciting church.
Sara said,
Monday, May 14, 2007 at 2:57 am
*LOL* That is funny. I don’t necessarily understand some of the tactics taken to get people into church. For example, handing out funky brochures at the Los Angeles Times Book Fair on the campus of UCLA. I know because I received one when I went. It was this funky little comic that wasn’t really funny. They were trying to be cute and funny but didn’t really succeed. Having brochures thrust at me just doesn’t really inspire me either.
It often makes me wonder how we’re representin’. You know?
heidi said,
Monday, May 14, 2007 at 8:42 pm
You should mock a church’s attempts to entertain numbers, especially when that is their whole mission–(or rather mission “in reverse”). Jesus didn’t say appeal to the world and attract the lost so that THEY will come TO US. He commissioned US to GO OUT into the world and make disciples.
Golly Ned, there’s a mega church up here called Lancaster County Bible Church(LCBC)–it has a moat and two zipcodes and the seats in the sanctuary have a drop down lap bar for your safety. But seriously–they have a “connections cafe” coffee shop–www.lcbcchurch.com/connections–and a bookstore–www.scriptsbookstore.com–where you can buy the worship leader’s Albums or all kinds of church merchandise like a tote bag with the church name embroidered on it or whatever. Don’t forget to sign up for your own “Scripts” credit card and enjoy the savings. Almost like a department store or college bookstore. Come to think of it, they do refer to their facilities as a campus. Large monitors in the sanctuary allow you to see the intense emotion on the worship band performers faces. The stage lighting and dry ice add to the special effects. Look above with squinted eyes through the smoke, the pastor is descending on a platform from overhead. Now THAT’S exciting! Don’t have cash or your checkbook handy? No problem–just swipe your credit card for your tithe, or set up an online account for your tithe to be automatically withdrawn on a weekly, bi-weekly or monthly schedule. You never have to think about it again.
A Number of people I know said the worship service is somewhat frightening. You must be under 30 (and probably over 18) for this ride. Not a grey head in the entire building (or campus). In a church their size you would think they could have ministries for middle aged empty nesters and retired or working seniors, and who knows what else, If only they were so fortunate to have anyone over 30 in their roll. THIRTY!!? Goodness gracious that’s OLD!
Martin Davis said,
Friday, May 18, 2007 at 3:54 pm
Don’t get me started - I BECAME a Christian in what is now one of the largest churches in the world (it’s initials are WCCC - it’s in Chicago) As someone who had been totally “un-churched” - it WAS exciting to be INTRODUCED to Christianity in this way - However, once you believe and start to deepen in your relationship with Christ, you realize that you need to start weaning yourself off of the “milk” toward more “solid food” - to use St. Paul’s analogy. These “culturally-current” churches are the equivalent of a Disney World version of a classic story - bearing only slight reference to the “original.”
There’s a big difference in being relevant versus being culturally current. It’s important that a Church be relevant, but it was never meant to be culturally compliant!!!
I used to say that a local bar or disco may be a place to meet your future spouse - but it’s no place to build a marriage.
Churches should be about going into the world - not about bringing the world into the church. I think there’s a saying:
“Boat in water - Good. Water in boat - Bad!”
Same goes for Churches -
“Church in world - Good. World in Church - Bad!!”