The Entertaining Church

 

As the music worship team finished the last song, the guest speaker for this Sunday morning walked onto the platform. He laid his Bible on the pulpit and began with this statement. "Good morning. Your pastor has asked me to come and keep you entertained this morning." His remark was intentional since he knew the pastor very well and they had been friends for years. The guest speaker knew this church was based on sound Biblical doctrine and never considered any of their services entertainment. He was looking for an opening reaction from them in order to set the tone for his message. He was preparing to deliver a message concerning a serious issue in many local churches around the country. The theme of this message is that the church has become a place for entertainment instead of spiritual feeding.

Paul, while giving Timothy instruction on pastoring and leading the church, gave him this instruction,

  Work hard so you can present yourself to God and receive his approval. Be a good worker, one who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly explains the word of truth.       2 Tim 2:15-16   NLT

 Paul is telling Timothy to do God's work in a way in which God would approve of him and to correctly explain the truth of God's word. This sounds like simple and easy instruction to follow. But in today's church, in many churches, that instruction has been cast aside. The influence of the world has crept into the church or in many cases, it has stampeded into the church. The goal of success is in the numbers of people who attend. It's the size of the building and as much glamor and attractive decor as possible outside and inside the building. You have to have worldly type marketing schemes in place to attract the people and get them inside the building.

Once they are inside, there must be an agenda which is pleasing to the people for at least an hour. You can't afford to lose their attention; so, you must be able to keep them entertained. There must be an attraction or attractions. Hillsong Church was excellent at this agenda. Their music has been very popular among Christians and of course, they always had a very cool guy as a pastor. The church in New York City was a prime example of this type of agenda. Great music which attracted many young people and a really cool guy for a pastor. Well know celebrities attended and there was a special VIP seating section specifically for them down front.

The money was pouring in, and people kept coming back. It was the Sunday morning place to be. It was like a Sunday morning concert followed by this cool guy prancing around the platform saying what they all wanted to hear. It was great Sunday morning entertainment until the cool guy ruined everything and decided to have an affair with another woman. Mr. Cool Guy fell from worldly grace and the agenda came crashing down.

This is not a critique of Hillsong, but they are the perfect example of what the problem is in the church today concerning entertainment verses Biblical teaching. The thinking is that they cannot bore people by teaching the truth of the Bible. No, people won't come back for that, so we have to have a way to keep them coming back. So, we'll entertain them. There have been other ways of entertaining people on a Sunday morning or Wednesday evening. 

 Pastors and elders have created many different stunts in an effort to attract and keep people in the seats and money in the coffers. And that's what it's all about; if you keep them coming back, you will keep the money pouring in. One pastor and his wife spent all day Saturday on the roof of the church on a bed to introduce the beginning of a series on marriage the next morning. Another jumped out of an airplane and sky dived into the church parking lot on a Sunday morning to introduce a sermon series on the return of Jesus. Does Jesus really need that kind of stunt to teach people about His return?

So, whatever happened to, "Good morning. This morning we are going to be continuing our study through the book of....." Whatever happened to telling the people about Jesus? Whatever happened to yielding to the Holy Spirit to guide and direct the morning or evening service. Whatever happened to trusting in God to provide for the ministry? I remember the TV preachers years ago before there was Twitter, Facebook or Tic Toc and You Tube. At the end of every show, they would beg for money to keep their ministry available to the audience. My thought was always, "If God wants you on TV, He will provide the funds for that."

Churches today have become big business and operate like competing corporations. They have given in to the way of the world and its schemes to draw people in. As I said, the priorities have become the amount of money they can get from the people they are deceiving. These people are attending the biggest, the most popular and the most wrong church in town. But they are there and they are seen and that's most important to many of them. The dues here are cheaper than the country club and they get the same personal satisfaction. But they are hearing nothing about Jesus and that will cost them their eternal life. They have been fooled into believing they are checking off all the right boxes to get into heaven. But they have never been told how to be saved or why they need salvation. But their social card is full and being fulfilled.

Now, not every local church is like this. But there are just too many that are. Not every local church depends on worldly schemes and worldly agendas to attract people. Not all mega churches operate this way. There are numerous mega churches who teach God's word and are filled with people who want to hear about Jesus and His word and how it applies to their lives. This is what keeps them coming back; the large church has a pastor who teaches the truth of God's word. He doesn't sugar coat it or water it down. And this is what is needed to bring people in and for them to hear the gospel and get saved and begin to grow in Jesus. The entertainment is learning more about God. It's getting to know Him more and hearing His word taught correctly.

It doesn't have to be a mega church. The size of the church body or building has nothing to do with how God can use a church, a ministry or a person. There are numerous churches around this country who have an attendance of one to two hundred people and are thriving spiritually and do not struggle to pay their bills or the pastor's salary. They are teaching and preaching God's word and the people keep coming back. That reminds me of the church invite. There are many Christians who will invite unsaved friends to church and the friend never accepts the invitation. The Christian can't seem to understand why his/her friend won't come to church. The answer is church is the last place an unsaved person wants to be. It means nothing to them and will be totally uncomfortable through the whole service. They have no interest in church and no reason to be there. They need to be told about Jesus. They need to know what Jesus has done in your personal life. Give the unsaved friend the opportunity to know Jesus and give them a reason to want to come to church.

 

It's the same thing that applies to the local church. Don't entertain them with gimmicks and music and cool guy stories and antics. Tell them about Jesus and why people need Him in their lives. Jesus and the salvation He provides is the most important thing anyone can tell anyone who doesn't know. Being entertained and making people feel good on a Sunday morning will never allow them to know Jesus and His salvation. Entertaining the crowd on Sunday morning in a building called a church is nothing more than a waste of God's time. 

 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.   Rom 12:2

---Bill Petite