As the article below notes, we live in an increasingly immature culture, and we have a Church that is trying to change to appeal to these childish adults instead of a Church committed to holding the line on maturity and calling people to the true vision of God’s Church and its responsibility in the world. As noted near the end, Biblical manhood and Biblical womanhood are key to the true purpose of the Church. Learn more about Biblical manhood and Biblical womanhood at ChristianGovernance’s exciting Titanic 2011-Women and Children First banquet on Friday. April 15th in Ottawa. Feature speaker is Kevin Swanson and feature entertainer is concert pianist, Calvin Jones. Click here to learn more and to order your tickets for this banquet where you will be invigorated and blessed with a message of truth and vision.
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American Vision – January 6, 201 1
Church Can be Fun!
By Eric Rauch
Until about two years ago, I never paid much attention to the messages blazoned on the backside of the car in front of me. Lately, however, it seems that bumper stickers have become the last bastion of free speech—the final frontier of public politically incorrect expression. As I was making my way home from work the other evening I saw one that got my attention. It was simple in its design: a website address in white letters on a black background. It was the name of the website that really got me thinking—
In a day where churches are competing for people’s time as much as anything else, it makes sense that churches would resort to advertising and marketing to attract new visitors. While polls and surveys still reveal a high number of professing Christians in this nation, church attendance is remarkably low. It seems as though most professing Christians either see no reason or benefit in attending their local church on a weekly or even monthly basis. This lack of connection between profession and attendance has prompted many church leaders to re-evaluate how they “do” church. The idea being that the church needs to justify its existence somehow, that it must give the many families in its communities which claim to be Christian irresistible reasons why they should be in church every Sunday. And at least one church believes that attendance is low because church is not “fun.” Apparently they believe that if they can succeed in convincing metro-Atlanta citizens that “church can be fun,” they will be combating a common belief that church isn’t fun, thereby increasing attendance at their “fun” church.
I don’t doubt that church can be boring to some people; I find it to be quite boring myself sometimes. But the fact of something being either fun or boring should not be the determining factor of whether or not to attend. Many people find their jobs boring, but this doesn’t prevent them from showing up for work each day. Six Flags may claim to be a lot of fun, but the reality is that much of the time spent there is wasted standing in long boring lines. I wonder if we could decrease attendance at Six Flags theme parks by making a bumper sticker that says “Six Flags can be boring.” This idea sounds ridiculous because it is. But it does highlight the faulty thinking that permeates a “church can be fun” marketing campaign.
The real problem with church attendance goes far beyond being simply boring or fun. It even goes far beyond the overused catch phrase of the mega-church movement: “relevant.” Where does the Bible claim that church should be fun or relevant? Or to ask the question a different way: What is the purpose of church? Is it only supposed to be a time when believers gather together each week to drop money in the plate and listen to a self-help sermon? If this is the case we could mail our checks in and watch an episode of Dr. Phil instead. The role of the local church is an important and vital one, but the modern idea of “doing” church has gotten so far away from the biblical understanding that it is no wonder that we must resort to advertising and marketing techniques to remind our local communities that we exist.
The church thus is not essentially a building or an institution, although both can be manifestations of its life. It is a covenant people who believe and apply the covenant law-word to all of life and who seek to bring men, nations, and all spheres of life under the dominion of Christ as Lord. Thus, while the church may be a building and an institution, and both can be important and needed aspects of its life, it is primarily a power and a government at work in the world.[1]
One of the primary driving forces of modern American culture is its focus on youth. We have not only become child-oriented in our parenting, we have also become child-oriented in our lifestyles. We are perennially looking for the next adrenaline rush, the next escape, the next weekend.
Click here to order your Titanic 2011 banquet tickets and to download a copy of the event poster.