Tuesday, January 16, 2007
We're In Show Business!
Can I tell you about what I consider one of the greatest tragedies of my life? I started my trek with Young Life as a high school student, though I was already a Christian, I found the expression of Christianity and the ministry opportunity it offered me very exciting. I got so excited that I personally invited abut 50 kids to come to "club" and during freshman year was arranging transportation for all 50 on a weekly basis. Boy did I think I was doing God's work! Within a year we built what was at the time, the largest Young Life club in the nation. It stayed that way through my four years of high school.
Now remember, the motto of Young LIfe was then "It's a sin to bore a kid with the gospel." And yet, when I read the following on the Out of Ur blog I was repulsed:
All we offered all those kids, all those years was entertainment. I would go so far as to argue that the entertainment allowed them to avoid the deeper message. The fun drew them, and the fun meant they did not have to pay attention to the other.
Is entertainment wrong, no it's not, no more so than collecting comic books or doing gardening, or whatever your particular enjoyment may be, but that enjoyment IS NOT THE GOSPEL. Entertaining someone in church may bring them in, but it does not mean you have touched them for Jesus in any meaningful way. The same author says
I have known some for whom such worship was all about the performer - they wanted to "express their gift" and let the Holy Spirit do the work. It's not about expressing your gift, it's about the Holy Spirit using YOU!.
Its time we stopped hiding behind media and started risking ourselves in ministry.
Related Tags: entertainment, ministry, Young Life, genuine faith
Now remember, the motto of Young LIfe was then "It's a sin to bore a kid with the gospel." And yet, when I read the following on the Out of Ur blog I was repulsed:
It is our desire not to merely have a church service, but to create an experience through song, video, messages, and any other tools the Holy Spirit might place in front of us. Sure, we've been accused of entertaining people, but I would much rather entertain people than bore them. Jesus didn't mind creating experiences, and His church shouldn't either.My repulsion is based on the tragedy that my Young Life high school experience resulted in. Of the literally hundreds, even thousands, of kids that went through that Young Life club during my four years of high school, the numbers that made commitements to Christ to begin with were, on a percentage basis small (~15%), and of those that so committed, the ones that still are these 30 years later is another ~15% of that, roughly 2% of those "ministered" to. More, those who remain deeply committed to the Lord and to ministry are people that while they may not have yet committed themselves to Christ, were active in church because of their families and came to Young LIfe with a great depth of understanding, if not committment, about what it meant to be a Christian.
All we offered all those kids, all those years was entertainment. I would go so far as to argue that the entertainment allowed them to avoid the deeper message. The fun drew them, and the fun meant they did not have to pay attention to the other.
Is entertainment wrong, no it's not, no more so than collecting comic books or doing gardening, or whatever your particular enjoyment may be, but that enjoyment IS NOT THE GOSPEL. Entertaining someone in church may bring them in, but it does not mean you have touched them for Jesus in any meaningful way. The same author says
For far too long the church has been lazy -that's right - LAZY. We have sat back on our butt and done nothing, asking God to "do it all" while claiming to be "led by the Spirit." And then people walk into our boring, lifeless, and predictable services and we give "God all the glory," or all the blame!I would argue that such is precisely what "entertainment" church does. Because it entertains instead of engages, because its provides media when it should provide relationships, it leaves ministry up to the Holy Spirit. ("Hey, we get 'em in and speak the words, and let God change their hearts.")
I have known some for whom such worship was all about the performer - they wanted to "express their gift" and let the Holy Spirit do the work. It's not about expressing your gift, it's about the Holy Spirit using YOU!.
Its time we stopped hiding behind media and started risking ourselves in ministry.
Related Tags: entertainment, ministry, Young Life, genuine faith
