Has the church confused the mission of the church with themed attractions? Let me present form parallels between a roller coaster and church. A person pays their admissions to get onto the roller coaster, raise their hands from the thrills, yell and scream from the emotional excitement, get off the ride, and decide whether or not to get back on ride. The person may say, “That was a great ride” but may never return due to a lack of commitment. Analogous to the roller coasters, churches have thrilled
people by the attractional approach, excited them with their fanfare, and have only committed the people as long as the admission (offering) has satisfied, but the people never have a transformative experience.
In light of this attractional approach, what is the mission of the church? This is a question that seems to escape many or gets lost in anonymity thus goes without answer. Some would argue that the church must be missional, but the efforts tend to reflect archaic or antiquated methods without taking into account the contemporary society we reside. So, some churches take the approach of being attractional or “come and see” methodology which attempts to be overtly relevant to the contemporary culture. Within this model of ministry, doctrinal integrity gives way to a slow fading experience and produces no since of commitment.
Accountability gives way to acceptance without assurance, truth yields to relativity, and the gospel message succumbs to emotional overload, and the church becomes Dr. Martin Luther King’s worst nightmare, “an irrelevant social club.” Dr. King’s describes this social club called, church:
“The church must be reminded that it is not the master or the servant of the state, but rather the conscience of the state. It must be the guide and the critic of the state, and never its tool. If the church does not recapture its prophetic zeal, it will become an irrelevant social club without moral or spiritual authority. If the church does not participate actively in the struggle for peace and for economic and racial justice, it will forfeit the loyalty of millions and cause men everywhere to say that it has atrophied its will. But if the church will free itself from the shackles of a deadening status quo, and, recovering its great historic mission, will speak and act fearlessly and insistently in terms of justice and peace, it will enkindle the imagination of mankind and fire the souls of men, imbuing them with a glowing and ardent love for truth, justice, and peace. Men far and near will know the church as a great fellowship of love that provides light and bread for lonely travellers at midnight.”
Tricks, treats, and techniques are insufficient. It is important to steer away from using gimmicks to attract people. Although these efforts may cause people to “come and see,” it will not provide enough substance to mature those people into disciples. The Church is God’s chosen instrument to make know the manifold greatness of God. There is not a method that permeates any and all church methodologies of Church Growth. However, some would suggest that there are certain techniques that will work in all churches. We have to view the church as the central place of perfecting the people and the headquarters for which mission work flows. I believe that evangelism and discipleship work hand-in-hand for church growth versus gimmicks or attractional methods to “get ‘em in.”
Evangelism contains three important approaches: presence, proclamation, and persuasion. An evangelist must begin with presence by sharing a personal testimony and through their personal life. Proclamation is used to bring the gospel to the unsaved to hear and understand the message and persuade people to receive Christ in their life. In the Bridges of God, Dr. McGavran asks the question, “How do peoples become Christian?” His antidote is to first understand the layers within a society that consists of like people (i.e. cities, communities, families, etc.) which causes the church to think beyond ourselves. There is a presupposition of a domino effect that begins with one conversion ultimately influencing the decision of those within a common group unlike the individualism nature in the western world. on the other hand, discipleship aids in spiritual maturation.
In the article, Changing face of Evangelism in America, the emphasis presented depicts the lack of preparedness of the Church. In contrast to popular believe, disciple training is more important than the initial decision. It is important that we become relational in our approach to reaching the unchurched. We should not rely solely on programs to do the “trick.”
From the command from Jesus, church growth can be defined as the discipline which investigates the nature, expansion planting, multiplication function, and health of Christian Churches as they relate to effective implementation of God’s Commission to make disciples of all peoples. Church growth is built upon the the Great Commission, and when we veer away from this biblical model, we then become reliant upon self apart from God which perpetuates an anthropocentric – man centered – approach to missions. The essence of the Great Commission is, “As you are going,” “baptizing,” and “teaching” become the means by which we fulfill the command to “make disciples.”
This raises the question “Should we abandon any and all methods to attract people?” There must be a conscious effort to avoid pragmatic conformity thus lending itself to compromised messages and unchanged congregants. Often when churches develop church growth plans, some churches, in part, compromise certain elements in order to present a church that is not so out-of-date and culturally relevant. Consequently, there appears to be a higher level of secularism and focus on “things on the earth” rather than “things above” (Col. 3:2). The byproduct becomes people who come only for the emotive experience rather than a transformative truth which can be confrontational experience. Attractions in and of itself can be dangerous but in line with this truth “one sows, another waters, but the increase comes from God alone.” So to quote a recent commercial, “Stay thirsty my friend,” and I believe the church will keep the main thing the main thing, the Gospel message that has transformative power.
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