Church Entertainment...Please Read...

Ok, so this is a bit off topic of the Gospel for Chico, but it does have application.

When my wife and I were in Mexico and helping out with the distribution of the Operation Christmas Child we got to hand out shoe boxes with a Gospel message along with each box. However there was also a huge song and dance that went on before each distribution, and a puppet show Gospel presentation. Maybe I'm wrong because there is a huge culture difference?

Here are just a few of the pictures...

The reason we the church exists here on earth is to be a witness to the whole world. Whatever happened to telling Bible stories, and singing Gospel songs?

So why does the church use Entertainment?

What's filling the pews and keeps people coming back for more? Meaty preaching, biblical teaching, or . . . entertainment?

A.W.Tozer said "For there are millions who cannot live without amusement; life without some form of entertainment for them is simply intolerable; they look forward to the blessed relief afforded by professional entertainers and other forms of psychological narcotics as a dope addict looks to his daily shot of heroin. Without them they could not summon courage to face existence."

You see there is a deadly disease and it's spreading into the church, and it may already have infected your entire congregation. The church as a whole has forgotten that we are to use the Gospel to convert the lost (Mark 16:15-16, Matthew 28:19, and 2 Timothy 4:2).

G. Campbell Morgan said "When amusement is necessary to get people to listen to the gospel there will be failure.  This is not the method of Christ.  To form an organization and provide all kinds of entertainment for young people, in order that they may come to the Bible classes, is to be foredoomed to failure."

When people desire to have an entertainment driven church instead of a Christ driven church they are creating a idol to follow. Christ is the head of the church and we need to submit to Him alone.

A.W.Tozer put it this way "Religious entertainment is in many places rapidly crowding out the serious things of God."

The church mission is not to provide entertainment but to persuade and plead with every man to come to Christ, and turn from their sins once and for all. We are not sugar candy but the salt of the earth, drawing men to Christ, to thirst after Him, not the things of this world.

C. H. Spurgeon said "The devil has seldom done a cleverer thing than hinting to the church that part of their mission is to provide entertainment for the people, with a view to winning them."

With the entertainment business in the church it clearly shows that some do not believe in the the power of the Gospel, and therefore they cause themselves to rely upon the power of men.

I find the words of C. H. Spurgeon to be a fitting way to conclude...

"Had Christ introduced more of the bright and pleasant elements into His mission, He would have been more popular but, because of the searching nature of His teaching, many turned away. I do not hear Him say, "Run after these people Peter and tell them we will have a different style of service tomorrow, something short and attractive with little preaching. We will have a pleasant evening for the people. Tell them they will be sure to enjoy it. Be quick Peter, we must get the people somehow." Jesus pitied sinners, sighed and wept over them, but never sought to amuse them."

If your going to use entertainment, please don't use it as a replacement for the Gospel. When you use entertainment to draw people and then share the Gospel, don't be surprised when they want more entertainment.

Let me know your thoughts, please post a comment.

For more please read "The Great God Entertainment"  by A.W.Tozer, and "Feeding Sheep or Amusing Goats?"  By  C. H. Spurgeon

For more on how to share the Gospel with children check out: Child Evangelism - A God-Centered Approach for Genuine Conversion By Massimo Lorenzini