Friday, January 06, 2006
How should we do Church?
The post below is from the 'Faith & Practice' Blog. Although the illustration is from the U.S.A. the truth of the article is something that all believers should endorse.
The Sunday Morning Edition of USA Today (By Matt Waymeyer)
Back in September of 1982, a newspaper was born. But this newspaper was unlike any of its predecessors. What made USA Today different was that its approach and design were based on the most thorough market research ever performed on behalf of a newspaper. By surveying people about what they did and didn’t like in a newspaper, founder Al Neuharth was able to design USA Today accordingly and to cater to the desires of his potential readership.Neuharth found that people liked lots of pictures, lots of color, and lots of graphics. They wanted short, easy-to-read stories that didn’t continue on a later page. They wanted less international news and more human interest stories. And I suppose you could summarize it all by saying that they wanted something that reminded them more of television than it did a newspaper. So that’s what he gave them, and the end product has been an incredible success in terms of sales and popularity.
Of course, not all the feedback has been positive. Jonathan Yardley, literary critic for the Washington Post, condemned USA Today for giving its readers “only what they want—no spinach, no bran, no liver.” And while I can certainly appreciate Yardley’s concern, every time I travel somewhere on an airplane, I find myself reading the latest issue of USA Today. It’s fun. It’s convenient. It’s interesting. It’s easy to read. It appeals to my sometimes short attention span. It’s pleasing to the eye, and it doesn’t make me work too hard. After all, when I’m tired and want to relax, I don’t want spinach—I want cotton candy.In the realm of newspapers, of course, this is not a problem. If you and I would prefer to read USA Today over The Wall Street Journal, the ramifications of this are relatively insignificant.
The real problem comes when people take this same mindset into the church.It happens far too often. Church leaders survey the community and do market research to find out what people like and don’t like in a church. They design their churches accordingly and cater to the desires of the people in the community—most of whom are unbelievers.
According to the surveys, people want less doctrine and more drama, less worship and more entertainment, less of God and more of me. They want lots of bells and whistles to hold their attention. They want short, easy-to-listen-to sermons that don’t get too deep and that don’t offend them by mentioning sin or judgment. And that’s exactly what they’re given.People flock to these churches in multitudes for obvious reasons: It’s fun. It’s convenient. It appeals to my short attention span, and it’s pleasing to the eye. It reminds me more of watching television than it does going to church. In fact, it hardly feels like I’m in church at all, and that’s exactly what I’m looking for. In the eyes of both the leadership and the people, it is an amazing success. Lest you have any doubts, they have the numbers to prove it.
In contrast, the biblical goal of ministry is not popularity in the eyes of man, but faithfulness in the eyes of God. Expository preaching, sound doctrine, and God-centered worship may not be deemed seeker-friendly. But like loving parents who serve their children nourishing food instead of sweets at suppertime, leadership in the church must be committed to what is best for the people instead of catering to their oftentimes fleshly desires.For this reason, such leaders would do well to spend less time surveying the community to find out what people want, and more time surveying the Bible to find out what God wants. After all, it is His church, and what He wants is always best for His people. Even if it doesn’t look like television or taste like cotton candy.
The Sunday Morning Edition of USA Today (By Matt Waymeyer)
Back in September of 1982, a newspaper was born. But this newspaper was unlike any of its predecessors. What made USA Today different was that its approach and design were based on the most thorough market research ever performed on behalf of a newspaper. By surveying people about what they did and didn’t like in a newspaper, founder Al Neuharth was able to design USA Today accordingly and to cater to the desires of his potential readership.Neuharth found that people liked lots of pictures, lots of color, and lots of graphics. They wanted short, easy-to-read stories that didn’t continue on a later page. They wanted less international news and more human interest stories. And I suppose you could summarize it all by saying that they wanted something that reminded them more of television than it did a newspaper. So that’s what he gave them, and the end product has been an incredible success in terms of sales and popularity.
Of course, not all the feedback has been positive. Jonathan Yardley, literary critic for the Washington Post, condemned USA Today for giving its readers “only what they want—no spinach, no bran, no liver.” And while I can certainly appreciate Yardley’s concern, every time I travel somewhere on an airplane, I find myself reading the latest issue of USA Today. It’s fun. It’s convenient. It’s interesting. It’s easy to read. It appeals to my sometimes short attention span. It’s pleasing to the eye, and it doesn’t make me work too hard. After all, when I’m tired and want to relax, I don’t want spinach—I want cotton candy.In the realm of newspapers, of course, this is not a problem. If you and I would prefer to read USA Today over The Wall Street Journal, the ramifications of this are relatively insignificant.
The real problem comes when people take this same mindset into the church.It happens far too often. Church leaders survey the community and do market research to find out what people like and don’t like in a church. They design their churches accordingly and cater to the desires of the people in the community—most of whom are unbelievers.
According to the surveys, people want less doctrine and more drama, less worship and more entertainment, less of God and more of me. They want lots of bells and whistles to hold their attention. They want short, easy-to-listen-to sermons that don’t get too deep and that don’t offend them by mentioning sin or judgment. And that’s exactly what they’re given.People flock to these churches in multitudes for obvious reasons: It’s fun. It’s convenient. It appeals to my short attention span, and it’s pleasing to the eye. It reminds me more of watching television than it does going to church. In fact, it hardly feels like I’m in church at all, and that’s exactly what I’m looking for. In the eyes of both the leadership and the people, it is an amazing success. Lest you have any doubts, they have the numbers to prove it.
In contrast, the biblical goal of ministry is not popularity in the eyes of man, but faithfulness in the eyes of God. Expository preaching, sound doctrine, and God-centered worship may not be deemed seeker-friendly. But like loving parents who serve their children nourishing food instead of sweets at suppertime, leadership in the church must be committed to what is best for the people instead of catering to their oftentimes fleshly desires.For this reason, such leaders would do well to spend less time surveying the community to find out what people want, and more time surveying the Bible to find out what God wants. After all, it is His church, and what He wants is always best for His people. Even if it doesn’t look like television or taste like cotton candy.
