Church and Competition
My post the other day comparing the competitive market of U.S. sports and the current situation of the Church drew a number of helpful responses. But also some misunderstanding. My fault, I think, as words like “competition” can be highly charged among church folk. So I thought I would clarify just what I meant a bit and invite a continued conversation. Let me start, though, by saying what I didn’t mean.
I don’t mean that congregations should try to compete with sports…or theater or television or whatever. I’m not calling for entertainment evangelism or employing flashy gimmicks of any kind. In fact, I was not inviting congregations to imagine that their role is to compete with all the other possibilities for our people’s attention at all.
Rather, I was simply suggesting that whereas a generation or two ago, going to church on Sunday mornings was the preferred, if not assumed, activity among large segments of the U.S. population, that is simply no longer the case. There is no great cultural incentive or expectation about attending church on Sunday morning, stores no longer remain closed until late in the day, and all kinds of other activities – including, notably, youth sports – are now part of our weekend reality.
Which means – and this was really my singular, if meager, point – we can’t just assume people will come. We can’t even assume they know why anyone should go to church, let alone why they should. We need, that is, to recognize that there are a lot of options in the very busy lives of twenty-first century people for how they will spend their time, try to make meaning, and establish their identity. Church is simply no longer an assumption.
Which leads me to think that, far from trying to become more like sporting events or other activities competing for the attention of our people, we need to emphasize what is distinct and valuable about congregation life and – and here’s the key – make it as easy as possible for people to enter our communities and discover the peculiar and distinctive treasure we have to offer:
the good news that in Jesus God pronounces each one of us blessed and beloved children of God deserving of dignity and respect;
that our worth isn’t established by what we’ve accumulated, achieved, or done – or, negatively, by what has been done to us – but by God’s gracious regard alone; and
that we each have gifts that God wants to use to care for the health of this world God loves so much.
But rather than think creatively about how to lift up this message and market it – yes, I’ll use that word – in a world where so many different options compete for the time and attention of our people, we continue to do things pretty much the way we always have. In this vein, I found this video interesting…and fun…along just these lines.
If you are receiving this post by email, you may need to click the title at the top of the post to watch the video.
I’m sorry to hear that there was some misunderstanding, but since that means you can offer up more thoughts and this long-time enjoyed video, all the better, right?
I think you again just nail it- how do we offer continual connecting points in all sorts of ways, styles, and measures that are engaging wherever someone happens to be in the spectrum of ‘churchiness’?
It isn’t just that the lingo can be intimidating, it is as you say, the value of the community of faith has been lost in many regards through a variety of reasons both linked to the communities themselves and to the simple changing culture.
And rather than mourn and say, “Our time has passed and this is the new normal” we evolve and grow and learn and live in authentic ways. We live such a way that is inviting and engaging and life-supporting so that rather than church becoming ‘one more thing to do’, faith and the community of faith become an entangled part of who we are, like some kind of new faith entanglement theory (not to be confused with quantum entanglement, which is like #3 on the things that most frustrates scientists when non-scientists use).
Simply, that faith is an inextricably linked part of who we are as humans, and therefore has a touch in every part of life. The treasure that you talk about is the expression of that faith lived out, yes, when we gather, but also as a key component of how we live outside of our gathering together.
David, I also feel that you “hit the nail” on the head with both posts. Not sure what we do with this awareness though. It’s almost a cliche now, how do we convey Christ’s love to the community in the 21st century?
If okay, I would like to share a couple of web addresses and a change observation chart with you via email addressing the change issue. I assume my email address is on your distribution list. If you see this as appropriate please just shoot me a quick email that I can reply to.
Love that video! It pretty much skewers all the church growth ideas that were pushed hard in the 80s and 90s. When I visit a church, I’m not necessarily interested in providing personal information of any kind – why do we think people are willing to do this?
A life of faith is just that – a life. It’s not another event in the drop-down menu of options. It imbues all of our existence, as Jonathan pointed out so well.