church as entertainment

[Blackhawk]

As evangelicals are we becoming too concerend with how entertaining are service are? Is how charismatic (not the movement) the pastor really important? It seems like that today many pick churches based upon the music style or the engaging preaching. It is almost that preachers are becoming paid to entertain or atleast perform for us instead of preaching God's word. I am not saying that all preachers who fall into this trap reject the truth but that they put style over substance. I am also not saying that we should have gboring services necessarily. I am saying that churches today are too much about entertainment.

I feel that one of the stregnths of older communal worship is that it was not so much about entertainment. Johnthan Edwards has been said to have read his sermons in a monotone voice yet thousands were moved by his sermons.

My question really are:

1. Is there a great stress on entertainment in our churches today?

2. Is this a problem?

3. If so, what can we do to correct it?

I think that this is one of the big problems in the church today. It probably is a reaction to an older problem and it is also probably a symptom of a much bigger problem. I want to see what others feel about this.

[ABDIarise]

Yeah, this makes me think that I cannot find any text where Jesus and them were doing the "ho-down." HAHAHA...but I guess there is a place for it, though.

[Godzman]

As evangelicals are we becoming too concerend with how entertaining are service are? Is how charismatic (not the movement) the pastor really important? It seems like that today many pick churches based upon the music style or the engaging preaching. It is almost that preachers are becoming paid to entertain or atleast perform for us instead of preaching God's word. I am not saying that all preachers who fall into this trap reject the truth but that they put style over substance. I am also not saying that we should have gboring services necessarily. I am saying that churches today are too much about entertainment.

I feel that one of the stregnths of older communal worship is that it was not so much about entertainment. Johnthan Edwards has been said to have read his sermons in a monotone voice yet thousands were moved by his sermons.

My question really are:

1. Is there a great stress on entertainment in our churches today?

2. Is this a problem?

3. If so, what can we do to correct it?

I think that this is one of the big problems in the church today. It probably is a reaction to an older problem and it is also probably a symptom of a much bigger problem. I want to see what others feel about this.
1. Yes definitly

2. yes

3. Evangicals, exspecially charismatics and pentecostals (like myself) are notorius for getting caught up in style and not substance, what we need is solid preaching, and truth from the word of God delivered with style and substance, but even without style there must always be substance

[Pink Angel]

my points on this agree to a sense. In my church right when we started to play more contemperary songs a lot of the elderly complained that it was too loud for church. Then our pastor started using this saying and has stuck to it, as long as your worshiping it does not matter, God doesnt find one type of worship better than another, and not that that is an excuse or anything, but that has really changed our worship hour.

It seems every sunday our praise band is learning a new DC Talk song or Stephen C. CHapman song or some top of the charts song. I feel that it is ok to a sense but not to take it overboard. Like one time they played the "cheers" tv show theme song when we were welcoming each other. It was a joke to them but I think to the church it was offensive to sing a theme song from a tv show based in a bar.

pink angel

[knee-v]

1) The answer is obviously yes. You don't have to do much church hopping to see that either.

2) I would say that entertainment is a problem, but not THE problem.
Why do churches feel the need to entertain the congragation? I believe the answer to that is that many churches do not trust the gospel as the power of God unto salvation through faith which is in Jesus Christ. It is a lack of trust in God's word. And by not trusting the Word as sufficient, we think that we have to make up for it. If we can find the right means of delivery, we can make the gospel hit home. If we can catch their attention in an exciting way, we'll more likely get more people in our church.

Going along with that, the lack of trust in God's Word extends beyond just how we proclaim the gospel. It affects how we worship God. As Bible-believing christians, we must trust the word as our sole source of authority in matters of faith and practice. God is the creator of this entire universe, as well as us. HE called us out of darkness and death to worship HIM. We did not one day decide to start worshipping God. It is HE who demands worship, and on HIS own terms. If we are going to trust the Word, we must rely on it to tell us how God is to be worshipped. But we don't. We want to get together and give to God what we think is best, the way we think is best.

The problem is not entertainment. It is a lack of trust in God's Word. Entertaining the crowd is just the fruits of that.

3) The answer to this one is not so simple. There's the obvious answer of prayer (I'm not saying it's a wrong answer, just an obvious one). Prayer for the church to reckognize its pride and repent of it. Prayer for the church to reckognize its mistrust of the Word and Gospel. Prayer for reform in the church, a reform not just of doctrine (which is a dire necessity), but a reform of heart and desire. But we can't just pray and sit back and wait for something to happen without us. We need to be active in living worshipful lives shaped by God's Word. We need to live out that reverence and trust for the Word and Gospel.

I suppose I can keep giving a list of do's, but in the end it's not about what we do and how well we can do it. God uses the weak and foolish things of this world to bring about His will, and nothing is out of His control. We need to trust that He is sovereign and that however bad it seems, He is in control.

[Serapha]

1. Is there a great stress on entertainment in our churches today?

2. Is this a problem?

3. If so, what can we do to correct it?


Hi there!

:wave:


Yes, the stress on entertainment is a problem in most churches. Many have forgotten that it is the work of the Holy Spirit to woo the wicked (unsaved) and not the work of the church to seduce people. Those individuals seduced into Christianity by the entertainment are usually pretty quick to fall away because their relationship with Christ is based on emotionalism resulting from the charasmatic speaking or music rather than absolute faith in Jesus Christ.

How can it be corrected?

By clearing the temple of the den of thieves?



~malaka~

[Bruce S]

As evangelicals are we becoming too concerend with how entertaining are service are?My question really are:

1. Is there a great stress on entertainment in our churches today?
Absolutely!!! Yes. And GOOD FOR that. I would have to look at the actions of Jesus himself here, HE understood the entertainment factor, the miracles he did were seen by the masses as entertainment, they flocked initially to him for that, they didn't understand the MESSAGE, but they loved the SHOW that they wanted.

2. Is this a problem?
No. Get them IN the door, get them INVOLVED, get EMOTIONS rising, it is only then that they will be overwhelmed, convinced, and engaged. If people come, and are bored to tears with preaching [good or not] they leave, and people NOT in church are people NOT being reached.

3. If so, what can we do to correct it?
Look at the denominations, and individual church's that are growing. Invariably they have state of the art audiovisual setups. It is RIGHT to seek out the BEST that entertainment has to offer, and use it to praise the Lord. Look back in time, the RCC knows how to put on a great show, the pagentry and pomp they can bring to bear impressed everyone, and they grew because of it.

I think that this is one of the big problems in the church today. It probably is a reaction to an older problem and it is also probably a symptom of a much bigger problem. I want to see what others feel about this.
I see it as a OPPORTUNITY, not a problem.

[BarbB]

My only problem is that during a worship service, most of the music is praise and not worship. Praise is fun, gets the kids engaged, but worship is where it's at.

We need to remember that it's about Jesus and God, not about us!