I’ve been a vocal critic of “event church” and it’s cousin “event evangelism.” I think it’s time to move from saying I don’t like it do examining why and then doing something productive to counter it – with your help.
WHAT IS EVENT CHURCH?
These models of doing “ministry” invest most of their people power, talent, money and time into creating an event (usually a church service). The goal is sometimes to attract non-Christians to the church and to the Christian faith. A church with this goal is an “attractional event church.” It is possible though to be an “event church” without being “attractional.” Many churches with pipe organs and hymnals don’t expect non-Christians to show up at their church services, for example, but they still invest most of their efforts and resources into those services, thus centering the church around the event of Sunday morning and making it an “event church” by the definition I’m using.
ONE PROBLEM WITH EVENT CHURCH: THEN WHAT?
Let’s say you’re not a Christian. You come to an event church service one day and you leave buying it. You pray for the first time in your life, you believe in Jesus for the first time too, and even join the church. Then what?
The event church doesn’t answer this question all that well – if it even asks it. The pastors know the bible is clear on what God wants from them: make disciples. But they either think 1) they’re doing that with their excellent worship service OR 2) they’re doing that with “Sunday School” classes or small group bible study classes OR 3 )they think making believers is the same thing as making disciples.
THIS IS WHAT REALLY AILS YOU?
So the event church laments the horrible puny percentage of personal incomes given to it (tithe) and wrings it’s hands over how on earth they’ll ever get 98 people to volunteer to work in the childrens ministry. And they don’t even dare dream of creating programs to end poverty and hunger and illiteracy and unemployment in their city or around the world. Hell, who would give and volunteer for such ambitious programs? It would never work.
So, I’m a critic of the event church because it attracts bored Christians and a small percentage of non-Christian adults but spends little on making disciples – which, ironically could grow a church and would definitely eliminate the beg for money and volunteers portions of the Sunday service.
WHAT ABOUT THAT CHURCH OVER THERE?
I know, because I’ve played at them, that there are many churches with killer music, using creative video and drama and other means of communication that are also making disciples. And there are churches that bore me to tears with their liturgies and read sermons and well-rehearsed choir pieces that are doing a great job making disciples. Being in these churches has kept me inspired to fight the event church mentality even more. Without fail the pastor of these disciple making churches explains to me how the church has grown and repaired it’s city not by extolling the virtues of music and film or tradition and pipe organs but by teaching me how they make disciples that make disciples. The highly effective churches I’ve been in over the last several years are not event churches. They are churches that see Sunday morning as one of many cogs in the disciple making machine called church. They’ve somehow kept discipleship in their minds as the goal.
I’ve been a critic of event church because it doesn’t work, it’s not obedient to God’s command to make disciples and see God’s will done on earth as it is in Heaven, and it sells a false salvation to people – one that says getting “saved” one day for a future Heaven is why Jesus died. He did not. He died to save all things in all times in all places through His disciples who respond when He says, “Follow me.”
NOW WHAT: BEYOND COMPLAINING
Shawn,
Interesting read! I tend to agree, but I guess I’m not completely sure how you are using the term “event church.” I do agree though that many of the emegent and even seeker sensitive churches, have left out the truth in order to have some undefined experience.
If this is what you are reacting against, I agree. Our church’s main goal is the glorification of God through the proclamiation of His word, and liviing out those truths.
Our church is not large, and people do not come from far and wide to be there, but when they will not come to us we go into the highways and byways to reach them with the truths of Christianity.
When the Word of God is preached, people who sit back an do nothing in the church become uncomfortable. The truth is spoken in love and not to make people uncomfortable but that is what the truth does to those who do not believe it. This produces a couple results they either come to believe the truth, or they don’t and eventually leave.
There will always be a significant group of people in the congregation that is still trying to make that discision. In the process they seem to sit by but the Church is doing it’s job by challenging them.
God Bless and keep up the good work,
Doug
Shaun,
Please understand I don’t mean to be disrespectful. I have never been to one of your concerts, so I don’t know first hand what takes place there. I can tell by reading your blog you are sincere, strive to be genuine and truly want to point people to Christ. For that I thank you.
But, I don’t understand how singing to the masses is any different than preaching to the masses. Can your concerts truly be about discipleship? Yes, you can talk about it and steer people in that direction, but churches do that as well. Your definition of discipleship involves one on one meetings. No matter how pure your motivation, you are still doing one-time events in your concerts. At least churches do it once a week. It would be unfair and humanly impossible for you to disciple every single person who attends your concerts, yet that’s what you’re expecting of churches. Of course this doesn’t absolve churches of any responsibility in discipling their attenders, but perhaps it explains why you see what you do in the churches across our country.
I think what you are trying to do is get people talking about how we can fix this problem. You are wanting positive feedback on how to grow believers. I’m all for that, but please don’t be so harsh on our churches who are in the trenches week after week.
dang tpc and their brown bag events
JK