Almost anytime we drive onto a car lot, we can be assured that we will be greeted by a salesman. He will come out and greet us and then proceed to try to sell us on whatever car in which we show an interest. Most of the time the salesman will make the car sound as appealing as he thinks we want it to be! He will tell us about the gadgets and gizmos that it has; he’ll tell the men about the engine, he’ll tell the women about the luxuries inside – and on and on it goes! Certainly, the things might become annoying to us but remember he is just doing his job! But where these practices may be okay on a car lot, they have no place in religion.

 

Sadly, it seems that we have entered into an era in our society where individuals are trying “to sell” the gospel to the world. Rather than trying to teach the pure principles of the New Testament, some have chosen to use the entertainment craze to their advantage. As a result, we see various denominational churches (also community churches) integrating every kind of entertainment-based program under the sun (everything from - to use their term - dance ministries to special choirs). A new trend that has developed is to survey the community and see what is most appealing to the people. By using the results of the survey church leaders then decide what programs to start to best “market” their church to the community. This movement has its root in thinking that the “plain ole” gospel is boring and we need something to “spice it up.” But such thinking is foreign to the Bible: Romans 1:16 - “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.”

 

A fair question to ask is, “Has this method been successful?” Well, it depends on how you define success. If you define success exclusively by putting people in the seats, the answer is yes. If you define success by teaching people the gospel in order to convert them to Christ, the answer is no. You see, conversion does not come through entertainment; conversion comes from hearing the gospel, believing it and obeying what it commands. Notice the following quote from Dan Chambers book “Showtime”:

“Despite the fact that … framing worship as entertainment will no doubt entice some people to worship who would otherwise be uninterested, trying to win the hearts of pagans by making Christianity attractive to them must be rejected as a valid evangelistic strategy. Why? To be blunt and to the point, it is because Jesus never directed or even suggested that His disciples try to win the world by making Christianity attractive to the world. As some have put it, Jesus told His disciples to preach the gospel, not to sell it. His instruction to the twelve was basically, “If you can’t win people with substance, move on” (Matt. 10:14), not “If you can’t win people with substance, try to win them with splendor.”