Thinking Outside The Box

[Dr. Shane]

What we are doing in North America is failing. I think the church needs to recognize that and much of our conference leadership does. The question is "How do we become relevant to the culture around us without compromising on the the gospel message?"

I have some ideas, not all of which may be the best, but nevertheless, we can kick them around.

► Movie night at church. Have a movie night once a week or once a month at church. Show acceptable movies. There are even filters that will block out objectionable language. Popcorn, refreshments and the like could be sold as a fund raiser.

► Bible study in a malt shop. Many of our youth rooms could be redecorated into a malt shop theme. Refreshments, ice cream and microwavable foods could be sold as a fund raiser. A big screen TV could be there to be used both for Christian programs or sporting events on Sunday.

► After-school programs. Many churches have the space to put in a recreation area for basketball, volleyball and/or soccer. These types of programs are great for small churches that do not have a church school. They can reach out to the community in a non-threatening way. In the winter, basketball and volleyball can change to ice-skating and flag-football. Indoor time can be spent learning Bible stories, watching Christian programs or the like.

► Community theater. Many church do not even have an active choir. A local church where I live invested in a theater program and it has been a great blessing to the church and community. Fellowship halls are ideal for this if they are large enough because they can function as a dinner theater. Otherwise the sanctuary has to be used. One or two productions a year are normally good. The church becomes quite active as the actors and actresses come from within the church. Everyone works together to make the props and costumes and practice the parts. The tickets are sold to the general public. This is especially good in rural areas where the church is not competing with a professional live theater.

[fccool]

Shane,

I've thought about it many times before too. These are GREAT ideas. What is so different about Developed countries is the isolation that people enjoy and protect. We enjoy our separate cars, and enjoy our fenced in houses. Tt's an issue of mentality and not as much as the mode of presentation. I think that mentality is prevalent in Church today as we believe that we need to bring people in to convert them. Yet for ordinary 5 hr TV watching non-believer the church is boring. And if they come in and visit, that 2 hours spent is their impression of adventist life... boring. On other hand we have seeker friendly churches that grow exponentially today like Pentecostals and such where going to church is entertaining way of spending your sunday morning (forgive me for not capitalizing) by nearly swinging from chandeliers and laughing themselves to death. People will always seek experience, and I think our purpose as a church is not to convert people. That's God's job. I think we are message (information spreaders). We are to spread the information.

All of what you've suggested are Great things! And we definetly should be doing these. But IMO these give the wrong motivation for people to attend church, as they in some cases attend these solely for those activities. Just as in YMCA's case, it started out as evangelical outreach to the neglected youth in industrial London. Today, it is a merely corporation that runs a social club for people to come and excersise. I know that's not our intent to go in that direction, but it was not their either. I don't think our purpose here is to make a second heaven on earth. The "bate and switch" techniques almost always backfire on churches as people loose focus on evangelism and get preoccupied with running these activities.

The more efficient approach as you have mentioned in some suggestions is to go where people are. Get out of our comfort zone and actually go out and be vocal (reason, not radical thinking) in our beliefs.