Those of you who don’t have a bunch of conservative religious people in your Facebook stream probably missed out last week on a condescending status update that rears its head every year around the Super Bowl, March Madness, and probably every big SEC football rivalry game. It goes something like this:
“If only people got as excited about church as they do about [insert sport], we could change the world.”
The wagging-finger line predates Facebook. My first interaction with it might even predate my introduction to the Internet. I wouldn’t be surprised if the well-worn line is older than I am.
As someone who wants to change the world and who believes the church can play a big role in that, I bristle at this “What if?” My instinctive response has its own hypothetical.
“What if people were allowed to get as excited about church as they get about sports?”
What if they were allowed to jump and cheer when something amazing happens?
What if they could sing or shout the same line or chorus over and over with an excited crowd?
What if they could dance when they were euphoric?
What if people could dress like they were going to a sporting event?
What if people who volunteered on Sundays could treat it like a game day with huddles that got them amped to serve?
What if there were colorful lights and big screens and creative stages?
What if groups of fans were encouraged to gather in their homes as much as in the stadium?
What if our fandom didn’t have to look any different in the gathering place than it does outside it?
Having grown up in a fundamentalist culture, I can tell you that the sum answer to these questions would be, “We’re not supposed to look like the world. Those things are not appropriate in God’s house. We’re not here to entertain.”
Conservative church leaders often confuse something inherently human as something worldly. Have you seen someone hit a home run or score a goal? What did their natural response look like? How about all the YouTube videos of babies innocently wiggling their bodies when certain songs are on the TV, guys discovering their wives are pregnant, deaf people hearing for the first time, or soldiers returning home from war?
Those emotions cause vocal and physical reactions that aren’t from Satan but from the soul. The camaraderie is instinctive and contagious. Joy bubbles to the surface.
God saved us to be more human, not less.
He promised Israel in Ezekiel that he would give them a heart of flesh to replace their heart of stone. Old school Christians don’t have a category for “flesh” that isn’t carnal. Like the old Stoics, they see holiness as the denial of their desires—often throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
There’s not a single verse in the Bible that says church has to be boring, that it has to be attended in investment banker attire, that worship can be expressed only in liturgical ways. When Jesus healed people or raised their loved ones from the dead, how do you think those beneficiaries responded? If lives are being utterly changed in a church, why would we expect a different response?
Where the church gathers is to be a house of prayer. That doesn’t mean it can’t also be an epicenter of celebration. The place where truth is dispensed and introspection is encouraged can just as appropriately be a place where the display of exuberance or the catharsis of crying is welcomed.
The appeal of secular entertainment is the vicarious life it allows us to live away from the drudgery of everyday demands. What if the church were the place where people could be truly themselves, truly engaged, and truly able to celebrate what God is doing in and around them on this planet?
Then, sports commissioners would have to ask, “What if we could capture the energy and passion happening in the American church?”
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Stock photos purchased from iStockPhoto.com.
Church image from their Facebook page.
Brian Weer
Epic article!!! I’ve heard that “What if…” argument for years and never thought “What if we were allowed!” May I bring freedom in worship and celebration for my great God in my gathering tomorrow with a Church that has already won the game and wants more people on the winning team!! Thanks for sharing, Ryan.
Andrew McDonald
This is a great article! I’m the son of a conservative, IFB pastor and I have heard this ever since I can remember going to church. It’s not that the questions is bad, it’s that they ask a question and then shut down the obvious answer. I’ve experienced the same kind of battles when explaining to my father and other pastors about why church attendance seems so low, and why people don’t respond much to witnessing. Most IFB churches focus primarily on two ministries for outreach and witnessing: 1.) Door to Door, and 2.) Bus route. To me, the answer is obvious : we no longer live in a world where randomly walking up to a door and knocking is welcomed, and on top of that, no discerning parent would ever let their child hop on a bus with people they know nothing about. As a senior marketing major at PCC, I’ve looked into this. Their essentially targeting a new market with the same approach used on an older market. It doesn’t work. Nonetheless, nothing scream “I’m a fundamental baptist” like clinging to outdated traditions. Thanks for this read!