Is Your Church Like Minor League Baseball?

After visiting four minor league baseball parks, I noticed a trend. They were all frantic in their attempts to get people through the gates. I categorize the efforts this way:

1.       Gimmicks. Some parks offered free food, all you could eat, for the price of admission. Two-fer Tuesdays and Thirsty Thursdays were about drink specials. Gifts thrown to the crowd included commemorative towels, Frisbees, tee shirts, hot dogs, pizza, and footballs.

2.       Amusements. There were costumed characters, participation games, races, and themes like “Nerd Night”. Lots of entertainment that had nothing to do with baseball.

3.       Pettiness. The sound system and video displays denigrated the opposition. When the other team hit a home run, body function sounds were played. Belittling chants and songs aimed at humiliating the visiting side were popular.

Clearly the focus was not on baseball, but about making losing baseball interesting. Absence of victory produced this desperation. With the teams mired in the basement, baseball was no longer enough incentive.

While the gimmicks, amusements, and pettiness attracted a few people, the efforts were no help to the players. Almost everyone on the field seemed to be going through the motions. The bench was silent as players said little to cheer each other on. The managers appeared disinterested. No one seemed to be playing for anything. In one game, the most passionate person on the field was the home plate umpire.

Does your church display similar signs?

1.       When do giveaways, special guests, concerts, or contests become a desperate attempt to attract an audience, rather than accomplish kingdom work?

2.       When does the drama, the song list, the funny video, the egg drop from a helicopter devolve into mere entertainment instead of a proclamation of the truth?

3.       When do put-downs of celebrities, politicians, other churches, other preachers, or cultural practices actually distract from the life-transforming good news of Jesus?

The missing ingredient is the reality of victory. “Shouts of joy and victory resound in the tents of the righteous,” Psalm 118:15. Without it, people drift away, worship leaders and preachers become self-seeking, passionless, or misdirected. Leave the gimmicks, amusements, and pettiness to losing baseball teams. Celebrate the victory that is ours through Jesus Christ.