"Which side do you use?"
Below is an Anonymous comment about a post written by another person, published on Ichabod, The Glory Has Departed.
I have lost count of the Church Growth congregations who make fun of traditional worship services. When the Michigan District of WELS started one called Crossroads Community Church (no longer Lutheran: never was) they advertized that their services were not boring.
Here is a comment about entertainment services, from a website I found:
This has the following results, in my thinking. First, it trivializes the gospel message. Coming to Christ is a very serious thing. A person is damned and is going to hell because he or she is rebelling against God. But now they are reverting from that whole way of life to enter into relationship with Christ. Entertainment does not mix well with such a serious message. The result is that the message suffers.
Second, I believe that it produces spurious results. When persons respond to such a message that is so intermingled with entertainment, they often misunderstand the calling of God given in the gospel. An emotional appeal at the end of an emotion packed and excited period of entertainment causes people to act without clarity and sensiblity. At times, even a kind of group response to the gospel can take place. Many of these so called converts fall away and show no signs of really entering into relationship with Christ.
Finally, the entertainment approach to evangelism creates an appetite that cannot be fulfilled by most churches. The next meeting must have more of the same kind of entertainment to keep the people coming and it must be better than the last. This causes pastors to work harder at the next show than at the content of their message and the personal needs of the people. The appetite of the people commands his life and not the call of God and truth.
We all know why entertainment is so popular at some churches. It is man-centered and tickles the emotions. Like fresh kettle corn, it is appealing without being satisfying in the long run.
"Worship God in the beauty of His holiness." Those who gather in a Christian Church, whatever the confession, should hear the Word of God in its truth and purity, its power and majesty.
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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Baptist Church Growth Service: So Much Like WELS-E...":
That was my Baptist church in Cedarville that you attended and then went on to vilify. Those particular songs at the beginning of the service ministered greatly to my heart as I struggled with recent pain and loss. The violinist is a dear woman (and my friend) who did find a moment to tune her violin. Maybe God saw her heart, rather than her technique? Maybe He knew that she has three young kids and that her parents were visiting from out of town; maybe she was a little rushed that morning? So scathing was your review of us, our singing, our clothes, our hair, our taste in music! Our organ does get played, by the way. It got a good workout Sunday evening. James 4:11 warns us not to speak ill of one another.
I think you need to examine your heart and ask where is that love for your fellow Christians that is to be manifest to the world and so draw people to Christ?
