Have you ever been to a theme park? Growing up outside of Dallas/Ft. Worth I loved going to Six Flags. It was always fun to ride the newest coaster and eat my fill of funnel cake. As I survey the church landscape in America I believe many churches experience difficulties because they are more like a theme park than a church. Churches that start with a vision and passion for expanding the kingdom of God stall or decline because they follow a theme park vision instead of a Biblical mandate. This can be seen in three areas.
Facilities vs. Ministry A theme park is best known for its facilities. Enormous amounts of money are poured into the newest rides. They have immaculate grounds, nice restaurants, and eye catching shops. And rightly so. After all, who would want to go to a theme park that is trashy and run down? Although this works well for the theme park is it the best philosophy for the church? Some churches spend huge amounts of money on buildings and comparatively little on ministry. We spend a disproportionate amount of our tithe money to pay bills, building notes, or paint. As a result little is left to do the work of ministry. We end up focusing more on maintenance than on ministry. Buildings and facilities are important but they must be kept in proper focus.
In Ephesians 2:21 Paul notes that the building God is concerned with is not a physical building but a spiritual one. He notes that God is in the process of building a new holy temple for Himself and we are the building materials. This is the true building that believers need to focus on. We are called to be more concerned about ministry than maintenance.
Entertainment vs. Service Why does someone go to a theme park? The obvious answer is entertainment. This entertainment mentality has crept into the church, as well. Church should be an exciting and encouraging place to attend. However, it is not a place to be entertained. People attend church expecting to be served and entertained. If the church does not offer instant gratification and excitement it is severely critiqued or abandoned. Churches are filled with people who sit but do not serve. As a result, it becomes easy to negatively critique aspects of the church in which people are not actively serving such as the music, the preaching, or the most recent program.
Scripture offers a better alternative to this. In Ephesians 4:11,12 Paul notes that God gifts His people to serve, not to be served. Every believer is called to serve. We are not to go to church to be entertained. We are to go to serve others and be discipled in the Word of God.
Come and See vs. Go and Tell A theme park has a come and see mentality. They spend their time and resources making their facilities a place that everyone will want to see. The expectation is for people to travel sometimes large distances to come and see what they have to offer. Unfortunately, the church has bought into this line of thinking as its only form of evangelism. Many in our churches operate with the mentality that a lost world will arrive on our doorstep asking for more information on Jesus Christ. This is not the case.
Christianity is no longer a driving influence in culture or thought. We live in a post Christian culture. The majority of Americans are not concerned about what churches are doing on Sunday. Furthermore, we cannot rely simply on church staff to create outreach programs to reach the lost.
In Matthew 28 Jesus provides us with another form of evangelism. We are called to make disciples as we go into the community. It is important that churches train their congregations to be ministers in their work, schools, and families. Evangelism is not just for the church staff it is for every Christian. Christianity is more than come and see, it demands us to go and tell.
It is important to ask a simple question. What is the purpose of the church? If the purpose is to build our own little kingdoms and adopt a theme park mentality for the local body I believe that the church in America will continue to decline and lose influence in our culture. However, if the purpose of the church is to make disciples of all peoples for the glory of God then I believe we are promised success by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
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