Are You Tired of All the Gimmicks?

People should be insulted by all the gimmicks that churches are offering to draw and to keep them.  Most of it is directed toward families, the children in particular.  I speak of all the secular, non-religious, non-spiritual gimmicks -- the picnics, luncheons and suppers, the parties, the sports teams, the fun and games, the square dances, the clubs and socials, the diet and exercise classes, and the fund-raising dinners and bazaars offered by churches.  Classes and services that used to be purely religious are given new appearances with gimmickry.

Don't the people realize that the churches are saying, in effect, "We know that purely spiritual or religious activities and services, involving worshipping God, teaching and learning His word, edifying and being edified spiritually, are not enough to draw and to keep you.  So we are featuring all these other secular activities in which you are probably more interested and adding a little religion to them and calling them 'Christian fellowship.' We are willing to compromise to get our crowd.”

So churches cease to be churches and become more like social, recreational, athletic, health, or craft clubs.  The Church of Christ is still a church, and we do not resort to gimmickry.  We are trying to be like the churches you read about in the New Testament, not the churches around us.

- by Bill Crews