I recently walked out of a Wal-Mart and noticed that all the cars in the parking lot were covered with flyers. Sure enough, there, on my truck, stuck under my windshield wiper, was a flyer. It read, “Win a car this Sunday!” and had the name of a local church that was giving it away. A car! Man, who wouldn’t want to show up for that?
What a great marketing idea if you are looking for exposure; if you’re a bank looking to open new accounts or a car dealer looking for people to come in for a test drive. But a church? Come on! It is now a very popular trend in the modern church to entice people with giveaways through contests and raffles. I guess the thought is along the lines of, “We can’t reach people if they don’t come to church.” So, go ahead and bribe them.
Welcome to the American church, where the lines between religion and consumerism blend into one giant gospel smoothie. I have heard of churches giving away iPods, Xboxes and smart phones, even a year’s worth of movies passes. Now those raffle-driven churches have really upped the ante with giving away cars, vacations, cash and homes. It seems that churches believe they are competing for a target audience.
Churches are becoming more like the Price is Right than a place for training disciples and a resource for believers. But, that is not as attractive to unbelievers because they are looking for something for nothing. The church calls this evangelism while people crowd in tight to see if they have won one of the many mega prizes given away each Sunday, all done in the name of boosting attendance. Why? The pastor’s own pride. If you win people with gimmicks you have to keep them with gimmicks.
Through all of this, Jesus sits back and watches the foolishness of man and his desire to push his agenda over the Lord’s agenda. Disciplining believers is not sexy enough for most pastors because it won’t put their name in lights or get them multiple book deals or pack out the church every night.
An intense statement was sent to me in the title of an email I received from an atheist. It said, “Nothing secures my atheism more than the fact that religion needs marketing. You would think that the truth would be all that’s needed wouldn’t you?” This is probably the most profound statement I have ever read coming from an unbeliever.
A numbers-driven gimmick gospel has compromised the American pulpit all in the name of being more effective in our culture. But the last time I checked, life and death and where people spend eternity are subjects that transcend every culture and cut right to the conscience. There is only one gospel and it can’t be marketed, it can’t be repackaged to be an attractive product for our culture. If anyone will hate the true gospel of Jesus Christ it will be Americans.
Why do we think the message must change with the culture? We need to realize that the message must never change. There is a judgment to come. "Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son." (John 3:18)
Remember the last time judgment came upon the earth? It had something to do with a giant boat and a man named Noah. I don’t recall the gimmicks used by Noah. It’s not recorded that he enticed anyone to come on to the ark. There were no freebies, no free food or raffles. He didn’t open the ark as a petting zoo.He sure wasn’t very relevant, because he just preached repentance and left the rest up to God. Noah was a prophet who lived in an age similar to our own a time where greed, gluttony, drunkenness, sexual license and violence filled the earth.The Savior described Noah's day in the following words in Matthew 24:38:
“For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark,
39: And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.”
All of the prophets in the Bible proclaimed repentance. If pastors try proclaiming anything else they lead their flocks astray. Just getting the world’s attention is not what we are called to do.
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Kinda shocking if true ! Maybe the prize was a mission vehicle in some Third World place with a bumper sticker "presented or donated by..."
Has anyone read this tract...
"How to Get Rich"....read it here..
http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/0087/0087_01.asp Click here to reply to this post
Re: The Giveaway Gospel
Posted On: 11/19/07 09:50:05 AM
Age 40, TX
I find this article to be discomforting and sad simply because it is true. Far too oten it seems as though the church is trying to "out world" the world. When will we come to the understanding that the truth of the kingdom preached under the authority of the Holy Spirit will cause people to come and be saved. We use a million different, PAID FOR, resources to reach the lost with messages of life improvement. The gospel is not a message of life imporvement, it is the message of life. Click here to reply to this post
Re: The Giveaway Gospel
Posted On: 11/18/07 10:20:23 PM
Age 54, SC
Thank-you,Ray Bauman, for your insightful article. It was well written and pointed out the problem with those who attempt to make the gospel and church "user friendly" and/or so culturally relevant that the culture has made more of an impact on the church than vice-versa. The church is for believers, not non-believers; at least that is how I understand what the Bible teaches yet many churches would rather cater to non-believers than teach their members how to fulfill the Great Commission. That is why so many do not know how to share the gospel and only know how to "invite a friend" to church. Believers are to "go into all the world" but instead, we invite the world to come into the church. Then, in order to keep them coming, we had better not offend anyone or teach doctrine that they won't understand. Your article was dead-on without pointing the finger at any particular person or ministry; may those who read it, read it with discernment. Click here to reply to this post
Re: The Giveaway Gospel
Posted On: 11/16/07 02:19:58 AM
Age 54, IA
Sorry - I need to add imagine how much money that congregation spent on the car they gave away. How much better would the Gospel of Christ been exemplified if they had spent the money on reaching people with the Gospel; using it for missions or helping people in the name of Jesus. Click here to reply to this post
Re: The Giveaway Gospel
Posted On: 11/16/07 02:14:33 AM
Age 54, IA
It's a real "turn-off" to me whenever the church does anything resembling the world. Why on earth do we need to have "historical dress-up" days that just happen to be in conjunction with halloween, etc? Why have "contests" with prizes for those who attend the most Sundays in a row? What are we trying to prove? Don't they realize it actually drives people away? When I was considering joining one fellowship I found they did this and I was disgusted. I thought I found a church that didn't play games like the world and here it was in one of the most conservative churches... Click here to reply to this post
Re: The Giveaway Gospel
Posted On: 11/15/07 09:48:38 PM
Age 75, NJ
Neither Christ, nor Peter, nor Paul relied solely on the power of argument, nor simply on the recitation of the Holy Scriptures to attract and convince the lost of the veracity of their message. Without belaboring my point, please let us not become too trite in our condemnation of some methods used to attract the presence of sinners and seekers so that the gospel can receive an effective forum. Guys, we are currently losing this battle here in our post-Christian nation. Please read Paul's words as he clearly stated that it was more than just words that won the unsaved to Christ. Silver and gold have we not. . .but . . . our churches need to be shaken! Click here to reply to this post
Re: The Giveaway Gospel
Posted On: 11/15/07 09:40:30 PM
Age 35, TX
"For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths." 2 Tim 4:3-4. Come quickly, Lord Jesus, come quickly. Click here to reply to this post
Re: The Giveaway Gospel
Posted On: 11/15/07 05:10:36 PM
Age 60, IA
Churches that truly teach the gospel of Christ actually do present a message that is free. Christ's salvation is free but as Bonhoffer stated this Salvation is not cheap. Christ paid dearly for us.
What bothers me is that so many Christians (both lay and ordained)are obsessed with the numbers. "Look how many people I've led to salvation." Actually our job is to faithful present the gospel and pray. We will accomplish nothing by arguing the gospel, the Holy Spirit does the convincing and convicting. We can save no-one, Christ did. We have no need to keep score, the Father does this. I have found this to be tremendously liberating as I do not hold myself responsible for those tasks for wich I am completely unqualified. I don't have to be qualified, GOD IS !!!!!!! Click here to reply to this post
Re: The Giveaway Gospel
Posted On: 11/15/07 04:21:27 PM
Age 24, IN
So true... it is so sad what America has become... These are truly the days of Noah; people drinking, eating, marrying, partying, not realizing that our Saviour is coming back soon! Lets speak the truth like it is: people are lost in their sin without a Savior---and stop trying to get people into church for superficial reasons! Click here to reply to this post
Re: The Giveaway Gospel
Posted On: 11/15/07 02:19:56 PM
Age 59, MS
All I can is Amen brother. I would rather be in a church with only 10 members with a pastor that preached the Bible than one of the churches Mr. Baumann described in his article. Judgment day is coming and we all need to be wake up to the truth of the Bible! Click here to reply to this post
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