Estimated Read Time: 7 Minutes
I can already feel the tension…
“Following Jesus is fun… Kids won’t come unless there is something engaging… We do anything just to get kids in the door; Jesus is what will get them to stay…”
A couple prefatory remarks:
I’m more traditional than many of my pentecostal and evangelical brethren. Many have called me an old soul. I accept. I love the way books feel. The hymns are beauty in my ears. Lights are often times too cold and too bright.
My idea of fun is much less about gags, games, and media. True fun is personal moments of authentic community. Before I had kids, we spent many weeks in our young adult group (shout out to CYA). Many times, the fun I experienced with those 20 somethings was simply birthed out of conversation, loving roasts, and sarcastic banter. Our fun events did occur (I was recently murdered in our annual murder mystery party), but fun stemmed from my friends, not the events.
My idea of church is always shifting and growing. I grew up in the height of the attractional church: bigger and better, more eggs, games, game cube before service… Today, I just want to worship God with people, be challenged in my faith, reflect on the miracle of Jesus, eat at his table with brothers and sisters, and be in his presence.
Church isn't fun, it's transformative.
I have a few problems with ministry done with fun as the foundation for our practical methodology (I call this praxis).
The gospel isn’t fun.
Some will be upset with this. I point to my prefatory remarks. For millennia, the church was not fun and thrived. My presbyterian, catholic, anglican, and orthodox brethren all practice a thoughtful, beautiful, and meaningful tradition of faith and for centuries discipled many people.
They weren’t any games or gags aimed at ensuring people had fun at church.
To be clear, I do not think these models are evil. Rather, I think they fill a certain place in the wide spectrum of church ministries. Sadly, the seeker/attractive/modern/contemporary/mega/vibrant church has become the dominant and primary image of the western American church. Thus, we have a problem. This kind of church is largely ill prepared (based on its native design and values) to disciple people well though the desert valleys of life.
The gospel is not fun. Biblically, following God is not fun. It involves loss, suffering, death, persecution, rejection, abandonment, family division, pain, solitude, betrayal…
Fun reflects amusement, entertainment, and leisure. None of which are key components of the gospel.
Joy, love, meaningful connection, and contentment are however components of the gospel message. Fun is not equivalent.
The gospel brings us joy, happiness, and gratification, but it does not bring us to a place of leisure or amusement. Fun can be supplementary to the gospel, but it does not connect with the gospel message.
Thematically, the gospel is more about suffering, servanthood, resurrection, submission, and righteousness. I do not think fun would a good descriptor of any of those themes.
Fun is not the same as joy, and that is something we must distinguish as believers.
The more I reflect about the gospel—especially outside our western context—I see little to no place for fun (as understood as amusement, leisure, and entertainment.
I love Tim Hawkins as much as any Christian in 2008, but sadly, Christian comedy, is not an accurate embodiment of the gospel message. We can make jokes about our faith, but at the end of the day the call to die to self is anything but a joke.
When I survey the wondrous cross
on which the Prince of Glory died
My richest gain I count but loss
and pour contempt on all my prideOh the wonderful cross
oh the wonderful cross
Bids me come and die
and find that I may truly liveSee from His head, His hands, His feet,
sorrow and love flow mingled down
Did e'er such love and sorrow meet,
or thorns compose so rich a crownWere the whole realm of nature mine,
that were an offering far too small
Love so amazing so divine,
demands my soul, my life, my allThe Wonderful Cross | Watts, Tomlin, et al.
Many parts of the Christian journey are not fun.
I have been pastoring for a mere three years. During those three years, I have found fun to be a minimal part of our spiritual journey. I have walked with families through several sudden and tragic deaths.
Valleys in the desert.
I have walked with them through depression and mental illness.
Valleys in the desert.
I have walked with them through financial needs.
Valleys in the desert.
We have walked together though sicknesses and diseases.
Valleys in the desert.
More often than not, my job as a pastor is supportive, not amusing. I ought to pray more than laugh. The role of the pastor is to lead and guide their flock through the mountains and valleys.
I have found that my personal pastoral ministry is less fun because my flock is usually walking through the valleys of the desert. And what do sheep need in the valley of death? The answer is not games… rather, they need revelations, reminders, and refreshment of the living water from Jesus. This does not come from games. It can come from people, but it does not come because of fun environments. Fun environments may distract us for a moment, but they are not living water.
I once had someone describe my ministry as being too much like a “bible study.” I was not offended. From where do we find that living water? It flows out of the scriptures. It flows from Jesus. We find Jesus largely in the words he has given us.
I believe they were looking for fun and games and I sadly did not deliver. I offered the Bible and that was not what they wanted. Sadly, this is not uncommon.
From kids ministry to worship services, more and more we see people want to be entertained. They want more.
I am finding that more often than not, I am wanting less. Less of me. More of him. More of his teaching. More of his grace.
I have found that games are less meaningful in the desert valleys of our lives. They may be an oasis, but we were not meant to stay in the desert. While the desert is a large part of our spiritual journey, they are not the end. Sadly, those who find comfort in the oasis of fun will never gather the strength to continue through the desert into the age to come. You must be focused on the living water to move ahead.
The gospel is transformative.
In my first 6 months of ministry, my numbers crashed. One fourth of the people started with were no longer part of my ministry. I planned games. I preached sermons. I gave prizes. The numbers didn’t change. My first year was a year of ministerial and pastoral confusion. It was an experiment. I played out theories and ideas.
As I reflected on my new pastoral experiences and my academic research and evaluation of the current state of the modern evangelical church, I found that fun was not transformative. Fun did not keep kids connected to the gospel. The games, the pizza, the music… it was all secondary.
To help guide my congregants into the transformative rivers of living water, I had to become irrelevant. (I recommend reading Henri Noun In the Name of Jesus) I made an intentional choice to strip back everything to make Jesus the center. He alone could transform. He alone… in his timing.
I am sure there are many who have evaluated my praxis and ideology. There are probably many critiques and observations. I humbly submit my work to Jesus. I pray that my work will be fruitful in his plan. However, I do not know what that will look like in the present moment.
I simply hold fast to the story I started my ministry on—the parable to the sower. That message was in April of 2021.
Since then we—my wife and I—have sown many seeds. Many seeds that look different than those of other minsters, but seeds of the Kingdom none the less. I trust that those seeds, scattered across a variety of soils, will at some point take root. I have tried to ensure my seeds are directly and explicitly connected to Jesus, his scriptures, and the pursuit of following him.
Minutes that utilize fun tactics often see results. No one denies that. While there may be some concerns as to how those results last and at what cost they come, they are results none the less.
Yet, my conviction is to tether my ministry to the transformative power of Jesus. Slowly and faithfully serving, not entertaining.
My hope is that that conviction has pointed people back to Jesus. That way, when the valley of death surrounds me and my brethren, we are able to rely on the transformative power of Jesus and quickly turn to him in the absence of leisure, knowing that his living water is readily available for those who believe.