And the Oscar Goes To....

So, I'm watching the Oscars on TV and it strikes me - movies and churches have a lot in common. Bare with me here. You ever notice how all these no-name tech people and foreign film directors get awards for the first 2/3 of the night and nobody really cares? In fact, if those people happen to thank too many people, the Oscar producers look for a chance to start the into-commercial music and shoo off the recipients.

For many people, church is the worship service - never mind the Bible studies, the pastoral care, the committee meetings, the Wednesday night programming and everything else going on at the church throughout the week. For "up-front" personnel at worship services (speakers, worship leaders, liturgists, worship bands, etc.), this means that what you do reflects on your entire staff and, for visitors, on your entire church.

My wife will often wonder why I feel so emotionally burned after a Sunday morning, but it follows a pretty easy logic trail: if there's a sound malfunction or a PowerPoint faux pas, it reflects on the worship leader (nobody thinks to blame the sound booth). If the speaker delivers a poor message, it reflects poorly on the church's council and on the church as a whole - as if this is the best speaker our church can produce. Similarly, one bad acting role can ruin an entire movie - ruin a perfect soundtrack or ruin great wardrobe/makeup.

Of course, all this is accentuated by a consumer-driven church culture, but despite all the church "purists" defamating consumer-driven church, the fact is that we live in a consumer-driven (or "seeker sensitive") church world. And, quite frankly, rather than just complaining, we as churches should try and make ourselves better because God asks for our firstfruits - firstfruits in daily life and firstfruits in ecclesiology. For churches, that means good speakers and good worship. Whether you preach from the lectionary or very practically - whether you have traditional worship or modern worship - do what you do and do it well. Why? Not for the consumer, but for God.