Does Your Church Sell Sofas?

I just caught this story over at Monday Morning Insight (I know its Saturday) about a church that changed its name to "The Living Room." It didn't work out so well in the phone book and people begin calling about ...

“We find couples in the foyer looking for the sleeper sofas,” says associate pastor Zach Thompson. “Some of them just won’t believe we’re a church.”

Read more at Monday Morning Insight

Is Sunday School A Para-church Parasite?

In every church growth class or book that I can remember an effective Sunday school program was touted as a key for churches that are reaching people for Christ. The dogma goes something like this: Grow Sunday School and your church will be able to attract and keep families. Assimilation rates will go up - way up. People will learn the Bible. Kids will get the Gospel. Sunday school growth equals church growth.

And all God's people said ... Amen.

Now the 9Marks guys are ruining all the fun. Read this Friday Rant by Michael Mckinley. He raises some theological objections to the Sunday school dogma.

Every two months, a local Baptist organization sends out its "Official News Magazine". Before I throw them in the trash (lest a church member accidentally read one), I always hold a debate with myself about whether I should even bother to peruse the contents. I always give in; it's the ecclesiological equivalent of the car crash you can't help staring at as you go by.

But I thought that I might share a nugget lovingly culled from the most recent issue. I quote:

The growth and sustained ministry of the local church rises and falls on the strength of SUNDAY SCHOOL. (capitalization theirs)

This offends me on at least three levels:

1. Ecclesiologically, this is a statement completely unsupported (and in fact, contradicted) by Scripture. I'm a big fan of Sunday School, but I'd probably have to give the nod to the power of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God in terms of what's most important in the growth and ministry of the church.
2. Pragmatically, this seems to be contraindicated by both common sense and statistics. If we're going to be pragmatists, could we at least be good pragmatists?
3. Ecologically, trees had to die in order for this sentence to appear on my desk this afternoon.

I think he raises a good question. Is Sunday school all that it is claimed to be? Should be blindly follow the programming advise of people who sell Sunday school material?

10 Ways To Grow Your Church Without God

From The Monday Morning Insight blog ...

For the record, here are the ten ways to grow your church WITHOUT God: Ten Ways to Grow Your Church Without God…

Here's an interesting article by Ray Baumann. It seems that God has now gone on record as hating logos, web design, Starbucks, leadership, phone books, theatres, media, school programs, technology, video, dramas, egg hunts, and networking...

1. “Leadership is key.”

2. You want to create an oasis at church; let’s take a few ideas from Starbucks.

3. Next, your church has to offer something others don’t.

4. Spend money on logo and website design.

5. Advertise

6. Be creative with your presentations. Be sure to utilize all of the latest technology for your cool short video illustrations. To get the full effect, you must have video projectors and plasma TVs. Lighting is also essential to set the mood during services.

7. Don’t let anyone come to church and leave without getting their information.

8. Always be planning for your next event, whether it is an Easter egg hunt or Christmas drama. Every two months something big must be occurring to create excitement.

9. Have sermons focused around life issues such as parenting, managing money, eating right, getting along with others and making the best of your life.

10. Network.