If You Build It, Will They Come?

“If you build it, they will come.”

Is that true? It might have worked for Kevin Costner in his movie “Field of Dreams”, where two whole ghost teams showed up when he built a baseball field out in his corn field. But does that same principle apply to, say, church? If we build a new building or start a new program, will this be enough to attract new people, or are we just providing a new and interesting place for already churched people to move to, until the next new thing comes along?

When it comes to spreading the Gospel and making disciples, many churches rely on the “attractional” model, where nice buildings and polished preachers are counted on to attract people to church, with the help of the friendly invitations by church members of their family, friends, and co-workers. Or, at the very least, an expensive advertising campaign or a snappy message on the church sign can do the inviting.

And it works, as evidenced by the many chairs that are filled on Sunday mornings.
But, I think it is worth asking, what about all those empty seats? What about all those people who would never dream of darkening the doorway of a church on a Sunday morning? What is keeping them away?

I’ve been overwhelmed at just how far the average person is from even considering coming to church, and what a miracle it is when they do. And with the direction our culture is trending toward, I don’t think it will get easier any time soon.

Part of the reason I record and post some of my Gospel outreach conversations is in the hope that church leaders might become more aware of some of the reasons keeping the average person on the street or in the marketplace away from church. By the time a person is ready to get involved in a church as a newcomer they are usually highly motivated, one way or another, and church leaders can get the false impression that most of our personal contacts are just waiting for an invitation, and all we have to do is ask.
With Easter coming up, which I’ve recently heard described as the “Superbowl Sunday” of the church year, many churches are gearing up campaigns of invitation to their Easter Sunday programs, but relatively few are gearing up for campaigns of outreach with the Gospel itself.

So, I continue to put videos out there. In this case I had a conversation with a young lady named Kailee, who described her experiences visiting church with friends and how she felt intimidated by all the unwritten rules she encountered. She didn’t want to appear ignorant as an outsider by doing or saying the wrong thing, and she didn’t want to offend anyone by not participating at all.

I think it would be easy for church leaders to assume that it’s simply a matter of making our church services more “seeker friendly” as a result.

But on a deeper level, Kailee said something that is probably more at the heart of her church avoidance. She stated that “if the Creator is supposed to represent love, forgiveness, and acceptance” then she doesn’t feel like churches are living up to that standard. I have to confess I think I too was distracted by her focus on only the politically correct aspects of God’s character. It made me want to be a more seeker-friendly Christian as well, and to not say anything that Kailee might find offensive.

But although the Gospel is the good news of salvation, it only makes sense in the context of the bad news that we need to be saved – and that means there is a part of what I needed to tell Kailee that would indeed be offensive. It’s the part about her sin and the need to repent. I failed to tell the whole truth in our short conversation, and tried to make up for it by basically emphasizing her need to read the Bible for herself. That’s pretty much the same as simply inviting her to church to see for herself. It’s helpful and true, but I was avoiding sharing some of the hard truths of the Gospel in the process.

I hope my videos such as this help others to learn from both my success and, in this case, my failures. I’m sorry for my failure to tell Kailee some of the hard truths. I think I needed to be more like John the Baptist, who helped prepare people for the good news of Jesus when he said "Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the kingdom of heaven has come near!"

A message like this might not figure into any church’s advertising campaign, but it’s part of the hard truth people need to hear.