should entertainment be in the church? + how to GROW in God's word! | Arroyo Podcast

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[@MrBoxhead19]

Entertainment/Production in a church service setting can definitely be something that is hard to define or draw a line to. Here's what I have learned since moving to MO and being under a pastor who actually goes to school to learn about growth, revitalization, decline...etc, when we start to rely on entertainment to "bring people to Jesus" we have lost our faith and trust in Jesus and the Gospel. I am not saying entertainment and production is a bad thing in itself, it is only bad when our head's go to is entertainment to bring people into our church building. When we automatically say, we NEED the best stages and lighting and band we can afford to bring in people to our church or we NEED to throw the biggest Christmas party in the neighborhood to bring in people to our church...that is when we have started to rely on the gifts God has given us instead of the Gifter. This idea of entertainment often sneaks in the songs we also sing during a worship services. I was listening to a "worship" podcast and they mentioned something that I haven't heard or never was taught to me as a music leader. Ascribing Worth. The things we do in our service as we gather as a church to "worship" God - are these things ascribing worth to God. Because I lead music, I often apply these things more intentionally with the music part of our service, the lyrics and the words we are singing with our lips. I have learned that so much of our songs ascribe more worth to me (what I want to do, what I am going to do, how loud I'm singing, how long I'm going to praise, or how in love I am with God) instead of ascribing worth to God (what He has done, what He is going to do, His sacrifice and His goodness). I have added songs that really didn't ascribe any worth to God at all but I still added it to our song list and sung them. It was only until one of the church leaders allowed me to see the concern. But, because the music and song was so good (entertaining) that I didn't even pay close attention to the lyrics. These days, before adding a song to our list, I read the lyrics before listening to the music to help me really understand the song before I put them on the lips of every church member. The other thing I wanted to add is there was a study done about 3 years ago saying around 40% of people in the US are regular church attenders (attends at least once a month). I think this is down to around 35% in 2024. There is 60% who are completely unchurched...and what most churches are doing these days is competing for the 40% to go to our church. It showed that those "new" people who started going to church are actually coming from other churches around the area. The point is, if entertainment is truly the way to reach the lost, then why is that percentage still going down? With all the great technologies, big stages and lighting and the best sound equipment and buildings...how is it that the more we have of these things the more we decline? It goes back to the point that when churches start to rely on entertainment to bring people to Jesus and not on Jesus and His story to bring people to Jesus...we have lost faith in Jesus' Name. Sorry to ramble a bit here but I love this podcast and keep it going, guys. By the way, James River Church is about 5 minutes away from where we live now.

[@MrBoxhead19]

ahhh...I should have kept the video going. Griffin actually said it right around the 18 min mark "Let the Word of God speak for itself"