When we follow God, contrary to the culture, but transformed by His word, God’s power is put on display. He is the One who gets all the credit for any fruit that you see. Why do people come to our church? Not because of the music (even though I’m partial to it). Not because of the venue (even though I think it is beautiful). People come because God is faithful!

It is an unfortunate trend that churches try to draw crowds with big events. I’m all for bringing in the lost to hear the gospel. I even think Christians can and should have fun. But when I see churches producing spectacles that have little to do with the gospel or Christ in order to draw in the masses, I can’t help but think that it is a symptom of bigger problems. These large spectacles are symptoms of unbelief and pride, and they actually strip the glory from God. They deny that God is faithful to His word, and they affirm that we can really help God out if we just added some of our wisdom. They also fly in the face of the Apostle Paul’s aim to win folks to Christ by preaching Christ (Col 1:28) through the power of the Spirit (1 Cor 2:4). When these events happen, people miss the power of God that is on display through the ordinary.

Our Sunday gatherings by all accounts are not cool. We sing old songs with minimal production. We pray long prayers that include a lot of Bible. We sit and listen to a long sermon that is focused on understanding a book that is thousands of years old. We eat squares of bread and drink thimbles of wine to remember the death of a Jewish man 2,000 years ago.

Our church members are not impressive. We ask weird questions like, “How did you come to know the Lord?” and “Can I share the gospel with you?” We go against the grain of the culture at every turn. We deny ourselves and follow the crucified and risen Messiah.

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