Many Christians and many churches have essentially done what the airlines have done. Seeing that people are either not interested in the message or are not understanding it, they try to repackage it. They dress it up. Instead of delivering the plain truth, they deliver something that is attractive but opaque…but that’s no solution, for the problem is not with the gospel but with the one hearing it.

If you’ve flown recently, you have probably made the same observation I have: No one pays attention to the pre-flight safety videos. There may be the occasional uptick in interest after a well-publicized crash or near-disaster, but soon old habits return—people stuff their AirPods into their ears and stare at their phones rather than watch the briefings.

The airlines appear to have responded to this apathy by trying to make their videos eye-catching and clever. Air Canada no longer shows passengers on a plane but actors outdoors in a variety of Canadian locations. Lufthansa does something similar, though with more of an international feel. United follows some strange Rube Goldberg contraption across a bunch of green-screened locations. The videos are longer than ever and rather abstract. And as far as I can tell, people aren’t any more interested in them than their predecessors.

I can’t prove it, but I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that safety actually decreases as the length and abstractness of these videos increases. They may be clever and may have great production values, but my guess is that overall comprehension diminishes as the few key facts get obscured behind a mass of images and locations.

I had a fascinating experience recently. I invited a friend to church who is a committed follower of a different faith. “Come and learn how Christians worship,” I encouraged him. And he was glad to do so. The sermon that day was on the book of Romans and the wonder of being justified by grace through faith. The pastor could hardly have been clearer in his explanation of the gospel. My friend opened a Bible for the first time in his life, read along, and appeared to be listening with interest and attentiveness.

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