Last year we were caught a bit off guard with the insistence of the NFL that churches not display the Super Bowl on large screens. You’ve probably read plenty about the issues and know that the NFL has pushed back firmly against objections that they are being unfair in allowing sports bars to do what churches cannot. This post isn’t really about the situation, but about our solution.
Thinking through the situation and the clear calling I have felt that we needed to get “outside the walls” of our church, the solution seemed a bit obvious to me. So clear, in fact, that I’m sure I’ve had several “V8″ moments, where I’ve just hit myself in the head for not seeing it sooner.
We’ve asked the people of the church to break up and host many different parties in their own homes and invite people who are unchurched to them.
It solves several problems.
First, the TV is in the home and the NFL is no longer an issue.
Second, it puts lost people in close proximity to people of the Kingdom in a non-threatening atmosphere.
Third, it puts our people into action. Our people are responsible to put the night together, connect with those outside the Kingdom and engage those at the party.
The biggest problem with most of our churches is that the majority of the members are inactive. It is the curse of being program driven. People aren’t involved with a program – or don’t want to be – others fill in and we find ourselves in the 80/20 rule, where 80% of the people do 20% of the work and 20% of the people do 80% of the work. It results in a whole lot of lethargy.
I know of a handful of parties that have sprung up at my encouragement. No, we didn’t try and regulate it in the church. That’s kind of counter productive, if we are trying to get individual participation and responsibility. The Missions/Evangelism Team did offer to help if anyone needed, but I don’t think anyone took them up on it.
I’m going to hit a few parties. I’ve been invited by a couple of homes to attend, so I’ll make the rounds and try and meet the friends they’ve invited.
It’s not full blown huge participation, I admit. It is, though, a good step in the right direction.
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Kevin Bussey
on Feb 3rd, 2008
@ 2:32 pm:
Good idea. Don’t let the NO FUN LEAGUE win!
Joel
on Feb 3rd, 2008
@ 4:11 pm:
Art
Your solution is the obvious one and, IMO, much better than the “event” idea at the church. All of your reasons are right on target, and I would venture to say that much more loss people that you wan to reach will come when you do it in small groups than if you had it at the church. People are much more apt to invite and get involved in trying to connect with people when its at their home. If we don’t help our people reach others right where we live, the “invite them to a program” approach won’t have much lasting impact anyways. Great post and great idea. As it grows, it will pick up traction.
Joel
Rev. Michael
on Feb 4th, 2008
@ 7:59 pm:
Loved the idea. There is always next year. Thinking outside the box is crucial…getting others to take the box off their head and look at the situation in a different light is the challenge for us all. One of these days I’m going throw out a challenge to all of your “out-of-the-box” readers and commenters in regards to being a young pastor that feels led to do more and lead my church to be more while still shepherding those I’ve been entrusted with. I’ll write more another day. I’d love to hear your opinions. Art, thank you for pastoring my childhood church so faithfully and boldly.
Michael
art rogers
on Feb 4th, 2008
@ 10:35 pm:
Michael,
It’s a great blessing and I appreciate your encouragement, as always.
Nick
on Feb 5th, 2008
@ 10:59 am:
Hey Art,
I just read the post, but I think that you were right on target. We had our annual Bapt. Men’s Day this past Sunday because our men’s leader thought that the SuperBowl was scheduled for January. Anyway, I mentioned to him that maybe next year we could purposefully schedule our men’s day emphasis on SuperBowl Sunday and then go with a plan similar to the one that you outlined above.
I love the idea, and I would love to hear any reports about how it went with your church family.
Love ya buddy….and we still miss you all!
In HIS Care,
Nick
art rogers
on Feb 5th, 2008
@ 11:43 am:
Nick,
We miss ya’ll, too.
Things went well, but still need some tweaking. We need to start prepping for this several months in advance and provide printed invitations to our members that they can simply put their address on and pass out. Also, as you well know, the first year is always a breaking ground year and rarely a blowout success. As people get used to the idea over time, they adjust. This was the case with most churches when we gave up an evening worship service during the Super Bowl in the first place. Changing that program will take some time as well.
I did have some good conversations, though. It was a good start.