The Dark Side of Attractional Evangelism

When I was growing up, church evangelism consisted of inviting others to church. My generation didn’t embrace that method, instead we took the gospel of Christ to the people outside the church.

While in college, I was a transitional pastor of a church. One of the church members joined me as we visited people in the neighborhood each Sunday afternoon. One Sunday, as we walked away from a house, he commented that he had never been with a pastor who actually shared the gospel in homes. He said, “We just invited them to church.”

Today, the pendulum has swung the other way. People are critical of the more confrontational evangelistic approach. American culture has changed from a front porch to back porch mentality. People do not want to be disturbed once they have cocooned themselves within their home. In keeping with today’s culture, churches are again encouraging people to invite their friends to church (as though it’s a new idea). With a resistance to home visits in most communities, churches have become reliant on this method. In fact, chances are, if your members are not consistently inviting people to church, your church is probably not growing. It’s a good policy to develop a church that connects with unbelievers, and some practices that may help are:

·         Being intentionally friendly

·         Having 4 to 5  connection points for guests as they enter campus

·         Eliminating “churchy” or “insider” language in the preaching

·         Realize that guests may not be familiar with biblical stories

·         Clearly communicating the next step your church wants guests to take

So, what is the dark side?

1.  Going too far to accommodate the unchurched.

Attractional churches can become fearful of offending. Certain biblical teachings are being ignored or even wrongly interpreted. Many of these churches are sound on the gospel. They may couch the gospel inside a message on marriage, success, or relationships, but the gospel is still preached. After all, the reason to have an attractional service in an attractional church is to reach the unchurched. 

Yet, pastors often struggle with how to handle social issues, tithing and giving issues, passages of Scripture that confront sin, or judgment of sin. Christians who are sitting in churches dealing with these issues want to know what God says and what their pastor believes. 

If you are going to be attractional, you might think you have to be careful not to offend the guest, which might in turn embarrass the member who invited them. This may then lead the member to be hesitant in inviting guests again. If your people are too afraid to invite their friends, how will your church reach people?

2.  If attractional ministry is your primary method of evangelism, then it is less likely that your members will learn to share their faith. Why should they do that when they can simply invite friends to church and let the professionals present the gospel?

3.  You may rely too heavily on members inviting others. If the members do not catch the vision, where do you go from there?

4.  The darkest part of the dark side is building a church around what is comfortable to the world. To develop a church around the theme, “a church the unchurched will feel comfortable attending” is an eerie vision. What does a church really look like if a person who is outside of Christ, has unforgiven sin, no spiritual life, can come and feel perfectly at home? Where is the conviction of sin? Where is the need for God? Jesus often preached difficult things (see John 6) and many left Him.

Please know I am not the typical critic here. Some say these attractional churches end up making church look like a circus. Who’s to say God doesn’t enjoy a good circus? In a day when attractional evangelism is a key, I don’t want to miss the boat—but I don’t want to drown in the ocean either. I want to point people to the light, but not at the expense of sending myself and my church down a dark path. I feel a deep burden to see people saved. Yet, I long to see Christians discipled in the Word and standing strong in their faith. The day of confrontational evangelism and believers worship services seem to be a simpler time.

How far should attractional evangelism go? Should we go back to older methods? There is much at stake.

What do you think?