Church...Boring?

You've heard it before and I have too over many years of ministry. One of the most frequent reasons that people say they don't attend church is because it's boring or not relevant. Are you kidding me? I can see churches that struggle with relevance because of the changes it requires for reaching & teaching people. But boring? I think that there's probably only one place to find boring churches. Boring, Oregon. Yes, with google's help you can see that there's actually 25 Boring churches there.

Anyway, I think that churches ought to be the least boring places on earth. We serve a risen Savior who changes lives & eternal destinations. How can that be boring?

If we were going to try to make church boring, these may be some good ideas (from Tony Morgan):

10 Easy Ways to Make Church Services Boring

10. Forget relevant topics and life application. That's overrated. People are really only interested in hearing what you think, not why it matters to them.

9. Use lots of big words that no one uses in normal, everyday life. 16th century King James is always nice.

8. Use the same song every week. And try the chorus, yes, just one more time.

7. Talk more about the past and less about the future. Nothing like living in the past gets your spirit moving!

6. Encourage elementary school children to sit through your services. The love lively 45-minute sermons. It's good for them. Builds character.

5. Make more announcements.

4. Use the same order of service. Every week. No exceptions. Ever.

3. No television, movie clips, or videos. It's just a phase. People don't really need visual stimulation. They prefer talking heads.

2. Straight scriptures, no stories. Jesus didn't teach that way, but you're obviously a better teacher than Jesus.

1. Don't worry about when you finish. I'm sure no one has plans after the service.

Okay, so you get the point.

As a church staff, we sit down and plan services, sometimes weeks out. We ask ourselves: What can we do to make our services more memorable & impactful? What obstacles can we remove that seem to hinder our attendees from worship or listening to the message? Church should never be boring. Or do some Christians believe that we should invite unchurched people, people who do not have a relationship with Jesus Christ, and expect them to show up and put up with something that they perceive as boring and not relevant to their lives? You can call it selfish, but we were all selfish too before Christ came into our hearts. Perhaps some of us still struggle with that. Let me say, the church is not here to entertain anyone. We are here to resonate biblical truth to the lost & broken world. But do our methods actually help us reach our intended recipients? Relevant teaching and services are key to this. We strive for excellence in these areas for our Sunday morning worship services. Times change...but do our churches? Church...boring? My God won't allow it.