Religion, I discovered, is a multi-billion dollar business in the United States. Entering churches, I was astonished at the carpeting, furnishing, air-conditioning and ornamentation. Many churches have gymnasiums and fellowships that cater to a busy schedule of activities having little or nothing to do with Christ. The orchestras, choirs, “special” music–and sometimes even the preaching–seemed to me more like entertainment than worship.
– K.P. Yohannan
Christ Alone Wyoming 
*sigh*
Mr. Yohannan has a pretty judgmental attitude here. While I am a vocal proponent of putting the building and facilities low on the bottom of the list of important things going on in churches, the mere presence of the different items he mentions doesn’t equate to “having little or nothing to do with Christ”. Having attended a fairly large church in South Carolina that had all of the acoutremonts that Mr. Yohannan mentions, I can tell you that most everybody in that church viewed all of it through the lens of being faithful followers of Christ.
And why can’t worship be entertaining? Where in scripture does God prohibit having an enjoyable worship experience? Worship had better be enjoyable for the worshipers, or else all of God’s children will be in for a pretty bleak, long eternity.
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Nathan…
Worship is for God, not ourselves. If people desire to be entertained by worship, they are not worshiping God. They are worshiping self.
Worship is satisfying because, as born again Christians, we yearn desperately to please God and give Him the honor and glory He is due. Worship is satisfying because of GOD not because of multi-media presentations, comfortable padded seats, and slick music.
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Nathan . . .
Your attitude toward Mr. Yohannan was pretty judgmental.
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And how many more mission teams could have been sent out using the money for the chandeliers and gymnasiums, etc.? How many more Bibles could have been sent to places where they have none? Someone may say, “Well, they send out over X amount of mission teams eveyr year!” And since when did God say, “You can send out this many and no more!! That chandelier ain’t gonna pay for itself!!”
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Amen Amy!!! Anything we do to make it ‘entertaining’ is feeding the flesh and flesh and Spirit do not mix. The truth is, if you find straight-up preaching boring, then your love for God and His Word has grown dim. Mixing a coctail of the world and God is a deadly mix.
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So Amy, worship and preaching has to be droll, uninspiring, monotone, uninteresting and (insert adjective here)?
A writer on another site said this, and I think it fits this discussion, too:
“What is “entertainment”? Some aspects of the definition of entertainment fits a high quality public assembly. Entertainment includes the idea of holding people’s attention. It includes an event that people enjoy. A good worship service should capture everyone’s attention. The term “delight” is used often in the book of Psalms to describe the pleasure we should find in our worship of the Lord (Psalm 111:2). Songs of praise, joy, and thanksgiving are a delight to the heart. Is it wrong to enjoy praising the Lord?
The largest chapter of the Bible (Psalm 119) uses the term “delight” to describe the pleasure that the song writer experienced when he was focusing on what we might call “a good sermon” or “Bible lesson”. Is it wrong to enjoy a good sermon?”
You can read more of this here:
http://singingschool.org/entertainment_or_worship.htm
This writer sums up my feelings on this perfectly.
And Pilgrim, let me correct your pithy comment. My attitude towards Mr. Yohannan’s JUDGMENTAL WORDS was judgmental. I don’t judge the man. In fact, I’ve enjoyed his other quotes you have posted.
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Nathan (?)
You indeed “judged” Mr Yohannan when you said “Mr. Yohannan has a pretty judgmental attitude here.”
That is a shame because he was simply illustrating his experiences in churches that he was exposed to. You are guilty of the same behavior that you accuse myself and others of.
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Okay, I judged the fact that he was being judgmental (this is making my brain hurt). But I wasn’t judging HIM. That’s my point.
Like I said in my first posting, how can he possibly say that the things going on in those churches had “little or nothing to do with Christ”? THAT was where he was being judgmental. And the fact that he was lamenting that the churches had “carpeting, furnishing, air-conditioning and ornamentation”? Where is the scriptural imperative that churches can’t have these things?
I know plenty of poor country churches, who have basic church buildings that might be simple and austere enough to win Mr. Yohannan’s approval, where many of the people of that church treat the church building and grounds like an idol. I could name a few by name. Conversely, I used to attend a very large Baptist church that built a new building with a multi-purpose room, and had programs out the wazoo – but it was one of the most Christ-honoring fellowships you’d ever meet, with an incredibly Godly man as pastor.
My point? You can’t judge a book by it’s cover. Just because a church has all the extras doesn’t mean that that church is unhealthy or doing things out of the will of God.
If my pointing that out means I’m being judgmental, than so be it.
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The fact is K.P Yohannan was comparing what he saw in America with what he sees in India.
I’ve been to America twice, and I compared what I saw with what I know in England. Just because they are both western nations does not mean they are identical.
I noticed too the great expense that the churches go to in America. It’s not like that in England. There might be some, but few.
My husband went to India this year and viewed the churches and the poverty in that nation for himself. He made a video of the visit.
The widows in the church receive an income from the church, which is about 100 rupees a month, or two dollar to you. My children get more that per week. How they manage to survive must be by God’s grace alone, not because of western help, even though we do help.
The thing is, we all know we could probably mangage on less than we have, not less income, but how we use it.
Mr Yohannan is free to speak what he sees. If he said otherwise he would probably be lying.
There is a lot of affluence in the American church. That’s my judgmental opinion.
Bye.
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I don’t disagree that there is affluence in the American church. I don’t disagree that India’s churches are different than American churches. What I do disagree with is this idea that a church’s affluence is some sort of reflection of some sort of Christian deficiency. You can’t make a spot judgment like that.
And just for the record, I am an American missionary to the former Soviet Union and have lived there for the past eight years. I have national brothers and sisters in Christ who live in true poverty, but I don’t judge their spiritual maturity by their lack of worldly possessions. Why should I judge my American brothers and sisters’ spiritual maturity by the their abundance of possessions?
Certainly some Christians in the west hold tightly to their possessions, and I think Isaiah 30 is a prophecy that the Church needs to hear and apply to themselves (“where do you put your trust?”), but I know also that the American church in general supports the church around the world in some pretty substantial ways. I agree wholeheartedly that it could be better, and we should be encouraging the church to put more effort into worldwide ministries and less into building upkeep.
And, in conclusion, apparently Mr. Yohannan doesn’t feel too repulsed by the American Church, since he homebases out of Dallas to help fund his ministries into Asia.
http://www.gfa.org/aboutkp
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K.P. never said “every” and “all” churches of the like had little or nothing to do with Christ. He was referring to he churches he had been to. Thus, if he was there he could also see what their teaching was about and if it had little or nothing to do with Christ, then he merely stated a fact. Why are you so hung up on it? It’s as if he made a remark about YOUR church that he’s never been to. He was commenting on the churches he experienced. If you’re saying that you can’t make an observation about your surroundings, then what are we to go through life like? Deaf, dumb, and blind?
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That’s a good question – and I’ve been thinking about it. If it was his experience, then that’s fine, and he’s certainly more than correct in commenting on things as he sees them.
As I’ve pondered this, I realized that the reason I commented on it really has very little to do with Mr. Yohannan – it’s more because of the fact that YOU felt led to post it here, where there is so much criticism about churches who try to do things in an atypical way. That’s probably what got me fired up more than anything, that I felt like it was your way of, once again, judging churches that are doing things differently than you think they should be done. I could be wrong about that, and if I am, then I apologize.
I guess that would lead to my real questions: what was your motivation for posting his quote? What were you trying to say?
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And now you’re questioning my motives for quoting K.P. Yohannan? Geesh! If you haven’t perceived the point of this blog yet and my stance on various issues within the modern church, then I can’t help you. I was pretty confident that you understood where I was coming from by now.
Anyway, with this, I will give you the last word, as beating this horse any more will leave it completely unidentifiable.
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Agreed.
No last point. I think I’ve made mine as well.
G’night!
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