The bold newspaper ad read: "A Touch of Class - Raucous Comedy - Live Bands - Hot Dance Moves." Sound like a blurb for a local disco? Not on your life! It heralded a special rally sponsored by the Youth For Christ in Auckland, New Zealand. It was an effort, said the director, to reach young people in a "creative way."
There is a tremendous emphasis on entertainment today in churches and organizations across the land. We have to provide a "thrill a minute." Nobody wants to be stuck with the accusation that their youth program or church service is "boring" because they simply worship God. Let's do something, anything, to liven things up and put "spice" into our services. Let's have fun.
A plethora of gimmicks are being employed today by those craving to catch the attention of the multitudes. Rock concerts, laser light shows, and assorted catchy programs are designed to appeal to the jaded tastes of a TV-drugged society.
Charles Spurgeon declared with feeling, "The devil has seldom done a cleverer thing than hinting to the Church that part of their mission is to provide entertainment for the people, with a view to winning them... providing amusement for the people is nowhere spoken of in the Scriptures as a function of the Church... The need is biblical doctrine, so understood and felt that it sets men of fire." (Ernest D. Pickering, Baptist Pillar)