Tim H. Swanson
What's your favorite James Bond movie? Are you into the classics like Dr. No or Goldfinger? Or do you prefer the more recent ones like Casino Royal and Skyfall?
Maybe you're not partial to one film, maybe it's one of the Bonds you love. Is it Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Connery, or one of the other guys. Right now I'm all about the current Bond, Daniel Craig. That guy is hardcore.
The other night I was watching the newest 007 flick, Skyfall, and I realized that Bond movies offer a really valuable piece of insight into evangelism for the church.
It comes from this question: What do you love most about James Bond movies?
For some people it's Bond's signature swagger. For others it's the idea of the ultimate super spy who takes on a whole army of bad guys. And who doesn't love the signature Aston Martin complete with machine guns and ejector seat. Then there are all the cool gadgets that Q comes up with in each movie.
Different people love different things. The important thing about what draws people to watch James Bond movies is this- it's the same things every time. For 50 years they've been making 007 films, and people love them because their favorite elements are always there. The villain is always looking for power. Bond always meets him in an epic battle. He always wins, and he always gets the girl. That's it. And people line up to see the same things over and over again. That's the evangelism lesson for the church.
Church leaders are always looking for new and different ways to plan services to engage people's hearts and minds. That's good. Even Bond villains have updated from nuclear terrorists to master computer hackers. It's important to keep the experience relevant. But sometimes we go too far. There's a dangerous mindset in the church today that advocates changing services up just to keep it ‘fresh’. And unimaginably worse is the church that avoids or manipulates the content of the gospel in trying to reach the unchurched.
As you plan services at your church, fight the temptation to just change things up for the sake of trying something new. You may accidentally be getting rid of the very things that you need to attract people.
I was asked these questions by some really smart guys earlier this year. If you sense that there needs to be change, talk through these with your staff.
1. What's working that we should do more of?
2. What's not working that we should stop doing?
3. What's broken that needs to be fixed?
4. What's confusing that needs to be clarified?
We must always remember, the best thing about church is this - Jesus always lives a perfect life. He always dies for the sins of everyone who will believe. And he raises from the grave every single time. That's a plot worth repeating.
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