How Do You Win Them?
By Spencer Clark
There is a principle in youth ministry that goes something like this, “What you win them with is what you have to keep them with.” The idea is simple: the way in which we attract someone to the church is the way we must strive to keep people in the church. Did they start coming for social relationships, activities, and fun events? This is what we must sustain to keep them coming, or else they will look for another church with similar or better offerings. Is what brought them free food or handouts? We must keep this going or they will disengage. Did they come for the worship or a specific preacher or personality? If things ever change or a personality leaves, so may that follower unless they connect on a deeper level.
This phenomenon is what is often called the “attractional church” or “consumer Christianity.” In this model, church attendees are more like consumers coming to partake in a product that the church creates (socialization, worship, entertainment, events, activities, food, preaching, programs, etc). If that particular product goes away or diminishes in quality, people leave.
Jesus dealt with this same thing in first-century Galilee. After the Feeding of the 5000 a crowd formed and Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves” (John 6:26). After a discussion of the “true bread” from heaven and the consumption of Jesus’s flesh, “many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him” (John 6:66). Part of this was because of the teaching, but I suspect some of it was because they no longer could receive a free meal.
So, the question we must always ask as the church, as evangelists, and as lights in this community: how are we winning them? Because of Jesus or because of something else? Because if that “something else” goes away, will they still have faith? Can they endure when that “attraction” ceases to exist or the church stops producing consumer products? What we win them with is how we must keep them. Let us always aim to win people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ and not some material gimmick or attraction that is only a temporary feature of this life.