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Christianity Today, October, 2007 |

Amusing Ourselves on Sunday

Why the church must practice a different kind of comedy.

A Christianity Today editorial. | posted 10/08/2007 09:28AM

Recently, a CT editor ran across a six-minute clip on Google Video. Its purpose was to instruct people who were joining a particular church what to expect when it came time for them to be baptized. That's ...

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Kendra

Posted: October 19, 2007 10:49 AM

At our church, there is much joy, usually during warm situations shared, as well as during praise and worship. And there is also humor- our pastor is a very talented speaker, who manages to entwine life lessons in with observations of all too human behavior in funny ways. He of course has his serious moments as well, please don't think it's always a barrel of laughs. There would never be any sort of slapstick video ever shown in our house of God, either- I think that would be taking it way too far, and would devalue the power of the message. I guess what's sad is that today, many seem to need a watered-down, more secular version of God, and what's sadder yet is the fact that so many of these "megachurches" are willing to bring it to them, packaged all glossy and funny and perfect. No thanks. My little family and I will stay with our little chuch, and with our great big God.

Ray	Posted: October 19, 2007 8:43 AM

It is becoming more clear... the battle lines that are forming between the perfect church world of 1950 and reaching the lost of today. The message should forever be strong, theologically accurate and conservative, but the way of communicating that message must be in a form that the society of today will understand, & be willing to hear. So many want to speak the love of Jesus in Latin, to a world that has never heard that language. We're not trying to reach "church folk" we are commissioned to reach the lost. So for me.... make the humorous videos, use comedy, use various forms of music.... do what it takes to reach the lost for Jesus!

concerned reader

Posted: October 12, 2007 3:06 PM

i find it odd that you are spending your time writing about the woes of this video. you failed to mention that this church community baptized OVER 100 people. while you are spending your time writing philosophical rebuttal's to "how" ministry should or shouldn't be...why don't you role up your sleeves and get creative...creative enough to move outside your terse point of views and actually reach people! then again, i guess it's easier to sit in a suburban starbucks and mindlessly bash those who are "actually" making a difference in their community. good luck with your next adventure on tearing others down.

Viktor

Posted: October 10, 2007 6:01 PM

Wondefull! If somebody here wants the church to effectivly fight the devil, let's clean it up first from that stuff inside. Otherwise who cares about those tooothless bites? This article is on target and astonishes me exceedingly - true faith comes from hearing the Word. By virtual media images only and easy baby talks we can create some temporary impression, illusion, if you will, but not the living faith. Not at all. Hear, oh, Israel!

Raymond Takashi Swenson

Posted: October 09, 2007 12:15 PM

Rom. 6: 4--"Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life." Exactly how does associating baptism with comedy supposed to help us understand that we are undergoing death and resurrection, in emulation of both Christ's baptism "to fulfill all righteousness" and his atoning death and redeeming resurrection? That it represents the death of our old persona, and the birth of a new one, purified and sanctified as children of Christ? While megachurches may grow based on production values, the growth of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints takes place in purposefully small congregations where all roles are carried out by part time volunteers. The entertainment values are speakers from the congregation, an organ and an occasional volunteer choir. One suspects that Paul and Peter worked in similar circumstances.

Steve Wilson

Posted: October 09, 2007 10:52 AM

Frankly, this article saddened me because it almost proves the point of how irrelevant the church has become...besides, any media self-produced for a local church should be evaluated in its context. Just because its available on the web for all doesn't mean that it wasn't produced for one particular church family at a particular point in that church's history. Call it "historical particularity" if you will! Ultimately we must trust the church's lead artists that they know what they are doing and submit to their wisdom on the matter. One of the editors of CT should have been in the church as it played to see the reactions. Were they mixed? Probably. I watched the video and had some thoughts/critiques and would have done some things differently. Ron Martoia says that local ministries are becoming increasingly indigenous,

chae s. sone

Posted: October 09, 2007 8:47 AM

Dear Editor: There should be a rule to re-examine the status of religious life for the clergies and laymembers every 7 years or so. If they are failed, they should be put into probation, laymembers' rebaptize onpon passing the tests. If not let them just come to church without recognized status. There should be a control mechanism of them, otherwose the church could be unsless religously. socially may be for some class of people. Chae S. Sone

Jim	Posted: October 09, 2007 7:02 AM


I forever marvel at how much time the church spends beating up on the church and how little time it spends attacking the devil.

Raphael

Posted: October 09, 2007 3:29 AM

I have been in the entertainment business most of my life and have traveled all over the world and over the past ten years I've seen so many of same techniques used in my business by churches to "entertain" the church goers. I understand that some people think it's necessary to draw a new crowd or keep the ones they have interested but I can tell you that many of these large chuches that I have visited over the years, with their state of the art audio visual and massive Vegas stage lighting, are for the most part places where people go to feel good about themselves...To be told "you"re OK" and "nobody's perfect" and never being challenged to make a real commitment to Christ or to even change their lives. I believe many of these churches are succesful, as far as numbers are concerned, for the simple reason that there are many more people willing to go to a church that entertains them. It's no different than going to a movie. The Gospel is all that's needed and plenty of parking......

Josh	Posted: October 08, 2007 8:32 PM


I am curious to see the video! Does anyone have the link to that video??

Curt	Posted: October 08, 2007 6:31 PM

I think that those who are indignantly defending humor are missing the point of this editorial. Humor is wonderful, part of the way God created us. But when we start to focus on humor for humor's sake, something in our worship is lost. I use humor in teaching when it will more effectively bring home an important truth. But when the emphasis is taken from the truth and put on how funny I am, I'm doing a disservice to God and His people. The last thing I want is for people to come to church to see what new, funny thing we're going to do. We need to communicate to people in their culture, but that doesn't mean we lower the worship of God to cultural standards. There are just some things that aren't appropriate in worship. I don't want anyone to confuse our service with Comedy Central---I want the difference to be evident even in our style of communication. If we lower ourselves to the cultural path of least resistance, that's precisely the kind of church we're going to build.

chas pike

Posted: October 08, 2007 6:01 PM

i am profoundly disturbed by this article. humor is the elocutionary that makes bitter medicine easier to swallow. i find the concept of "orwellinism" also to be grossly mischaracterized. orwell perceived society as being overblown with self examination and intrusively legalistic. control for the sake of control. control becomes the religion, the government, the all consuming. it does not "goose step' up, and you do not see it coming, unless you head the words of the Christ, and "watch". an orwellian society begins by attrition, by the slow surrender, or whittling away, of our rights. in fact, if one wished to create an orwellian society, the first thing to be stripped away would be humor, because humor subverts. we must never allow ourselves to fall to the point where we lose our ability to laugh. humor works upon the intellect. if you are laughing, you are thinking.

baptism and laughter and new life

Posted: October 08, 2007 5:53 PM

Humor itself is not necessarily anti-God; indeed it depends on the condition of the heart. I once heard a priest joke about communion equipment as "toys" and I saw, overall, that he did not have a sincere belief; he lacked a depth of commitment when celebrating the new covenant in Jesus' blood. But, on the other hand, a sign of a free Christian is abundant life and a fullness of mirth, laughter and enjoyment. Baptisms I have attended have been very joyful with plenty of happy singing and feelings of lightheartedness. There is no need to misrepresent them in a crude and insincere way, by making a mockery or joke out of them on DVD. But we should anyway have a wonderful bubbling-over sense of laughter and fun when we have been freed. It is just like the overjoyed reaction new parents have when a mother has just given birth to a child. The happiness at the receiving of new life is uplifting and thoroughly enjoyable and relaxing. Baptism is the same and leaves all enriched and refreshed.

Lauren

Posted: October 08, 2007 4:38 PM


I think it's terrible that the modern church is seeking to entertain their congregations. If I want entertainment, I will stay home and watch a movie. When I go to church, I want to hear the Word proclaimed, fellowship with other believers, and worship the Lord. I do not need a comedy routine to do those things. It is quite the turn off and one reason we stopped attending what was "our church."

Pat	Posted: October 08, 2007 4:26 PM

This is not to excuse cheesy humor described in the article, but I think part of the reason for the "comedy" approach is in answer to the Put-em-to-Sleep priests and ministers who are barely breathing and are too tired/boring to speak beyond the strict confines of liturgy. It's too deep of a subject to go into here, but one of the reasons the non-denominational "evangelical" churches are booming is because they know they do not exist just to "preach to the choir". They realize that a big part of their mission is to focus OUTWARD and reach out to people who have a) never experienced church; or b) if they have, they were turned off by half-asleep old men wearing judges' robes and a collar that looks like it went out with high-button shoes! Seriously!! Would unchurched Americans come in if they saw only horses/buggies and hitching posts in the yard? Churches need to face the fact that with all the plasma screens attracting people's attention today, they have to update, be current.

John	Posted: October 08, 2007 4:12 PM

The great genius of Comedy Central in shows like "The Daily Show" and "The Colbert Report" is to make serious points about serious issues but in a humorous way. I fail to see why Christianity cannot be taught and preached in a similar manner...obviously not in a tasteless "South Park" style but more along the lines of Jon Stewart. Comedy Central's political leanings may be different than most CT readers but the STYLE of those shows to me is translatable to spreading the Word...

Chuck Boone

Posted: October 08, 2007 3:15 PM

There are really two issues in this article and they need to be separated. First, as Postman said, television inherently turns everything into entertainment. I'd argue though that this is true because of its context rather than its form. Television is pure entertainment--it comes to us, it sits endlessly available to us, it requires no more engagement than pressing a button. It is inherently a lazy, self-absorbed context for communication and so it is naturally a self-pleasing use of the video form. The second issue is with some churches' inability to reference the form without embracing its content. in this particular case, is it necessary or appropriate to deminish the seriousness of baptism in order to lighten the tone of a video description of it? Baptism is after all a serious topic. Is there something wrong with being serious? Is it not possible that taking eternity (or anything else) seriously is evidence of conversion from the world's ways and thus to be embraced?

RDH	Posted: October 08, 2007 2:16 PM

A timely article! As was so aptly said, there is nothing wrong with humor and occasional humor will occur in the church. However, to make any form of humor a theme or function of the church takes away from the soberness of the gospel truth. I personally believe that comedic foundation in the church is no different than what happens to some churches that grow very fast. At the start, the intentions and presentations are very sincere and appropriate. At some point because of the rapid growth of the church and accompanying plant to accomodate the growth, it becomes very apparent for the need to have ongoing funding to support it. If there becomes any slowdowon of cashflow, the thing that happens is some innovative ways to "entertain" and draw, in an effort to maintain the necessary funding, even if it becomes less than desirable and less than dignified and less than pure gospel presentation.

Jeff	Posted: October 08, 2007 1:44 PM

Talk about Comedy Central! Check out this recent ad for a stand-up pastor for a new church plant called the Comedy Hour in OK: Senior Pastor The Comedy Hour 23165 north western Edmond, OK This is a newly forming church. Job duties will be to set up church from groud up. We have a 5000sf building to start off in and are planning to build a new building as we grow. We have many ideas God has put on our hearts, would like to hear about yours too and see if we feel like a match to grow God's Kingdom together. Must be very funny!! Please send copy of a cd or dvd.

Wes W.

Posted: October 08, 2007 1:20 PM

If there is any gathering of the church that ought prompt sobermindedness, one would think that it is the public proclamation of one's death to self and resurrection through Jesus. We used to set the bar high for this, and examine people to make certain that they understood the gravity of their proclamation and that they weren't deceiving themselves about their state. Have we moved so far that we need to "make people comfortable" in the process? Do we need to make the whole event "fun" to get people to respond? Ironic, isn't it, that the evangelical church, when seeking to make itself more attractive to the world around it, waters down its message and becomes less attractive. And the leaders who think these things are helpful somehow don't realize how moronic and pathetic they appear - especially to those they are seeking to "win." God's work should be done God's way.

Rev Curt Williams

Posted: October 08, 2007 12:12 PM

I like the direction of the article......if everybody would agree to the same battle lines. However, the pressure on small churches to mimic the ceative content is HUGE. Yes there are churches like LifeChurch TV that ofer their cretive content for free, but most to the content is for sale and tremendously expensive (e.g,.$55 for a 3-minute byte about __________). And yet, an entertainment-oriented inevitably migrates toward the entertainment that most of us cannot afford. And so we small-church pastors preach. We try to describe an ancient land seperated by 8,000 miles and two millenia in order to paint a picture of what it was like for Jesus to be baptized for the green-grass-in-the-front-yard-suburbanites. Meanwhile, the big guys down the road show a video of one of their staff members (who was flown over for their seven-week series on "The Land Where Jesus Walked") standing on the banks of the Jordan River at the actual site where Jesus was baptized on a 40-foot Jumbtr

chrism

Posted: October 08, 2007 11:57 AM


and yet more sobriety is required if you want to join the Kiwanis or Rotary. one has to wonder what the Church Victorious now think about those of us are merely among the living.

Brian

Posted: October 08, 2007 11:47 AM

One of the biggest challenges to evangelism is the image of Christians as stuffy and humorless. It need not be so. Humor in a video about baptism is likely to help relax people approaching something which the author agrees is foreign to them, and thus cause for making them nervous. Humor in the video doesn't in any way detract from the spiritual significance of the actual event. Baptism is a symbolic washing away of the old body and its sins--not a washing away of our sense of humor.

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