Theatrics or Theology

Theatrics or Theology

I went to church today. I suppose you might expect that. My wife and I have recently joined a small church, Southside Baptist Church, in Harrisville, WV. It is just about as country as you can find now-a-days. It is a two story house on which some brave soul before my time climbed on top of and positioned a steeple on the uppermost peek. And so, every Sunday and Wednesday we meet together for preaching and fellowship in a ‘steepled’ two story house. Now that’s country.

In our little church we do some very remarkable things. I don’t believe anyone in the congregation ever went to school to study the daily operations of the modern church in America today. Not even our Pastor. And so, maybe some of our quirks and out dated methods might be traced back to that deficiency. You see, on most Sunday mornings we gather in the main room (some places call theirs a ‘sanctuary’) where the benches (some folks call ‘em pews) are and just sort of mill about and shake hands and hug and generally have a great time with each other. We just like being together. There’s laughter, there’s prayers, and there is the sharing of general family information, because we all want to know what each other is doing and how the kids are. Then, somewhere between 10:00 and 10:20am, can’t say for sure cause there isn’t anyone actually looking at the clock, we start Sunday school. Whenever that teaching time is over we have another. The next one is the morning worship service. It starts between 11:00 and 11:30am kinda depending on the ending time of Sunday school. The morning service generally ends sometime before 1:00pm. Then we all gather about again and talk and pray and share some more. I think my favorite service is Sunday night because we start somewhere about 6:00pm talking about all the good stuff God has done in our lives this week, you know, just sort of bragging on God. Of course only having about 15-20 people there it generally ends just after 7:00pm. Sunday evening service is usually out by 8:30. Like I say, just your little country church the way it has been for almost 2000 years. All of the preaching and teaching that we do is taken directly from the King James Version of the Bible. We don’t use a bunch of gimmicks or showmanship to entertain folks. We sort of figure you should come to church to hear a message from God’s Word, and you ought to be teaching your children the same thing. It is what the Church has always done so we figure it’s what we ought to do.

I understand people are saying we need to change those outdated little country churches. They say we need something to catch people’s attention and keep their interest. Oh yes, I have seen some those big modern churches. They have enormous sanctuary areas seating 500-1000 people plus. No mere podium on a platform but a full stage instead with curtains and movie screens and stage lights. They have a preacher who is so good he could get a job in most Broadway productions. And everything is perfectly timed, perfectly planned out to achieve the desired effect. The ushers have the collection passing down to a honed skill. And the choir director standing before the classically robed chorale looks as impressive as the Mormon Tabernacle Choir itself. But I have to wonder, “Is this what God intended?”

We do not need Sunday morning oratories. We need Sunday morning sermons. We do not need

Sunday morning performances. We need Sunday morning interaction and fellowship and heartfelt prayers. We do not need a scheduled time that God must meet with us or else he waits until next week. We need old fashioned altar calls where sinners repent after hearing the Word of God preached and being convicted of their own sin. We need churches without clocks and people who are willing to wait for God to bless them on His schedule not on their wall clocks. We need parents who take their children to hear the Word of God preached and instill enough discipline in them that they remain seated out of respect for the God of this universe and the Savior who bled and died for them. 

Maybe I am getting a bit too old. Because I long for a day when the showmanship is silenced, a day when God is exalted and the Old Book, the KJV, is held up and respected as the authoritative guide for every area of life.

I attend Southside Baptist Church, in Harrisville, WV for all of the reasons above. I attend because God’s presence can be felt from the moment you walk in because He is exalted in all that is done. No showmanship, No fancy exhibitions or theatrics…just God’s Word, plain and simple.