MondayMorningInsight - Leadership & Encouragement for Church Leaders

Church Offers Free Gas For Attending

Posted by: Todd
Posted on: Fri, September 02, 2005
Viewed 102
(25) comments so far

Rising gas prices in Siouxland and around the country are causing many people to drive less and pay more for goods and services.

During hard times church is the first place we need to be Clearview wants people to know that the economy may rise and fall, but Gods love remains the same.

The 10:30am service at Clearview is casual (no ties allowed) and is a blend between an Eagles concert and the freedom speech in Braveheart.

No matter what type of week you?ve had, you?re going to leave here inspired and ready to face another week!

Vouchers, redeemable for $10 of gas only at the Select Mart on 14th street, along with a free bible and music CD are given to first time visitors (one per family) after the service.

Do you think this will be effective?

This from the Clearview Community Church Website: Clearview Community Church is giving away vouchers good for $10 of free gas to every family that visits for the first time during the month of September. We are so confident that our worship service will be the best hour of your week that we are willing to pay for your gas to get here and back…

Comments

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k on Tue, September 06, 2005

Yes, Christ provided “fish sandwiches”- after He had preached all day. The menu wasn’t advertised ahead of time. Only Christ knew the crowd would be with Him all day and that the boy would offer his lunch to share. Big difference between “advertising” and “meeting needs” in this case.
Tim on Tue, September 06, 2005

In America, more is better! There’s nothing quite like feeding the consumer-oriented culture. When will we begin to realize that to be part of the church is not so much about what you get out of it, but oh such much more about your contribution to the body of Christ.

In light of Hurricane Katrina, why not ask people to come and GIVE $10 worth of gas to a family who REALLY needs it.
Rob on Tue, September 06, 2005

Hmm. I’m torn.

On one hand, there’s a certain cleverness to the offer. It shows an ability to “exegete the times” and leverage cultural sensitivity for the purpose of evangelism. I like how they are attempting to contrast the shifting nature of the world with the constancy of God, His love, and His Church. In a way, offering the gas voucher is like saying, “We want you to know that we’re here for you in good times and bad, and we’re not going away.”

I don’t see strategies like this and an authentic, orthodox witness of the gospel as being mutually exclusive. A plain reading of the gospels shows that people didn’t always come to Jesus only because they heard him preach a “REAL gospel of sin, repentance, and salvation.” How many times do we read of people who came to Jesus because of some sort of physical or personal need? Lepers, blind men, the woman with the 12-year-hemorrhage, the centurion, the gentile woman with a demon-possessed daughter—the list is quite long.

Providing gas to new visitors may not be quite the same thing as a miracle, but as another commenter noted, this church could be considered generous with gas prices being what they are right now. Perhaps such generosity could attract visitors who might not otherwise darken a church door. And if said visitors hear the gospel faithfully proclaimed, that is cause for rejoicing.

Now for the part of me that’s not so sure about it. Cleverness aside, this offer might also have a ring of desperation to it: “Please, PLEASE come to our church. We’ll even pay you! If you come, you’ll find that we really are cool, relevant, and encouraging. Really, you’ll love us—we swear! And even if you don’t, there’s some free gas in it for you.”

I can almost hear a Homer Simpson type drooling and saying, “Free gas, ooooh…!” before he trundles off to church in pursuit of a freebie. That’s the other strike against the offer. In some minds, visiting the church would be a tacit and embarrassing admission that they went to a charitable organization’s function for the sole purpose of taking $10 from them. I wonder how many people would turn away from it, saying, “That’s tacky.”

This is where I find myself in partial agreement with some of the commenters who seem to be saying that an authentic gospel witness ought to be enough. If a church really is vibrant and alive, full of the power and the grace of Christ, then it has a momentum and attractiveness from the Spirit that no human cleverness or material enticement can duplicate. No one can come to the Father unless the Son draws him, and all the freebies in the world won’t change that. We must take care to ensure that the world hears “We implore you, be reconciled to God,” louder and clearer than “Come to church and get free stuff.”

I’ll be interested to see how Clearview Community Church fares with this. I also wonder how they are planning to measure the success of the initiative—new visitor statistics can be misleading.
DAVe on Tue, September 06, 2005

It sounds desperate to advertise gas give aways. It’s church swag. Really the only way to promote growth that last is get people to invite others and being a friendly caring church once they do come. Majority of those happy with their church is because they have a friend that goes there and they do things together outside of a Sunday service.
Elder Francisco Brock on Tue, September 06, 2005

God Bless you! I believe that this a great tool of witnessing. Do I beleive it will work? Of course; only if the pastor is intuned with the Holy Ghost. If we don’t listen to the Holy Ghost then we will not be able to meet the needs of the people. One of the lost important things to people is meeting their need. If he meet the need then I believe it will work indeed. May God richly bless you in sall of your ventures.

Yours in Christ,

Elder Francisco Brock
Rev Isaac J on Tue, September 06, 2005

There was a man in Chicago who used to ride the train for over 2 hours to and from Moody’s church for a combined total of over 4 hours a week. When asked why he went through so much trouble and expense he responded that they cared about him like no one else ever had.

I’ve been blessed to be part of a “Mega” Church that during the course of 5 years grew from 2 families to 7,000 in weekly attendence with well over half of those attending small groups as well. There’s also a daughter church in the neighborhood of 700 and satallite feeds to a couple of remote locations. We are still blessed to have around 30 new believer baptisms per week in our rural Idaho town. Not once have we ever bribed people to come, sure we have a great benevolence pastor and have recently become one of the largest providers of food, medical, and social services in the area, but that is caring for the “least of these”, not bribing seat fillers.

A better use of $10 is to buy a copy of The Masters Plan of Evangelism, every leader should have one. From there continue to teach your people to meet together, pray together, eat together, and love, laugh, and cry together. Soon your disciples have made more disciples who are making even more disciples. You’ll swear they were genetic rabbit hybrids based on the growing numbers. Fair warning, it’s a pandoras box you’ll open (growing churches are riddled with strife, as we see in the New Testament), but it’s well worth it to see changed lives.

Believe it or not, a fellow pastor from seminary tried this a few years back with $100 bills for families who came for a whole month. It peaked the interest of a few who wanted to walk away with a crisp $100 bill. A few of the families even stayed for a while; however, they wound up introducing witchcraft, shaministic, and budhist beliefs into pockets of the membership… ouch. The Seattle area church is still small and innefective at reaching people for Jesus.

In conclusion, resist the temptation to undergo schemes like this one. Help your staff grow from disciples to disciplers of disciplers and your church will not be able to keep people away. A story may even be told about your parishioners who defied high gas prices to go to a church where they were cared about like no one else had ever cared for them before.

God Bless
TIm on Fri, September 09, 2005

Is it bribing or compelling them? I like the Idea so many un churched and unsaved feel that the church only cares about itself this shows different. I think it is a good way of bringing people in, I also beleive it is up to the church to reach them after that with the Gospel.
BeHim on Sat, September 10, 2005

Are they there because they are called, seeking, wanting, yerning for Truth or are they coming for the ten bucks of Gas?

Are we like a Jiffy Lube, get in, serve em and get em out on the road? Are we called to bring them into the church first then preach the Gospel or is the example, preach the Gospel and those who come are called?

Are we called to gaurd against wolves or invite them in among the sheep?

Are we called in Matthew 25:31-43 to care for the Bretheren IN Christ or start a humanitarian relief fund in the name of Him who sent us?

It seems to me that we are so focused on works, deeds and service that these have replaced knowing the Grace and Knowledge of Jesus (worshiping Him). Almost as though we have become a nation of Marthas who continually point fingers at the Marys who seek to Know Him and His Word.

BTW. Jesus giving away “fish sandwiches” was out of compassion because the people were hungry in the middle of the desert, unable to provide for themselves.

The crowds were there to hear words of life, not get a “freebee”

Congrats to Rev. Isaac for having the courage to post and all Glory to God for his Witness.
Dan Hils on Sun, September 25, 2005

I find this slightly sick and duturbing when held up to the light of scripture, but not suprising in the day in which we live.

Be faithful to preach the Word and God will grant the increase. I can see a church van (or a fleet of them if needed) being sent to pick up the poor… but this is a little over-the-top.
Dan Hills on Sun, September 25, 2005

I find this slightly sick and duturbing when held up to the light of scripture, but not suprising in the day in which we live.

Be faithful to preach the Word and God will grant the increase. I can see a church van (or a fleet of them if needed) being sent to pick up the poor… but this is a little over-the-top.