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Ed Young: The McChurch Challenge

Orginally published on Friday, October 21, 2005 at 9:41 AM
by Todd Rhoades

Great article posted over at TheChurchReport.com by Ed Young… Drive-through people fill our churches today. These drive-through people pull up every weekend and expect an inspirational McMessage, fun-filled McChildcare, heartwarming McMusic, sensational McProgramming ? and then they?re off. The exhaust fumes fill the air as minivans, cars and SUVs bolt out of the parking lot in rapid-fire succession…

As church leaders, we have a big challenge before us. We have to take these drivethrough people and turn them into committed disciples.

We are tasked with the responsibility of growing God?s church in a McChurch culture. And that?s a huge challenge in today?s entertainment- driven, A-D-D, ?serve me? world...

What ambushed me during those early days at Fellowship is the fact that creativity must remain a constant. This thought may not seem very profound, but its implications are huge. What I discovered while pursuing creative leadership these past 15 years is the major reason for putting together an upcoming book called ?The Creative Leader? (January 2006). Week in and week out, day after day, creative leadership must mark our leadership in the church. I began to realize early on in my ministry that the church must strive to be consistently inconsistent in order to be truly effective in the midst of a rapidly changing culture.

Being consistently inconsistent means the church has to be committed to change and willing to take risks. We are talking about life and death, aren?t we? People?s lives are hanging on the edge of eternity. And creativity provides new inroads for lost people to hear the gospel. It helps us explain complex ideas in practical and contemporary ways. It motivates the ambivalent to ramp up their walk with the Lord. Having one creative idea a year doesn?t cut it. It must be a 24/7, 365 type of commitment.

The eye-opening part of that realization for me wasn?t just the need for creativity. I knew from the get-go that I wanted to do things differently and lead from the cutting edge of creativity. God called me to leverage creativity to connect the ?drive-through? people to Christ through what should be the most innovative entity in the universe ? the local church. What really surprised me, though, was how difficult creative thinking and planning is. It?s one thing to understand the need for creativity in an academic sense; it?s a whole other animal to implement creativity on a consistent basis.

There is nothing more grueling ? or rewarding ? than working in a creative way. It?s the hardest thing I do. It is the hardest thing you will do. You won?t learn this in seminary. You can observe a creative leader for years and still not get it. There is only one way to discover how difficult, yet fulfilling, creative ministry can be. You have to roll up your sleeves and do it. You have to get down and dirty in the trenches of creative leadership. One of my biggest passions in life is to inspire fellow church leaders to realize the creative genius within them so they can maximize their potential for the kingdom of God. There is too much on the line to do otherwise.

If we?re going to take the drivethrough people who fill our churches and turn them into disciples; if we?re going to motivate the mature believers to push away from the table and serve others, our leadership must be marked by creativity. We must make creativity a constant in our lives and in our ministries.

You can read Ed's full comments here at The Church Report.

FOR DISCUSSION: How do you lead through being 'consistently inconsistent'? How do you keep creativity creative?

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TRACKBACKS: (1) There are 56 Comments:

Posted by

Wednesday, October 26, 2005 at 3:23 PM

So, let’s try again: How do you lead through being ‘consistently inconsistent’? How do you keep creativity creative?

1. Start with maintaining your intimacy with the Creator. He seems to know how to be creative! All of our creative ideas should be spirit inspired.

2. Work hard at it. Put your ego aside and be willing to think it through and walk away if it’s not solid. Most creative ideas never make it off the cutting room floor.

3. My preference...share the scriptural truths I will be preaching with several people who have a talent for being creative and allow them to come up with ideas. Of course, this requires planning some sermons weeks, if not months, in advance.

4. Creativity does not have to mean complicated. Some of the most creative things I’ve seen were actually pretty simple illustrations.

5. Andy Stanley’s recommendation..."Listen to outsiders.” Look at what advertisers are doing. They spend MILLIONS of dollars researching what will catch the attention of the public. Only use ideas that do not compromise biblical principles...throw the rest out.

Just two cents worth...not meant to be all-inclusive, but thought I’d get back to the original question. Blessings!
Posted by

Thursday, October 27, 2005 at 2:34 PM

Before I can comment, pro or con, I need to know several things concernng the fruit of the church. Such as:

What percentage of Ed’s church attendees are REGULARLILY in small groups?

Are SG leaders mentoring new apprintice leaders in these small groups to lead new small groups.

Is the leadership in the church mentoring these vulnerable new mentors.

Does the church have resources in place to discover its members spiritual giftedness and what process do they have in place to follow through with each member to help them develop those talents by utilizing these new discovered talents in His church?

What proceedures or process do they have in place to surrond the new believer with help discovering God and beginning their new spiritual journey of learning how to live as Christ.
ie. Foundational: Basic Christian doctrine.
Christians have a failure rate in marriage that is higher than that of society as a whole. If they (Christians) don’t know how to stay in love with someone they know how do we expect new Christians who just got married and are just starting out without knowing what they need to do and how to go about getting to know someone they just meet. To develop a deep passionate dependence with that someone and to grow in that relationship for etenity? Who is there to help?
We all know the most bitter rivals of the Christian faith are those who where either ignored or pushed away when they were young believers. Bitter ex-believers.

Also, what ministries are in place to reach out and support the unchurched community?

These are just a few of the questions I would have. If they are doing most of these then I would say whatever you are doing and God is richly blessing the ministry and keep on doing it.
Posted by

Sunday, October 30, 2005 at 6:59 AM

Are there any “Apostles” out there, who would to comment on this McMess. I’m purely interested in a view outside of the other fivefold giftings
Posted by

Sunday, October 30, 2005 at 7:11 AM

By the way I think Ed Young is great and that He is the essence of where God is taking us. There is a generation of non-believer who would be not attracted to the kingdom of God if God did not utilize men who are willing to be a little different. God has from the very begining used questionable men and women to convey His word. I mean honestly, how many of you would have agreed with Saul? For that matter could Moses have served as your Pastor? When I survey people in the bible even Jesus himself called people vipers, snakes, and many other little phrases that might not have been politically correct at the time He lived. But He worked out good enough to provide salvation for ALL OF US!!

Perhaps we should let God be God and those He sends be who God has called them to be. None of us has this thing completely figured out and I believe the moment one of us trusts that we do there is room for pride to creep in. Lets get the book in January and then “Blogg”.....
PeAcE
Posted by

Monday, October 31, 2005 at 8:48 PM

Frank wrote on Oct 21..
“My church has struggled for years with this exact problem and it seems that we can never get any more commited disciples we seem to get a couple and lose a couple. But this is inspiring to me and i definately want to apply these thoughts.”

But isn’t McCatering to this McMindset only adding to the problem? Last time I read the Sermon on the Mount, I didn’t see anything about Jesus preaching after the praise band got everyone in the “mood” - He didn’t call on His troupe of actors to dramatically re-create the man calling his brother a fool - or the man befriending his opponent before going into court, etc…

If we continue to McChurch these people, it’s only natural that when they’ve had their “fill,” they’ll get up from the table and leave. So it’s no surprise that as in Franks’ church, while some come in the front door, there are some leaving through the back door. They need their worldview changed - from a “man- centered” view, to a “God-centered” view. However, when we recruit them with entertainment, “wow” them with entertainment, and feel we have to stay on the creative edge to keep them in the seats, we cater to the “man-centered” worldview. And then we wonder why they leave or they don’t grow in Christ.

Dave said on Oct 24 in response to Amy
“Amy asks if the Gospel is not enough. Well, it is more than enough, IF it is delivered in an accessable way.”

The question is, “what is the best accessible way?” According to Ed, accessible comes with creativity. However, in the verse from Revelation that most everyone likes to quote when giving an invitation we don’t see Jesus saying - “Behold, I stand at the door with bells and whistles and video presentations and knock-your-socks-off music while doing backflips...” No, He says, “I stand at the door and knock...” Accessible is being the salt and light Jesus calls us to be in Matthew 5:13-16. Accessible is being ready to give an answer for the hope that lies in us (1 Pet 3:15).

We never see Jesus tell His disciples during their training that they’d have to be creative in order to attract people to make more disciples. So why do we feel like we have to do it today?

Paul says in 2 Tim 4:1-2 “preach the word; be ready in season {and} out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.” I’ve yet to find anything in there about being on the “cutting edge” and having to be creative to give people God’s word.
Posted by

Monday, November 14, 2005 at 9:25 PM

One key truth I learned in seminary came from our President Paige Patterson. He said it was a sin to bore people with our preaching of the Word. God’s Word should not be used to put people to sleep on Sunday mornings. I will not bore people when I tell them about Jesus. Remember Jesus was known for rasing the dead and turning the water into wine. He used unusual methods to reach people. I can do no less. Since I cannot raise the dead, I must work that much harder to be found worthy of the call. If I have life and have it abundantly, I will be creative, and it will upset the pewsitters who long to do things the way they were always done.

(By the way I am a Children’s Pastor, who must be creative, but I wouldn’t change my view if I spoke in “Big Church” either.)

Lee

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Hi... I'm Todd Rhoades. I'm a Christ-follower, husband, father and I love to connect leaders with other leaders. Hopefully you'll find something here at MMI you like and will return often. If you want, you can find out more about me or follow my every step on Twitter.