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MeChurch
Orginally published on Monday, August 01, 2005 at 4:30 PM
by Todd Rhoades
I’m constantly amazed (and encouraged) at some of the new video that’s coming our for worship. Video can prove to be a powerful element of worship; helping drive home a point that you just couldn’t do with another illustration. Here’s a great example I found that uses humor. It’s from IgnitorMedia.com and it’s called "MeChurch". (You can even buy this one in a collection if you like it as well). Here’s how they describe it on their website: We live in a ‘me first’ society. The world encourages us to think of ourselves first and others . . . well, rarely. We can sometimes be so consumed with this mentality that we even expect our church to cater to us…
In portraying these ridiculous requests, this vignette serves as a humorous reminder that we should not ask our church to serve us. We should eliminate our grumblings about the style of music, the congregation size, and other issues. We should instead remember that Christ came to serve, not to be served.
The video clip even comes with a 'leaders guide' to help you implement it into your service.
Here's the link so you can preview it...
Is this something you would show in your church?
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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.
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Posted by Greg Atkinson
Monday, August 01, 2005 at 5:39 PM
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Tuesday, August 02, 2005 at 10:03 AM
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Posted by Phil in CA
Tuesday, August 02, 2005 at 2:00 PM
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Tuesday, August 02, 2005 at 9:08 PM
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Wednesday, August 03, 2005 at 7:22 AM
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Thursday, August 04, 2005 at 5:00 PM
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Monday, August 08, 2005 at 12:15 PM
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Posted by bernie dehler
Monday, August 08, 2005 at 5:31 PM
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Posted by Phil Gerbyshak
Tuesday, August 09, 2005 at 6:39 PM
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Posted by
Tuesday, August 23, 2005 at 1:30 AM
Post Your Comments:You could say I’m biased, since I work in the same office as the Igniter guys, but I loved and used their videos long before moving to Dallas.
I show “meChurch” at each conference I speak at - people love it!
I loved this video. However, I’m not sure I could use it. It just might hit a bit too close to home for some of the folks in our congregation!
While this is meant to be funny, we have a church locally that was *intentionaly* set up a “meChurch” similar to many aspects of the video. Their Web site proclaims (caps emphasis mine, church name redacted)…
“We started [church name] with YOU in mind.
We listened to what people like YOU were
saying. YOU told us that church isn’t
relevant, the music is boring, and that all
the church wants is your money. We’ve made
[the church] a different kind of church. We
won’t waste YOUR TIME with things that don’t
mean anything to YOU and YOUR life. You’ll
enjoy upbeat music from a contemporary
sounding band, relevant dramas, and a
message that will impact YOUR everyday life.
And, if you visit us, we won’t ask YOU for
any money. If YOU haven’t been to church in
a while, YOU owe it to YOURSELF to try [the
church].”
While the video was cute, much of it was sadly true—more of a mockery than a satire. This kind of “you-centered” church is totally common around here, and the other (non-selfish) churches are feeling the pressure to be like the others.
As for knowing what everyone gives, well, we’re close around here. Arguably the most “prestegious” church in the Silicon Valley also marble terraced landscape wrapping around the front of the building. On each of the square marble tiles is the name of important contributors to the church! Forget blowing the trumpet, lemme tell ya, the giver’s names are displayed in marble.
As for superbowl tickets, well, yeah.. that kind of thing is available in raffles and other fundraising contests, so it’s not far fetched at all to my ears.
Haven’t seen the video, but yes, video is great for illustrations. Jesus didn’t use video or the internet, as He didn’t want to show off too much
...Bernie
http://freegoodnews.blogspot.com
Oh, man! “Look in your back yard” had me ROLLING!
We showed the “Me Church” video at one of the first worship gatherings of our new church. The congregation cracked up!
I’ve found that the use of humor is one of the best ways to break down walls and aim straight at the hearts of people.
That’s why I’ve made a conscious effort to incorporate humor into both our worship gatherings and our church publicity.
One of the slogans at our church is: “Most Christians take themselves too seriously...and Jesus not seriously enough.”
It’s about time...an inspiring and refreshing “Monday A.M. Insight”. The MeChurch video tells it like it is...What a great “Igniter”. I’m buying the series today.
I’d like to see a similar parody on the “Pastor’s Church.” The Pastor thinks it’s all about him. Isn’t that a more common problem? Not everyone can be a Pastor, and it’s not about “leading” but “serving” and building up the body for doing good works (equipping the saints; not empire building).
Mark 9:35
Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, “If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all.”
...Bernie
http://www.freegoodnews.com
This is truly hilarious Todd, only because it’s so true. Thank you for sharing. I’ll be sharing with many others as a sharp reminder that it’s not all about them, or all about me. Serve and be served!
I laughed (and cried) my head off when our Youth Pastor should me the video for the first time. We used it just this past Sunday evening (8/21/05) and many enjoyed laughing and got the message it conveyed. It was a great video! And to Rich V. from an earlier comment, I think there were probably some in our service that evening who might have gotten somewhat offended and there were some who were gone who should have been there to hear the message but, if we shy away from messages that hit too close to home then we as ministers aren’t confronting and challenging our congregation members to sit up and take a look at themselves through the eyes of Jesus. We can’t overlook or ignore it and hope they somehow catch it or hope it just goes away. We should prayerfully desire to see them grow and change. Most of the time it isn’t easy or comfortable, either for us to tell it like it is or for them to hear the truth. Jesus did it with a firm, gentle love but never once shyed away from challenging his followers to stretch and grow to become more like him. He spoke the truth and, like him and all the biblical prophets before us, so must we. That was more than 2 cents worth but there it is.
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