Myth #1. Sunday morning is the only chance we get.
Unfortunately, not all myths are false. Our churches are often structured in a way that makes this myth a reality:
Numeric growth of the service. If growing my church means counting nickles and noses on Sunday morning, then I'm going do what I can to get people to come back. And entertainment becomes the focus. (By the way, I do think our services should be entertaining. But there's a difference...that we don't have time to get into...sorry.)
Discipleship. If my church is structured in such a way that growth in people's lives depends on coming to the Sunday service, then this myth is reality for me. I'm going to try way too hard to force feed people.
Evangelism. If my church's only means for evangelism is the off-chance that a non-believer walks in on a Sunday, then the sermon becomes a hard-sell and the closing song is meant to close the deal.Myth #2. People know what they want.
I used to try to pack the service with elements I knew people like. But (suprise!) I found out that people are fickle. Take for example people's song suggestions. If I did every song that was suggested to me, I'd be singing 19 mid-tempo, soaring anthems every Sunday. In reality, if the average church does a three-song set in the vein of Mighty to Save or Revelation Song, most people will check out from exhaustion. Those powerful tunes lose their punch. And in the same way, if we do special music every week, it's not so special.
There's nothing wrong with special music, big anthems, illustration videos, testimonies or any other service element that people enjoy. It's about creating the right pace in the story. And the right placement (or non-placement) of great elements is key to establishing pace.
#3. Excellence grows a church.
Excellence grows a gathering, but God grows a church. If we want to leave people wanting more, it can't be more of our programs. Or preaching. Or music. We have to leave them wanting more God. Period.
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