A lot of folks have a supermarket mentality when it

comes to church. They breeze in, look things over, buy what

they want, and breeze out. Churches are constantly challenged

to provide what the church customer is itching for. For, if

they don't like what they see at ours, they are likely to go

to another church market. Do you remember the days in the

early '60s when churches started offering a new department in

their sales line: a youth ministry? It was the goal of almost

every church to have a part-time youth director. We just knew if

we had a youth director our sales would blast off. Not! Then,

do you remember the days when churches started to realize that

a whole lot of the congregation was single and that if they had

a singles ministry, everything would be just pinky? Not!

Then, do you remember when churches decided that they needed

a music ministry? More than a choir. More than a

choirmaster. More than an anthem a week. The church wanted

Broadway-like musicals, multi-instrumental groups. More than a

piano and organ. The music ministry would give the church

new life, growth, and solve every other problem. Not!

The church has continued to pile ministries on top

of programs on top of ministries in a well-motivated attempt

to minister relevantly to the population. In the old days,

the people got an hour-long sermon, three hymns, a long

prayer, and see you next Sunday. Funny thing: We still had prayer

in the schools, abortion was a shame, and kids didn't carry

guns to school.

Do I want to go back to yesterday? No. But, I would like

a little less of the supermarket mentality that drives the

church. We've got to have a preschool ministry. We've got to offer

a full-orbited children's ministry. Surely God knows we

would be embarrassed without a youth ministry. Our singles

need structure too. Oh yes, don't forget the senior adults. Got

to have a bus for the seniors and a van for the youth, or

vice versa. Don't forget a special women's ministry and

men's ministry. If we don't have them, people will think we are

in the dark ages. But, there's even more: ministries to

the divorced, the abused, the abusers. Even, in recent years,

a recreational ministry.

If we don't offer these ministries, we fear, the people

will go down to a mega-church that offers all these and more.

The church market that offers the widest selection seems to get

the most church customers. Does it seem that we need to

rethink what church is all about? Is it more about a supermarket or

the supernatural?

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