Capitulating to entertainment

This post is from the defunct blog “Dying Church”

Internet Monk on our capitulation to entertainment within the church (as evidenced by VBS programs):

Evangelicalism is passing through a period of intense self-doubt regarding the relevance of its message and truthfulness. This doesn’t manifest itself in open doubt, as in classical liberalism, but among children and youth ministries, in the replacement of the unique Christian message and content- the Bible and the Gospel- with entertainment.

Facing a culture that uses entertainment for cultural control, evangelicals have capitulated to the dominance of entertainment in worship and ministry. When faced with the question of how to ‘reach’ anyone, or how to ‘keep the interest’ of young people especially, the answer is predictable: find a way to use entertainment. Deemphasize the Bible and the Gospel, or at least reshape them into whatever entertaining version is workable. Actual engagement with Biblical texts will be tangential and minimal, but present enough to justify the use of entertainment.