The Point Fall 2019

Not in the
Mood to Pray
Navigating the aesthetically-driven church
By Rachel Gaugler
exciting sermons and
colorful lights. However, once
they leave those doors, what
are they left with? Are they
met with radical believers,
consumed by a craving for
Christ, or are they met with
more lights, loud music and
a big stage? Driven by the
contemporary desire for
“more” and “new,” it seems the
church is more excited about
worship nights and conferences
than communion and
prayer meetings.
In May 2019, Francis Chan
spoke on this issue during
the Awaken Conference in
Dallas, Texas. He believes that
this trend began in the ’80s
when pastors responded to
low attendance by seeking
ways to make church more
exciting. The unfortunate
result, Chan expresses, is that
a generation of fast-paced
and aesthetically-driven
individuals is more focused
on the production of a church
service than the execution of
its theology.
“I believe the Word of God
is enough, and I believe
the Word of God should be
enough, but if we’re honest,
we know it’s not enough to
draw a crowd,” Chan said.
Chan concentrates on two
aspects of the church that are
seemingly dying in today’s
generation: Bible reading and
prayer meetings. He explains
that if a church advertises a
conference where the whole
book of Revelation is read and
the congregation is expected
to sit there and tremble, not
many people would show
up. But bring in a well-known
speaker or singer and add a
few bright lights, and people
will flood the room.
The strategy to make the Bible
“less boring” is to make the
church more exciting. Is that
wrong if it fills the pews?
Lee Coate, executive pastor
over ministries at The Crossing
Christian Church in Las Vegas,
explains how preaching the
Gospel through aesthetics
invites more people in.
“We communicate our values
through the environments that
they experience,” Coate
says. “We use
“If you want to know how popular a church
is, you go Sunday morning. If you want to
know how popular God is, you go to the
prayer meeting, and He loses every time,”
said English Christian evangelist and author
Leonard Ravenhill. During the second half of the
20th century, Ravenhill preached largely on the
topic of revival.
With an increasing concern about the aesthetic
of the church, there is a parallel concern that
Christians in today’s social media and technology-driven
society are missing the main message
of the Gospel. In contemporary Christian
society, many churches seem to focus on the
aesthetic appeal rather than theological content
of their worship. Newcomers who flood into
such churches are enticed by the production,
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