I keep hearing about churches that are using all kinds of gimmicks to get people to come to church. Everything from giving away guns to free gift cards to restaurants. It occurs to me that if you have to use gimmicks to get people to come to church then you will have to use gimmicks to keep them there.

Besides, it is not about getting people into the church as much as it is about getting the church into the community. Isn't it more about being the gospel in the culture; showing the gospel to a lost world. It seems to me that we ought to be modeling what it means to be an authentic follower of Jesus. In order to do that we need to be connecting with a lost world, building relationships with lost people, loving them where they are.

Let's think more about being the church in the world than trying to use shallow gimmicks to get the world into the church. Just a thought.