Let me wish all my Protestant and Roman Catholic friends a blessed Holy Week and a joyous Easter. In my faith, we have just started Lent and will not celebrate Pascha until May 5. So try to save some chocolate bunnies and Peeps for the rest of us, will ya? For the record, I'm a fan of those tiny foil-wrapped milk chocolate eggs if anyone is feeling generous.
Speaking of eggs, jelly beans, plastic grass, and bunnies, will we all keep a Christ-centered Easter? Usually, after Thanksgiving, the op-ed pieces go up about keeping Christ in Christmas, but are we in danger of taking Him out Easter?
When we lived in Texas, the day before Easter, we drove by an up-and-coming megachurch. It had multiple campuses, and the lead pastor would broadcast his sermons to the satellite congregations. It also sported an ear-splitting worship band and offered Coke and popcorn. The one service I sat through featured a taped sermon in which the pastor hectored the congregation to increase its giving to speed up the construction of a new campus. As a grudging afterthought, he added a terse prayer at the end.
That Saturday, this church had a collection of giant inflatable Easter eggs out in front. Eggs have a legitimate symbolic connection to Easter, so there is nothing wrong with Easter eggs. But they are not central to Easter. What is central is the resurrection of Christ. Not only is it the central element; it is the only element.
According to Todd Starnes, this year, Elevation Church, which is led by Steven Furtick and boasts approximately 25,000 members, will not use phrases such as "blood of Jesus," "resurrection," or "Calvary" in its outreach for its Easter services this year. The website Pro Church Tools featured an interview with Elevation's digital content creator, Nikki Shearer. Shearer, who said that Elevation wants to be "casual, concise, and conversational," also commented:
For us, the most important thing on Easter is inviting people to church. This means reaching people far from God. So we're not going to use the words Calvary, resurrection, or the phrase "blood of Jesus." We won't use language that will immediately make someone feel like an outsider.
You can see the entire interview here.
So the primary focus is not to see people come to Christ but to get "butts in the pews." The focus is on the church, not on Jesus. Granted, many people come to Christ at church, but if they are coming for the show and will not have to cope with the icky concept of sin or the need for redemption, then the church has failed. Maybe not on the ledgers, but it has failed.
Starnes offers some advertisements that Elevation has used to draw crowds for its Easter services:
Hop on down to Elevation Church for a wicked Easter Eggstravana! Pastor Steve will deliver a three-point sermon on why we shouldn’t put all of our eggs in one basket. And he’ll be wearing a Bugs Bunny costume! Plus, you’ll get your bunny worship on with our Gen-Z worship band — runners-up in the 2022 regional American Idol auditions.
It’s mega-death Sunday at Elevation Church. Sixty minutes of blood-curdling mayhem. The crucifixion set to a heavy metal soundtrack. Performed on stage by our in-house thespians (not that there’s anything wrong with that). Guaranteed to scare the hell out of you. A nursery is provided.
If Starnes' quotes are accurate, there are so, so many things wrong with those advertisements. Getting your bunny worship on, the pastor in a bunny suit, not to mention mega-death Sunday with blood-curdling mayhem. But not to worry, as noted above, a nursery is provided.
Packing a church for a death-metal Easter or a pastor in a bunny suit and other seeker-sensitive stunts may draw in the curious. They may increase giving or sales. They may heighten the fame of the church or the pastor. But if the emphasis is on the church and not on Christ, then the church in question is off-target by miles.
If a church is legitimate, sooner or later, it will have to get around to the idea of Christ's atonement. To ignore it or even to put it off until someone is "hooked" keeps the congregation hooked on going to church, but robs the members of the freedom that comes with salvation. It is not always an easy journey. But it is worth every step.
