See through the unknown eyes

Please note: This is not a blog-slam.

Church services can be tricky. You never know who will turn up or their past history. If you do something out of the ordinary you run the risk of distracting, disturbing or offending people.

It happens.

It's happened to me.

And, for the second time, i saw it happen to someone else.

The first time i remembering it happen was when i visited a church who were watching Simpson's episodes leading up to a discussion time. Although this wasn't a bad idea, i do remember that if i was from a certain people group, the show would have left me wondering why that clip was allowed to be viewed in a church.

I would have been quite offended.

Last night i was in a church that watched a movie as a part of the service. Again, the idea is swell, but it did run the dangers of distraction, disturbance or offense.

No, we didn't watch Jackass. But the film raised some issues that could threw some of those watching.

Perhaps churches need to think through the media they use (or sermon illustrations for that matter) with a lens of the unknown. The unknown person who may appear for the first time. The unknown person who may be from a different culture. Or generation. Or socio-economic background.

The reason? You want to avoid distracting people enough so they won't pay attention to the rest of the service. Or disturb people enough that they will be numb to the discussion. Or offend people so they think the church is not a place of inclusion and get defensive to the gospel of grace and forgiveness.