A Little of the Dr. Is What We Need Tonight!

I just read this article about "mystery worshippers" who come in and rate churches like secret shoppers rate businesses. After throwing up in my mouth a little bit, I remembered a great D. Martyn Lloyd Jones quote (as if there was anything else but a great Lloyd Jones quote). First, here is a bit from the article:

"Others say that church shopping has become necessary for churches seeking to compete in an increasingly mobile and consumer-oriented society. "My competition is Cracker Barrel restaurant down the street," says Pete Wilson, pastor of CrossPoint Church in Nashville, Tenn., who regularly enlists a secret shopper to evaluate his 2,000-person congregation. "If they go in there and are treated more like family than when they come to CrossPoint Church, then it's lights out for me."

And here is the esteemed Doctor (it is a pretty long quote but is definitely worth the time):

People complain about the dwindling congregations and how the churches are going down. Why are people ceasing to attend places of worship? Why is it, that last Sunday night I noticed that, while the places of worship in Cardiff were only sparsely attended, the trains coming from Porthcawl and other sea-side places were packed out. Why did these people spend their day at the seaside and in other places rather than in the House of God worshipping? Well, the answer is perfectly plain. They obviously prefer to be at seaside and feel that they get greater benefit there than they do in their chapels and churches. Now it is no use arguing with people like that, it is no use our telling them that they really do not get greater benefit there, because they honestly believe that they do... What I feel like saying to these trippers is this: if you honestly believe that you derive greater benefit by spending your day in the country than you do by attending a place of worship, well then, go to the country. Don't come here if you honestly feel that you could do better elsewhere. Unless you feel that something is being offered and given to you here which no other institution can offer or equal, well then, in the name of Heaven, go out into the country or to the sea-side. The church of Christ is a church of believers, a common association of people banded together by a common belief and a common love. You don't believe? Well, above all, do not pretend that you do, go to the country and the sea-side. All I ask of you is, be consistent. When someone dies in your family, do not come to ask the church in which you do not believe to come to bury him. Go to the sea-side for consolation... [Italics Mine]"

Ultimately, Lloyd-Jones point was this: the Gospel, clearly understood by the church, and clearly taught, has more power (and more meaningful power) than any attempt that the church can make to compete with other pleasures. We don't want people who will only come to church if their experience is comparable to other shows, events, or venues that they could go to instead. What gets 'em in, is what keeps 'em. And, when it comes down to it, the only real thing the church has to offer is eternal hope in Christ Jesus.