People are Just Too Busy… Right?

Who's Playing Hooky?

There’s a local market not too far from the church – and, sometimes, I’ll go there after Sunday morning services to grab some sweet corn to go with dinner (it’s New Jersey, baby – sweet corn is our thing). And, invariably, I’ll see what feels like half the congregation doing the same thing.

It’s always a little awkward (pastors, you get it). I guess it’s like back in high school when I saw my English teacher in the mall on my way to the movies. For some reason, my brain couldn’t adjust to seeing her outside of her natural habitat.

But, what’s even more awkward is when I see people who didn’t attend that morning. Sometimes, they won’t make eye-contact. Sometimes they start profusely apologizing right next to the gourmet cheese display. And, no matter how much I reassure them that I really don’t care (truly), they seem a bit bummed that they were “busted” playing hooky.

The research (e.g. Barna, Pew) tells us that even our most committed churchgoers aren’t coming to church as often as they used to. We often shake our fists at youth sports culture, or the dizzying number of family commitments on Sunday mornings. And, this is usually confirmed when they tell us: “We’ve just been so busy with sports,” and “we’re hoping to get back to church as soon as soccer ends,” or “when things calm down.”

It’s busyness that’s stopping them from coming… right? That’s what we hear, anyway. That’s what we say in our Elder meetings and to our colleagues in ministry. That’s what we tell ourselves when less people are in the room than the week before.

Everyone’s just too busy.

You know what? I’m not buying it.

Hear me out: if they’re so busy, why am I seeing them at the market? Why is everything else in their life (quite literally) taking priority over gathering to worship God and experience ecclesia community?

In fact, a recent article by Barna asks this very question, “Are Christians Too Busy for Discipleship Community?” The short answer is no. Apparently, only 7% of people say that time is thing holding them back. Seven percent.

If Not Busy, then... What?

But, if it’s not busyness, what is it?

The reason they’re not coming isn't time... it's indifference.

But, how is this even possible? How have we turned the gospel – the shocking, overwhelming, beautiful, in-your-face-reality of God’s never-ending and all-consuming love for us—into something that elicits nothing more than a faint yawn? How is it possible that millions of Americans (who live within five minutes of several churches) wake up on Sunday morning without so much as a thought about God? Why is cutting grass, sleeping in, travel, sports, or pre-game NFL programming so much more compelling than Jesus? (And, by compelling, I don’t mean entertainment. I mean, an experience that they prioritize. A moment in their lives that they don’t want to miss).

The truth is, many of us are lulled to sleep by the rhythm of religious habit. We talk about Jesus more than we talk to Jesus. It’s true for pastors and congregation members alike. And, the only way I know to re-engage indifferent hearts, is by helping them engage with Jesus.

Like the disciples on the road to Emmaus - we are often disoriented and disappointed by life's challenges. But when we connect with Jesus, everything comes into focus. Our hearts, like dormant campfires, are doused with lighter fluid and roar to new life.

I remember during an interview, Bono (lead singer of the band, U2), was asked about the theatrics in the band’s live shows. He explained, “we all crave a moment of transcendence, and that’s what we’re trying to give them.” I always loved that. A moment of transcendence.

Of course, church services are not U2 concerts. But I think there’s a helpful takeaway here: we are all emotional beings. And, we crave visceral, emotionally-engaging expressions of faith on a regular basis. This helps us engage our hearts with Jesus Christ. Especially in my Presbyterian context, where we’re notoriously head-strong but heart-deficient in our faith. No more indifference: we need some lighter fluid, stat.

What Should We Do about Indifference?

So, how do we do it? (Well, Jesus does it, but how do we help?) How do we create moments (in our regular Sunday rhythm) that lead to heart-movement? Here are two worship strategies that are working in my church in New Jersey, which has more than doubled its engagement over the last 12 years.

1. We utilize sacraments to foster regular “mountaintops”

I think moments of transcendence are another way of expressing the desire for spiritual mountaintop experiences. (You know, when you feel so close to God, it’s as if God is as close as your own skin.) Most Christians tell me that their mountaintop experiences are limited to their decision-point to follow Jesus (I know, Reformed police, you don’t have to say it). Or, when they went on a mission trip or retreat as a teenager or young adult.

When asked about their discipleship now, they will (at best) talk about their attendance on Sundays and maybe how they volunteer or even participate in a small group. But, I end up hearing about religious routines more than evidence of disciples actively following the Way, Truth, and Life.

In order to shake them out of routine, we try to provide opportunities for mountaintops on a regular basis. And, a big way we accomplish this is through the sacraments (baptism and communion, specifically). Over the years, we started noticing that more and more adults (and confirmation students) were requesting immersion baptisms. So, we’d go offsite to someone’s pool or ask our Baptist friends in town to let us use their church baptistry (dunk tank). What we kept hearing was, “I wanted to really feel the water rushing over me,” or “I wanted to experience it like they used to in ancient times,” or “I saw someone do this and it made me want the same experience.” 

Over and over again, it was a desire for an experience or feeling.

Now, in our tradition, baptism is a part of the worship service. So, in order to accommodate the requests, in 2020 we bought a portable tank and started doing immersion baptisms on Sunday mornings. Once we did, we not only received dozens of requests for first-time baptism, but even more requests from people who had already been baptized.

While re-baptism is out-of-bounds for us, we do have a thing we call remembering your baptism. That’s where you re-enact the baptism rite (and adjust the wording) so the person can renew their own walk with Jesus. So, we held our first (now annual) beach baptism event, where we saw a couple dozen first-time baptisms and about 40 remember your baptisms. (Since 2020, we’ve had about 50 first-time baptisms and well over 100 remembering.)

These baptisms are so powerful. Family members, friends, and even strangers on the beach are moved to tears (we even had someone come up to us and ask to be baptized). And, when I think of their stories (and some are so powerful), I don’t know if they would be where they are in their Christian walk, had we not offered the chance to engage with Jesus through baptism.

Although we do immersion baptisms in worship, baptism isn’t a weekly thing – it’s more of an as-it-comes-up thing. Communion, on the other hand, is a regular (monthly for us) sacrament that is another opportunity to re-ignite indifferent hearts. In our contemporary services we do it by intinction (so it requires physical action), but we also intentionally frame it as a moment. 

After the words of institution, I will make an invitation like this:

When you receive the body and the blood, you are saying yes to Jesus all over again. You are surrendering to Him. You are asking for His strength and leaning into His mission to the world. 

It’s kind of like an altar call for believers.

2. We intentionally design moments in worship apart from the sacraments

But, energy and emotion aren’t limited to the sacraments. Rather, they are critically important in the rest of our worship design. This is usually the biggest knock on contemporary worship – that it’s emotional but shallow. I understand why people draw this conclusion, but I couldn’t disagree with them more. And, I would contend that any worship style runs the same risk. Again, it depends on the heart. (I have more to say about this, but not now – maybe a follow-up post).

I’ll just say this about the importance of emotion. When a choir soloist sings “Amazing Grace” or “How Great Thou Art,” in a traditional service, what does that do to you emotionally? It lifts your soul. Why? Because you love those hymns. You could sing every verse without looking at the hymnal. They remind you of God’s Goodness and Mercy. They bring you back to times when you felt God’s presence in your midst. And you feel it all over again. And, you walk out of church saying, “That was a great service today, pastor.”

Now tell me, was it because of the instrumentation? Did the tone of the organ sound just right? No, it was because the song lifted you emotionally. Music does that. So, we started asking, how can we design heart-moments in worship using music, prayer, video, storytelling, sermons, etc.? How can we design moments that help people engage with Jesus? Burning hearts and not indifferent hearts?

So, we started thinking of the dynamics of worship. If you think of a worship service like a kind of sine chart of energy/emotion (see below), you can start thinking about how to create moments.

For us, our deepest, most powerful worship moments are the prayer time and the end of the sermon (our two lowest energy points). But, what makes them powerful is that either through songs or videos we started with high energy so they were ready for low energy. (I know that this may be a little too in-the-weeds and that I’m not able to do it justice in this short post, but you get the idea).

Think about it this way, if everything in the service was emotionally the same, it would be like a flat line. And, you don’t need to be a doctor to know that flat-lining is pretty lifeless.

This, of course, is just scratching the surface. Think of it as a conversation-starter and not a closed loop. Could a more dynamic approach to worship design open people up to a more engaging, heart-burning-within-them faith? Would it be more compelling? Would they start to prioritize showing up a little more?

I don’t know. But, I think it’s worth a try. We need a little lighter fluid on these embers. But, I’ll tell you one thing: it’s not because they’re too busy.