How should a church evaluate attractional “gimmicks” when planning a worship gathering?

A church does not need novelty to be faithful, nor does it need crassness to be effective. The gathered church is not commissioned to entertain a crowd, but to steward God’s Word with reverence and clarity. As Tim Challies argues, worship without the Bible is not real worship because the living God addresses his people by Scripture, and the people respond by Scripture (Challies, “For Some Churches, No Gimmick Is Too Crass,” 2025).

This centers the worship service on what God has actually given, not on what a congregation can manufacture. When the Word governs the gathering, the church resists the pressure to replace biblical substance with spectacle. Ligon Duncan summarizes the New Testament pattern in a sentence that is worth repeating in every generation: “The New Testament says that when churches gather they should read the Bible, preach the Bible, pray the Bible, sing the Bible, and see the Bible” (Duncan, quoted in Challies, 2025).

The church, therefore, plans worship by asking, “How will Scripture be heard, explained, prayed, sung, and embodied?” rather than “What will draw the biggest response?”

Churches protect true worship by organizing their gatherings around the Bible’s voice and the Bible-shaped response, not around gimmicks.

Related Material

• Balancing Music’s Role in Worship Services — keeps music in its proper place so it serves the Word instead of becoming the main attraction 
• Balance of Order and Spontaneity — clarifies how ordered planning can support reverent worship without relying on novelty 
• Wisdom through Relationship with God — connects “true worship” to a living relationship with God that shapes wisdom and character

---

Source: For Some Churches, No Gimmick Is Too Crass

Disclaimer: Information in my “slip-box” doesn’t necessarily reflect my agreement with the source or all its content. Recording diverse perspectives helps strengthen one’s position beyond the echo chamber of like-minded thinkers. By documenting alternative viewpoints, we engage in the intellectual wrestling match that ultimately deepens our understanding.

I aspire to post one note from my “slip-box” every weekday. If you want to learn more about how to work with knowledge, click this link: What is knowledge management?