Being a Missouri Synod Lutheran, this is so hilarious. At our meetings, these types of conversations happen all the time. "WE NEED A PRAISE BAND, PROGRAMS, A PRE SCHOOL, A GREETER AT THE DOOR, AND NEW LIGHTS". And then nothing changes and some people grit their teeth but keep coming anyways because German Lutherans wont leave the church (unless they change the color scheme or something that doesn't matter).
I'm not a Lutheran, but these are great videos produced by witty minds that have a desire to edify the saints...now us Baptists know what you Lutherans do in your spare time. :)
I love this video! I am a Lutheran convert at a small Lutheran congregation in the middle of Zwingli-land in South WI and my church has a small Sunday school for adults and a small Sunday school for kids. We don’t have a lot of members and we don’t have the prettiest church in town. We probably need a new piano or organ. We probably need to do some more painting. The list could go on and on...we do have one thing going for us though. Christ and him crucified proclaimed every Sunday in Law and Gospel and this precious forgiveness given in Word and Sacrament! I love my little church.
I go to a Baptist church and don’t agree with Lutherans on every single thing, but this channel is still awesome, especially in its sticking to the “Mere Christian” doctrine that unites all believers together. Keep up the good work!
I remember a family left a church because the Pastor was trying to raise money to buy more chairs. (This was a new church plant, which rented space from an elementary school.) The family that left had five children and both parents were leaders of an Awana-like program, and they were asking for money to buy Bibles for the children who attended our church, but whose parents didn't attend our church. The Pastor refused to announce that there was a need to buy Bibles for those children. While this was going on, I had a case of Bibles in my front hall closet. I would have gladly donated those Bibles if I knew about the need. That church eventually went out of business. The sad part of this video is that it is so true.
Yeah, I'm sorry you went through that! Life would be easier if we were more open and honest about things. Like sharing the WHOLE problem with the congregation.
Amen, Pastor Hans. This is why I 1) gave up bickering for Easter (the Catholic Easter lasts 50 days, so why not?), and 2) have decided to focus on the Gospel rather than politics. You are so right. Nothing will so change the world as the joy of knowing that Christ, risen from the dead, DIES NO MORE!
Yes! It is not the Church’s job to change to attract people. Its job is to preach the gospel. If people join, praise be! If they don’t, that’s God’s will.
Thank you, the soap box speech from the pastor was exactly what I needed to hear today -- I found myself crying watching a comedy video I have seen a dozen times before. God Bless you.
+Michael Rex That doesn't makes much sense. "Catholics are right because I'm Catholic." Could I say "Reformed Baptists are right because I'm Reformed Baptist."
I think the decadence of current church culture has helped or been at the core of people falling away. Blaming the world is crazy. The world is always evil. Man is always sinful-- that hasn't changed. The Pastor is right new programs won't save the world-- only the Gospel will. But I believe the church does not embody the Gospel as well as it did a few generations ago. We are more selfish than we used to be. Blaming the world might make us feel better, but it won't change anything else
I'm not a Lutheran, but I really do love this channel! xD Thank you for keeping the focus reverently on Christ while also helping us to laugh at ourselves.
I like how the video points out that there were just as many people who didn't give a damn about Christianity in the past and the comments still insist on romanticizing the past as a time overflowing with faith.
The Civil War Era contained a great amount of fairly spiritual people, as were (obviously) the first Christians, and the era where myriads of people willingly joined monasteries.
The problem is that I simply can't sing an F sharp. I only rarely can hit an E natural. Oh, and--"the problem is the pastor!"--saw it coming a mile away! :)
The sad thing about this is that this is kinda what happened to my pastor when he accepted a call to a new church and has sadly had to put down his clerical for a time due to serious problems in the church.
I like the slightly old-Jewish voice you gave the Bernie Sanders stand-in puppet. Also the 50's gangster voice you gave the Trump stand-in puppet. I don't know who the guy on the left is supposed to be, though. Cruz? _______Either way, very good video. It's true that many members leave because they hate Jesus, yet the more a church drifts from the Gospel the more reason members have to leave the church, and THOSE members love Jesus, but sadlly their voices are drowned out over the anxiety of public opinion, funding and tertiary things
I'm sad that I can only like this video 1 time! I thought the parody of the Politicians was hilarious, but what really makes it for me is the spot-on interpretation of our grasping at straws when we have the answer in front of us the whole time. Thanks for posting this!
+TheSimpleNerd I don't think you even need water. Although, if your baptizing someone who is dying of heart problems, it would be fairly ironic to use Mountain Dew.
You definitely have a good point. Man is born in sin and must be moved by the Holy Spirit before they look upon the face of Jesus without contempt. Further more churches have indeed been guilty in the past of focusing on programs that ultimately don't matter and making the gospel more palatable then ought to be. However a big part of evangelism/witnessing is reaching out to the needs of the people around us. Paul didn't JUST tell the Greeks and the Jews gospel. He used their history, culture, and language to make the gospel meaningful to them. That very well may actually involve making an effort to be more friendly and less clicky, investing more funds into children's programs, and (dare I say it) new methods of worship that still give God the honor he is due, but also speak to the people singing the music.
Thanks for your amazing content! I want to add one more idea to the one you are trying to get across here. Corporate prayer should be an experience of the sacred; a sacred liturgical experience is a way of being immersed in prayer that speaks to something deep in us. Without it the churches will continue to lose members. The novus ordo mass of the Roman church is an example of such a loss. If they had done what the Eastern Orthodox do, simply translate one of the old sacred rites into reverent English, I believe that they too would be gaining congregants as many of the American Orthodox Churches are experiencing. But what you say is correct. In general people hate Jesus (it pains me even to write those words). As a Roman Catholic I've seen three things that had the power to get around this: 1/ If you can get them to kneel in front of an image of the Crucified Savior, they will be given the opportunity to immediately confront that prideful anger in their hearts and can immediately sense the need to weep with the pain of it 2/ The rosary: I know you Lutherans hate it, but it is often through the intercessions of the Mother of God that people return to Christ. 3/ I've also known people who come back to the church after walking the Camino de Santiago. Walking pilgrimage, even for those who don't really believe, can have a deeply transformative effect. Mon doux Jesu misericorde!
I'd add that preaching the gospel should be accompanied by a life that reflects Jesus - from people I've talked to, they hate the Church because they see Christians who don't live out their faith, who talk the talk but don't walk the walk, so to speak. I think that's a really big problem today. Why should anyone believe the Gospel if those who preach are jerks, and act just like the rest of the world?
We all go to work everyday with hypocrites. We should all just stop going to our jobs and everything else like the grocery store and movie theaters. That's just lame excuses people make up not to go to Church. It isn't about what I do. It's about Jesus and what he did. I don't let my walk be reflected by someone else. You can only seek God. Nobody can do it for you. God Bless.
+The1NonlySavior yeah, your right. It's a lame excuse. Everyone's a hypocrite - I just think since we're Christians, we should be the ones trying to get better, you know, so we can be more like Christ. We'll still mess up, but if people see that we're trying to get better, that gets their attention. If we're just like them & not trying to change at all - say I'm an alcoholic & I am baptized into Christ, but I keep being an alcoholic - number 1, I'm not being a Christian because I'm not letting Christ change me, and number 2, why should my drinking buddies listen to me talk to them about Jesus & how he saved me & changed my heart if I'm exactly the same? My faith isn't accompanied by action, so as James said, it's dead. Dead faith doesn't reach people, no matter what you tell them. And I just see a lot of people like that. You're right, it's still a lame excuse, people shouldn't let that keep them from God...but maybe it wouldn't hurt to make sure our lives are in harmony with our faith
Reality check: even if more people's lives reflected Jesus' image, unbelievers will never be satisfied. If they cannot find anything to charge us with, they will simply invent some charges against us, as they have with their smear campaign against the Bible.
How cool! Lutherans with a sense of humor! Who knew? Well, of course there was that one guy from the Lutheran Church in Lake Woebegone...but, I was never clear if they were ELCA or Wisconsin Synod....or (shudder) Lutheran Bretheran. Anyway I think that guy was a lapsed Lutheran...or, was he? :)
Regarding church growth: Maybe someone should have told Jesus? In the Gospel According to the Apostle John, Jesus says in Chapter 6, while in the synogogue in Capernaum: "56 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him." And then in verse 60 "When many of his disciples heard it, they said, "This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?" 64 [Jesus then said] "There are some of you who do not believe." 65 And he said, "This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father." And here it is! Verse 66: "After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him." Why? Because He said, "Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him." So it would seem that the message of Jesus may not attract large numbers and may thin the ranks of the church. Was it ONLY to the disciples that Jesus said, Mark 13:13a "And you will be hated by all for my name's sake."? Or was it to us who believe now? It's too bad these good conversations cannot take place in person; typing many words will inevitably lead to misunderstandings. So, go look at John, Chapter 6 for yourself if you like. Peace. (BTW: I have been a Christian for 27 years, and recently joined the Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod. It was Law and Gospel preaching, the Sacraments, and the Absolution that drew me to this confession. Glad to be Lutheran. Shoutout to Pastors Chris Roseborough, Jonathan Fisk, Matt Richards, Bryan Wolfmueller, Greg Young, and Jordan Cooper, and Todd Wilken of Issues, Etc. )