Are You Entertaining or Engaging Your Audience?

No one ever said church should be boring. Humans are wired to be entertained, but without solid reasoning behind intentions, the entertainment factor can often overrun the real reason we do what we do.

Much has been written, debated, chronicled, and hashed out in the church community when it comes to the art of engagement versus entertainment. Especially in the world of production, we see a wide-ranging collection of worship experiences from the traditional setting to concert-level extravaganzas.

While the sensitivity of the topic is much greater than what can be settled in a simple listing of bullet points, perhaps we can explore the ‘why' rather than the ‘what' when it comes to how we go about constructing an environment conducive to worship, engagement, and yes, a bit of entertainment.

Are we fishing for the next popular gimmick merely because others are doing it? Are we purchasing a slew of new lighting simply because it's fun and flashy?

During the infant stages of life, children crave hearty amounts of stimulation --- the jingle of a bell, endless spinning of a mobile, the gentle rock in a mother's arms. As one moves into kindergarten, the name of the game is engagement. Keeping the attention span of children while instilling learning, discovery, and community. It's not a one-size-fits-all approach, but rather one that is constantly evolving. And this remains true as children grow through various stages of education and onward into the professional world. We forget though that the art of engagement can be distilled into a simple set of questions.

In his best selling book, “What Great Teachers Do Differently”, author Todd Whitaker, through exhaustive research and interviews, uncovers the habits and approaches that make the best teachers effective. Many of these principles are perfectly applicable in tackling the engagement versus entertainment split we find in churches.

Who Are We?

As the saying goes, there's plenty of room on this earth for people of all types. The same rings true for the church. What's the environment of your church and what do you do well?

Even among the millennial generation, there are plenty who seek a traditional worship environment; one that is free from the bells and whistles (lights and line arrays).

Push your audience in new ways. Challenge that older crowd to perhaps open up to more modern sounds and looks. And give that younger generation a history lesson in timeless music and quieter moments.

Or perhaps you are in a progressive community that is on the leading edge of modern worship and technology. Regardless of style, it all has a place. Most importantly, we should be asking ourselves who we are, what makes this place unique, and how do we engage those who attend.

In the world of startup companies, the large majority who falter do so because they fail to understand who their market is and what they as a company should focus on. For many years, Southwest Airlines billed themselves as America's number one low-cost carrier. Any decision that went through the corporate ranks always came back to one question: Will this help us be the number one low-cost carrier or not?

Knowing who you are is the essential in knowing what to do.

Know Your People

Not everyone will be happy with each facet of your church service. The goal is not to please each individual, but until you know who those individuals are, it is awfully hard to know where to start. While this seems like an obvious point of consideration, it often becomes a forgotten step.

What are the demographics of our audience and who are we trying to reach? An audience with a wide mix of age groups should demand a different approach than a make up of young professionals. How these groups find engagement can be worlds apart, but there's always common ground and ways to give each sector attention. Those relentless, four-on-the-floor driving worship songs programmed every week --- sure they bring energy, but what about mixing in a simple acoustic or piano led song here and there? What about an all-acoustic set every so often? The aural break and variety might do wonders in bringing back a level of engagement lost among your audience.

Business and marketing guru Seth Godin nailed the principle of engagement when he said “giving people what they want is not nearly as important as teaching them what they need.”

Push your audience in new ways. Challenge that older crowd to perhaps open up to more modern sounds and looks. And give that younger generation a history lesson in timeless music and quieter moments. It's worth the effort in knowing your people.

Start With Why

Flip through the canyon of commentary regarding progressive church worship environments and you are bound to find ample opinions that are downright vicious. Claiming to know the intentions of others, however, is a dangerous path to stand on. Rather than focusing on what others are doing, that we may or may not agree with, evaluate your own worship environment and start with why.

Ask a number of people across the church world and many will point to over-produced services which they feel are, in essence, a rock concert showing off gratuitous amounts of production and gregarious lead singers. Is this entertaining? No doubt. Is it engaging? It certainly can be to the right crowd.

While the point here is not a campaign for or against a certain environment, it should open up a conversation asking the question of ‘why'. Are we fishing for the next popular gimmick merely because others are doing it? Are we purchasing a slew of new lighting simply because it's fun and flashy?

No one ever said church should be boring and devoid of all fun. Humans are wired to be entertained, but without solid reasoning behind intentions, the entertainment factor can often overrun the real reason we do what we do.

The Takeaway

We often overlook the beauty of worship in that it can function in a variety of ways, each offering their own benefits of engagement and entertainment. Bringing together voices, hearts, and minds into a shared experience is something that should never be taken for granted.

While there is inherent difficulty separating the worlds of engagement and entertainment, focusing on the ‘why' when it comes to your intentions is a sure-fire way to put your worship environment on a successful path forward.