Super Bowl party at church

The objection is a local church is a house of worship and praise of the Lord, and not a three ring circus. It is the one place a few times a week (at best) where we concentrate on the Lord, and keep the world at bay. Why on earth would such nonsense be brought into a worship service?

What does a sports event during a worship service have to do with bringing people to salvation? I thought it was the Holy Spirit that worked on people's hearts and not the scoring of touchdowns. What does a local church and a sports event have to do with each other?

If the congregation is that stuck on one event such as this, either make the service at another time, or cancel it. It shows more dignity than mixing the two. If your church does what it should, and holds the service as scheduled, and you still want to watch the super bowl, then stay home, and watch it.

Why is the super bowl singled out? Why not show the college bowls, the NCAA championship, the World Series, and for that matter, the World Cup? Then we could make this a once a month event.

Dont stop at a big screen. Purchase snack trays with braces that hook to the pew in front of you, install drink holders for snacks during the game. Maybe the deacons can go up and down the aisles selling popcorn and cokes. To keep it holy though, whenever there is a touchdown, everyone shout "Praise the Lord." For field goals, an amen will suffice. To add to the reality of the situation, have some of the congregation dress up in cheerleader outfits, and keep everyone cheering from the altar. Of course, when the game is over, the invitation song will be "Victory in Miami" with a call for those who were on the winning side to come forward for the sin of pride, and the losers for anger. Then, everyone can proceed to Fellowship Hall for a pot luck and continue to stuff their guts.

 

"Thou shalt have no other gods before me" means not just Baal and other false gods, but those things which take precedence over focusing on God, His Word, and service to God. Football is a direct distraction from what we should be focused on. I love football, but I want church to be distinctly church, not a sports bar. What is happening to this world??? What happened to focusing on what matters?? You say this brings people to Christ, but what is wrong if you just lead them to Christ the good ole fashioned way of witnessing and preaching instead of theatrics and worldly attractions?

 

Come on folks, it's just this one time of the year. Can't we put God to the side just this ONE TIME?! You are all crazy fundamentalists if you think that I have to put God first ALL THE TIME!

OK, gee whiz, we'll let God be included a little bit. We'll talk about him at half time, OK?! Does that make it better for you?

 

Boy, we are getting a good lesson here in legalism 101. One would almost think some pharisees have come back to life from Jesus' day.

 

We won't miss any church, but we will likely go downstairs & watch the remainder when our church is over.

Curve ball for you all...There's a church in our area that doesn't have Sunday evening services. What would you think if they got together?

 

NOOOO!!!! Can't have the church fellowshipping and breaking bread while enjoying themselves.....

Thats... Thats... too UNGODLY!!!!!

Besides a church that doesn't have a service on Sunday Evening is a bunch of sinners...

It says so in the Book of Hesitations...

Sarcasm over...

YOu all do realize that a church can Fellowship with out evangelizing right?
Everything a church does is not about Evangelism.

I mean, there are other reasons the church comes together...

And by the way... we had a 32 foot Screen...NOT inch.. but foot!... Now that was great...
And maybe someone missed this part... the youth groups in the county went together and borrowed the High School gym... our churches didn't close.. It was held in the High School gym.... Plus we had a well known athlete called by God preacher come and speak during half time...

We had other games, snacks, the cafeteria was open and we served food...

And souls were saved..
Some heard the Gospel who would have never stepped foot in church because of all the legalists inside that looks down their noses at "Sinners"...

Although there is as many sinners sitting in the pews on a Sunday morning... calling themselves Christian..

I don't know why I am even defending this.. I haven't been to one in over 5 yrs.. and don't plan on doing it where I am..

I guess the legalistic tendencies in some people drive me nuts..
People place their traditions of having Sunday evening service on par with "being Godly"...

I can tell you I was just as Godly at that party shouting Woooo Hooo as I would have been at church shouting amen...


Sunday evening services are not mandated by scripture.. it is a cultural thing..

Making tradition equal to the commands of God is dangerous.

 

(Sarcasm alert)

We at the First Baptist Church of Laodicea will not be showing the Super Bowl at our church. That's only for those churches and people who ask their members to invite their unsaved friends to that event so they can make a relationship with them and give them the Gospel at half time. We at this church want nothing to do with anything remotely to do with evangelism.

(End of sarcasm)

 

Cut your hair, shave off that facial hair, how dare you not wear a dress, and by all means you have to be in church each Sunday night hearing "turn or burn." Above else, Legalisms 1:21 says, "Thou shalt not use the Super Bowl as an outreach event."

 

No.

I'm not against having fellowship or parties or just informal, fun things at church, but the problem with the Superbowl is that the Superbowl typically takes place during the same time as our Sunday PM service and I don't think the service should be pre-empted for a ball game (and I say that being a huge football fan).

 

Isn't that kind of an odd contradiction: "Yea! Let's cheer for the football game...[halftime] you're a wretched sinner and your sin has made you an enemy of God and you're going to go to Hell unless you repent [end halftime]...yea! Let's all cheer for the football game again!"

Somehow "Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight. God, please have mercy on me, a sinner...ooh, look! A touchdown!" doesn't really seem like a person's mind is on repentence.

It just seems to me like the frivolity of the football game (and, again, I say this as a huge football fan) would dampen any conviction that comes from the preaching of the Gospel at halftime.

And that's another thing: isn't inviting someone to a football game, just as a ploy to get them in to hear the Gospel just a little dishonest? I think back to before I was a Christian and I would have been pretty ticked off if somebody did that to me.

Yeah, I kind of figured that when you brought out the "don't put God in a box" line.

 

How about a compromise?

Find a member who has a DVR cable box, tape the game at their house, and just go over there after church. That way, you don't have to ditch church to watch a ball game and you don't have to worry about missing the ball game.

Plus, if you're one of those folks who find the commericals and halftime show offensive, you can just fast forward through it.

 

And we wonder why some churches never reach anyone...

 

The question isn't "why aren't we reaching them", but "what are we reaching them with".

Like they say, "what you win them with, you win them to".

I don't see how the idea of using the Super Bowl as a gimmick to trick people into hearing the Gospel is any different than the gimmick of using Christian rock concerts as a gimmick to trick people into hearing the Gospel.

 

You would think something sacrilegious is going. It's legalism pure and simple. Now, if you don't want to show the Super Bowl as an outreach event that's fine. My church isn't. Personally, I don't think it would work well. But, I'm not going to condemn others who do or have. I do know this. If the Saints are playing there will probably be a lot less attending church in this area than ususal. But, I bet a lot of them will still expect there to be a Sunday evening service even though they won't be there. After all, that's what they are paying the preacher for.

 

Oh.. .that reminds me.. .when we did it.. as the people were arriving an hour or two before the game started.. .we had a Christian Rock concert using our Praise Bands from our churches.... oooopps.. ..

NOW I've done gone and did it!!

I have not only mixed CCM, but the Superbowl, with a church service....
And did I mention the teen girls wore pants!!!

And some of the guys had long hair!

OH... and we read from the NIV!....

I guess I had better go back and tell the teens that were saved that we did it all wrong, and they need to go to the First Legalistic Fundamentalist Baptist church this coming Sunday and get saved the right way...

Whew.... This thread is a reminder to why I NEVER want to be called a Fundamentalist!

I miss the old days of Fundamentalism when we stood on ONLY what the Bible said.. and didn't have these Phariseeical rules!

 

Tim, you seem to have an awful lot of hostility toward those who have other opinions. I sure hope that isn't the same attitude you show when you share the Gospel in between football plays.

 

Yes.. I do have hostility toward those that are like the people Jesus had hostility towards.. .Legalists... People that think because they "DO" or "don't DO" something makes them more Godly...

Godliness does not rest upon what we do or don't do..
But in this thread we have Christians calling other Christians "Laodiceans".. and other slanderous terms just because they do something different than having a preaching service on Sunday night...

Jesus didn't mince words toward the Religious right of his time... He called them hypocrites because they held to man-made standards instead of having their hearts right. They based their Godliness on what they did....or didn't do.

In the same way that fundamentalists do today...

Godliness comes from within...not what we do from without.

If a person can't be Godly in a setting where there are sinners, and has to have the cocoon of the church in order to be Godly.. that person hasn't got Godliness.

Jesus had compassion on sinners...
He had hostility toward the fundamentalists of his day... the Pharisees...

I'll do what Jesus did... stand for truth.. not man made traditions that are not even Biblically based.

 

You mean as opposed to being called a Laodicean church or that they are using gimmicks and attempting to trick people into the Gospel? Those charges are not full of hostility and being judgmental?

We won't be having a Super Bowl Party at the church, but Jesus warned the Disciples about forbidding a person from casting out demons in Jesus' name. (Mark 9:38)

He told Peter to just be concerned about his life and not what He had in store for John. (John 21)

If you don't think a SB party is the way to go, then say so and why. But just because another church feels God is calling them to do it to reach people, doesn't make them a backslidden church.

 

Wow, besides legalism at it's worst, we are seeing idolatry over a building with 4 walls.

 

I think Webdog has hit a point. What we call the church is just a building until we make it a church. The church is not the building. It is the people assembling for church. Otherwise, we become no better than the formalists.

Cheers,

Jim