Should Churches Be Attractional? | 2 Views

Type of Doctrine: Usually Secondary

"For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God."

-1 Corinthians 1:22-24 ESV

Why Does It Matter?

God is passionate about his people spreading the gospel (Matt. 28:16-20). Of course, God enjoys people coming to saving faith in Jesus (1 Tim. 2:4). But should the church adopt strategies to attract people to church? If so, then to what extent? Should the church utilize marketing, entertainment, movies, secular music, cultural idols, and various worldly pursuits in order to reach people? How far should a church go to be relevant?

This doctrine is usually considered a secondary issue. It often affects the worship service, preaching, philosophy of ministry, strategies, and events that a church plans. Therefore, while it's not a primary issue, it usually affects the church one chooses to join.

What Is It?

The attractional church model is about attracting people to church. Doesn't everyone want people to come to church? Yes. The key questions are: (1) with what are you attracting them? and (2) to what (or whom) are you attracting them? At its core, an attractional approach to ministry is about making the church seem relevant in order to attract people to church. Both sides agree on that.

Here are two significant voices on either side. Billy Hornsby is an advocate for the attractional model of ministry. He was previously on staff at Church of the Highlands, and he wrote a book titled The Attractional Church. On the other side, Jared Wilson is against the attractional model of ministry (many also call this view "missional"). Wilson works at Liberty Baptist Church and Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and he also wrote a book titled The Gospel-Driven Church.

Billy Hornsby (who is for the attractional model) has said, "Obviously the attractional church is attractive--so much so that these kinds of churches are growing at a record pace in the United States and around the world" (Billy Hornsby, The Attractional Church, 2). Jared Wilson (who is against the attractional model) agrees with the basic definition: "I (and many others) use the term attractional to refer to a way of doing church ministry whose primary purpose is to make Christianity appealing" (Jared Wilson, The Gospel-Driven Church, 24; author's emphasis). Thus, both emphasize (perhaps unsurprisingly) that the attractional church is about making the church attractive. You can use words like appealing, relevant, or attractive, but at its core the attractional church is about bringing people to church.

How? Wilson claims that attractional churches seek to draw people to church in these main ways: music, creative elements, and teaching that is "both inspirational and practical" (Ibid.). "This is true," Wilson claims, "regardless of the size or style of an attractional church" (Ibid.). Rather than being connected to a specific worship style, Wilson states that it's a paradigm; "An attractional church conducts worship and ministry according to the desires and values of potential consumers" (Ibid., 25).

Billy Hornsby's Argument

What are attractional churches? According to Hornsby, "Attractional churches rekindle a love for the lost, the absent, and the unfulfilled among their members, while meeting people's needs and empowering them for ministry. The key attraction is being refreshing, relational, and relevant" (Billy Hornsby, The Attractional Church, back cover).

Hornsby argued that the attractional model is focused on mission (Billy Hornsby, The Attractional Church, 3). Attractional churches draw people to church because of their "attractive style and relevant approach to communicating the gospel" (Ibid.). "Services are fun and happy, and the people are friendly" (Ibid.). Churches study their target "'market' in the area . . . and they make subtle adjustments to be relevant to that culture" (Ibid.). Thus, like marketers, they learn about the people they are attempting to reach and they adopt strategies to reach them.

Hornsby noted the differences in preaching. The way that Scripture is "presented is influenced by the culture that is being reached" (Ibid.). Moreover, there is a significant emphasis on practical application in preaching (Ibid.). Many attractional preachers attempt to relate their message or series of messages to life issues.

In addition, the attractional church provides a "large variety of services to the community" (Ibid., 4). Hornsby stated, "Eventually, with growth, its financial and human resources can be a one-stop shop for nearly every need that a member has" (Ibid.).

Hornsby claimed that we need more attractional churches because of the low numbers of church attendance (Ibid., 6). Moreover, Hornsby highlighted various failures of the church in the United States: (1) the failure to reach the lost (i.e., nonbelievers), (2) the failure to reach the absent (i.e., believers disconnected from the church), and (3) the failure to reach the unfulfilled (i.e., believers who are bored in church) (Ibid., 7-9).

Concerning doctrine, Hornsby claimed that attractional churches should be "gospel-centric," or in other words, centered on the good news of Jesus Christ (Ibid., 119). Hornsby also argued that churches should focus on the major, primary doctrines of the Christian faith. In other words, they should be focused on the doctrines upon which many groups agree, rather than secondary doctrines which can be divisive (Ibid., 120-121). (For my take upon this subject click here.)

Ultimately, Hornsby argued that churches can grow and become more vibrant by implementing the attractional church model with its corresponding principles. In his own words,

Be assured that your church--whatever its size, denomination, location, or current state--can grow. Your church can be refreshing, relational, and relevant. Your church can be an attractional church. (Ibid., 10)

Jared Wilson's Critique

Wilson critiqued the attractional model by pointing out two functional ideologies that attractional ministry is built upon: (1) consumerism (i.e., what does the customer want?) and (2) pragmatism (i.e., what works?) (Jared Wilson, The Gospel-Driven Church, 25). Wilson traced this development back to the revivalists (particularly Charles Finney about two hundred years ago). "Finney openly believed that revivals were something any knowledgeable person could generate by utilizing the right methods" (Ibid., 26). Wilson then concluded that judging a church's health solely by visible metrics is "unreliable and unbiblical" (Ibid.).

Moreover, he claimed that consumerism and pragmatism are antigospel (Ibid., 27). He explains, "We must take care that our employed methods don't unwittingly undercut our desired ends. In other words, what if the ways we try to attract people to Jesus actually frustrate their ability to treasure him? Or even to see him?" (Ibid.). Thus, the methods we use may bring people in but they also may obscure Jesus, making it harder to see him and believe in him.

Wilson saw consumerism as a subset of pragmatism, and he saw pragmatism as a subset of legalism (Ibid.). What does he mean? He explained that the Bible is filled with practical application, but pragmatism goes beyond just practical application. Instead, pragmatism assumes "tangible or visible results from our application and obedience" (Ibid.). He summarized, "Whenever rightly implemented methods are said to guarantee quantifiable results, pragmatism is at work" (Ibid., 26).

Then he continued with a discussion on the positive and negative forms of legalism. The old form of legalism prohibited various things (e.g., "Don't do X"). The newer forms of legalism give a positive version (e.g., "Do Y"). Wilson claimed that many of the attractional churches, in an effort to be relevant, have adopted the positive version of legalism. He stated, "But the application-heavy approach of the attractional model fails to address that while the negative (prohibitive) law is powerless to change people, the positive (prescriptive) law is equally powerless . . . Only the grace of God can do that. God's law is not bad or wrong. The law's power just works differently than the gospel's power" (Ibid., 27; author's emphasis). In other words, rather than the law, only the grace of God can transform.

Furthermore, he claimed that it is more dangerous than the previous form of legalism because it is harder to spot and more attractive (Ibid., 28). He pointed out that many attractional churches don't mention Jesus much (just principles to live better), and they seek to elicit positive emotions rather than singing and teaching the gospel and biblical content (Ibid.). Many are reimplementing altar calls with the gospel awkwardly disconnected from the messages (Ibid.). He argued that the gospel should be connected to the message. The Christian's "do" must not be disconnected from Christ's done (Ibid.).

Generally speaking, non-attractional churches preach through books of the Bible verse by verse (click here for more on the different preaching views). While they don't see every doctrine as a primary issue, many would be concerned by the doctrinal minimalism found in many attractional churches.

Ultimately, Wilson concluded that attractional ministry doesn't work to change people. Therefore, he zealously sought to truly let the gospel drive the church. In his words,

Even if this ministry approach instills biblical principles into the hearts and minds of people for successful living, and they somehow manage to implement them well, the best we can hope for is the development of moral unbelievers. If you win people to biblical principles but fail to win them to the biblical Christ, you will simply create religious people who lack the power to change. We create tidy unbelievers. (Ibid.) 

2 Main Views on the Attractional Model

View	Attractional?	Definition
The Attractional Church	Yes	The model of ministry that is focused on sharing the gospel and growing a church by attracting people to the church based on strategies arising out of target marketing. Often the strategies of emotional music, practical teaching, and an altar call are utilized. Occasionally churches utilize secular music, movies, sports, and events to attract people. Attractional churches seek to focus on the main doctrines of the faith, and they typically minimize other secondary and tertiary doctrines (seeing them as divisive).
The Gospel-Driven Church (some call this view missional)	No	The model of ministry that is focused on faithfully spreading the gospel (to nonbelievers and believers) and preaching the Scriptures to help a church mature spiritually. Often these churches seek to preach expositional sermons and series (i.e., verse by verse). They seek to tie the gospel into the message showing how all of Scripture points to Jesus. They are usually reluctant to utilize secular music, movies, sports, many types of events, pragmatism, consumerism, and altar calls. They often seek to be robust in doctrine; they typically desire to teach primary, secondary, and tertiary doctrines.

*Some may attempt to combine various aspects of the two views. For example, J. D. Greear has written this article titled, "Should Churches Be Attractional or Missional? Yes."

**Although he often seems closer to Wilson's view (and Wilson quotes Keller's book positively on p. 86!), a view that may fall somewhere between the two is "Evangelistic Worship" by Timothy Keller, Center Church: Doing Balanced, Gospel-Centered Ministry in Your City (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2012), 298-309.

Application

In 2 Corinthians, Paul says,

For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God's word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ. (2 Corinthians 2:15-17 ESV)

In other words, as we faithfully display Jesus to the surrounding world, it will attract some and repel some. Faithfulness is what we're after. The aroma of Christ is what we're after. Ray Ortlund says, "[T]he Bible tells us to expect two opposite reactions simultaneously. Some people will experience our churches as 'a fragrance from life to life.' Others will experience them as 'a fragrance from death to death.' The more compelling our churches become through the gospel, the more intense these two reactions will be" (Ray Ortlund, The Gospel, 93). Let's be compelling, faithful, and Christ-centered.

Where Can I Learn More?

Bibliography:

-Hornsby, Billy. The Attractional Church: Growth Through a Refreshing, Relational, and Relevant Church Experience. New York, NY: Faith Words, 2011.

-Keller, Timothy. Center Church: Doing Balanced, Gospel-Centered Ministry in Your City. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2012.

-Ortlund, Ray. The Gospel: How the Church Portrays the Beauty of Christ. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2014.

-Wilson, Jared C. The Gospel-Driven Church: Uniting Church-Growth Dreams with the Metrics of Grace. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2019.

-Articles:

• GotQuestions has an article titled, "What Is an Attractional Church?"

• Jared Wilson has an article titled, "5 Reasons You Should (Probably) Leave Your Attractional Church"

• J. D. Greear has written this article titled, "Should Churches Be Attractional or Missional? Yes."

• I couldn't find many articles arguing for the attractional church (See Billy Hornsby's book above if you're looking for an argument for the attractional church).