Comedy Night at the Local UMC!

[Sonoftheday]

I own a laundrymat. Its small and the machines are all 20yrs old and extremely hard to find parts for, its falling apart and constantly takes much more of my time than the return I recieve is worth, but thats not the topic of this thread. I am constantly throwing away "AWAKE" and the "Watchtower" because either I have a zealous JW with frequently dirty clothes, or just one who thinks that a laundry mat is full of sinners in need of working thier way to heaven. Whenever any church leaves flyers, bulletins, or other materials I typically leave them in there for a while, because even though you could not drag me to a service at say the local Full Gospel, Pentacostal, or any of the many Nondenominational churches this small town offers I still believe they are christian though severely lacking in Sola Scriptura among other doctrines.

I'll get to the point, this morning I stopped by my laundrymat to do the morning cleaning before I went to my real job only to find a flyer for the local United Methodist Church. The flyer featured a man with some resemblance to the highly annoying six flags dancer dressed in a funny suit holding a tophat that had flowers spouting from it. It said Comedy Night at UMC, and said that the stand up comedian would be there on Sunday April 6th and the whole community was invited.

My reason for mentioning this is not to point out their blatant disregard for the sabbath command, nor any other of the undoubtably hundreds of reasons we could state for why this is wrong. But I am curious, What makes a church hold a service such as this? Why cancel the usual Sunday evening service for a stand up comedian? Perhaps someone here has some understanding or experience of the doctrine of the UMC that shines light on the purpose for such an event. Do they really think that by coming to see a stand up comic at thier church people will be converted or God will be glorified?

 

[Neogillist]

I have personally given up bothering myself about what liberal churches are up to. The gospel is what we ought to concentrate on. Besides, most liberal churches should more properly be called religious clubs, because much of their efforts is put in creating a friendly community environment rather than having a burden for the lost. Fortunately, as many evangelicals go liberal, true believers who are in their midsts eventually start moving out, seeking a place where they might meet some true brothers and sisters in Christ who love God and His Word. This is where we can welcome them to join us.

 

[Zenas]

John Wesley spins in his grave sirs. If that man were alive, I firmly believe he would take a shotgun and plant one between the eyes of the beast that has become the United Methodist Church.

As someone so aptly put once in a related thread, "Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors, Open Graves."

I would abandon any attempt to find any reason behind their doing this. There is no theological reason, other than a lack of one. Don't drive yourself mad attempting to decypher the logic of the illogical.

 

[Pilgrim]

In my experience UMC's that actually have a Sunday evening service are very few and far between. Unless you know otherwise about this particular church it is probably a special event.

There are "Christian comedians" that speak at all kinds of churches, including evangelical ones.

 

[Grymir]

Joel Osteen could be considered a Christian Comedian. Especially when my wife and I give him the Mystery Science Theater 3000 treatment!

 

[tellville]

Pilgrim is right. I am a pastor at a Korean United Methodist Church. We do not have Sunday evening services. We have Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday morning services, a Friday evening service, and nine services on Sunday, but they are finished by 5:00. Odds are they have hired a Christian comedian. This is done so as to have an event to invite your non Christian friends to, "Hey, come see a comedian with me Sunday night" sounds a lot less threating than "Hey, come here how you're a dirty sinner". Anyway, the comedian will then perform a show but then will conclude with a Gospel presentation <insert you're a dirty sinner here>, and then there will usually be prayer after etc.

As for Sabbath disregard, I would imagine the UMC would ask why evangelism would be considered breaking the Sabbath.

I highly doubt our church would ever get a comedian to speak, but we have had what we call "revival" speakers preach on a Sunday night. They are guest speakers (usually from Korea) who come and preach on a topic chosen by the senior pastor.

 

[Backwoods Presbyterian]

Joel Osteen could be considered a Christian Comedian. Especially when my wife and I give him the Mystery Science Theater 3000 treatment!