Dec
06
Is “Free” Really a Good Price for Our Church and Faith?
Last week was the first Pac 12 championship game for football, and my Oregon Ducks hosted and played in the game. I wanted to go but could not justify the cost of the tickets. Then the day before the game my wife received an email from our local youth sports league that the Pac 12 had given them a bunch of tickets that they had not sold. The youth sports league was giving them away free on a first come basis. My wife, an avid football fan herself, rushed over and got a tickets for us and my son to attend the big game. Sure it was cold that evening, but this was the first Pac 12 championship game and our favorite team was playing! So we sat in the corner of the end zone, with all the other free ticket recipients, and loved every minute of the game.
Around half-time a curious thing occurred. People in our freebie section began to leave. By the end of the 3rd quarter only about half those in our section still remained while the rest of the stadium was still full.
This reminded me of principle I have observed over the years in ministry; People don’t seem to value what they get for free.
About 15 years ago there was a men’s movement called Promise Keepers that was filling stadiums across the country with Christian men seeking to grow in their faith. The movement had meteoric rise in attendance until someone got the bright idea to stop charging for the event and make it free (you could make a donation). Attendance took a dramatic downturn and the within a year or two Promise Keepers was no longer putting on stadium events. My conclusion; people tend to not value what they get for free.
I have seen this in our Vacation Bible School (VBS) as well. Years ago we use to put on a free VBS for the community. Out of necessity we reluctantly began charging a small fee of $5 dollars a head for the week. We feared that charging would have a negative impact on participation. The opposite was true. Not only did we have more kids, but they were also more consistent. In previous years there were a number of kids that would come only 2 or 3 out of the 5 days we offered VBS. But now we had fewer part-timers because they were paying for the week, (even if it was a nominal fee). This taught me that people tend to value what they pay for.
These principles bring up an interesting dilemma for us as Christians. Many people come to church for the freebies. God offers us salvation through Jesus Christ as a “free” gift. Participation in the church services is free. Support groups, Bible studies, fellowship events, and organized service projects are all offered for free. I believe the result is that many Christians don’t seem to value their faith or their church very much.
This is not true of all. There are those who seem to have a great appreciation for Jesus Christ and their church. And maybe not so coincidentally, I observe that these are the people that tend to give generously of their time, talent, and resources to the church and the cause of Christ in the community. The question in my mind is which came first? Did they begin to value God and the church enough that they were willing to invest in both? Or did they respond once or twice to an appeal for help and the result was they started to value their faith and church more? Could giving help our faith and our church experience become more meaningful to us?
Maybe you are struggling in your faith and you don’t feel connected to God or to your church. Could the solution be as easy as choosing to invest your time, talents, and resources? In other words pay God and your church back for all that they have done for you and then watch the value of both grow in you.