Somewhere Between Bubble Gum and $1,000-Ministry "Promotion"

By reglerjoe

Where Do We Draw the Line With Promotions?

In the past several posts, the topic has been raised concerning promotions, gimmicks, and prizes used in Sunday schools and Vacation Bible Schools. Bob Hayton, of Fundamentally Reformed, asked these questions in a previous post:

"But just what should be the line as far as gimmicks goes? Do we say that any Vacation Bible School is going too far to reach kids? Is the offer of games and prizes and the cheerful acceptance/attention from peers and adult workers the true motive of many "decisions" made at VBS or other "special days"? I understand the desire that motivates VBS, SS Busses, special "carnival days" and the like, but do these strategies really reveal that at the heart of it, we think salvation is something man is responsible to draw out from his fellow men? Does the Holy Spirit need our help in these matters?"

Before I answer these questions, allow me to make two observations and share a story:

1. First, all ministries use "promotions" of some type (by promotion I mean something that draws people to a church). New buildings, fabulous facilities, family life centers, gymnasiums, and even some ministries like food pantries, "Mom's Day Out", or youth activities draw people, whether purposefully or not. Even celebrity-status pastors who write bestsellers and host popular conferences can be a draw. So I think we can all agree that not everything that draws people to a church is necessarily wrong.

2. Also, whenever this topic arises regarding the use of promotions (especially in the bus ministry), there are always the defenders who make bleeding heart pleas that they are just trying to show compassion to the poor children of whatever city they minister in. The most common defense is, "What's wrong with giving a poor bus kid a piece of bubble gum or a hot dog for riding the bus?" The picture is painted of poor and starving bus children who are fed once a week by their loving bus workers. Anybody who endeavors to critique the use of promotions is treated as a tight-fisted scrooge who doesn't care for the poor.

Listen, I used to live inside a major US city, and for years I worked on an inner-city bus route. If there's one thing I've noticed, it's that many poor aren't as poor as they seem. That is not to deny the fact that there are truly destitute people in our cities, and that it is the duty of Christians to disciple them and to care for them. But let's be honest, most inner-city children wouldn't give a flip whether you gave them a piece of bubble gum or not for coming to church.

Which leads me to share this story: As I said, I spent 5 years working on an inner-city bus route. I noticed in that time span that the kids would get more and more jaded towards promotions. They would come once for a goldfish, but then they needed the chance to win a bicycle, after several years the promotions had to get bigger and better. I remember one time, we were offering kids a chance to win $1,000! That's right...we were raffling off $1,000! TO KIDS! We honestly thought that the inner-city children would come out of the woodwork for that.

Wrong. By this time, the kids had been so hopped-up on wild and extravagant promotions that even the offer of $1,000 didn't phase them. I'll never forget the response of one young man:

I said, "Hey, buddy, if you ride the bus to Sunday school tomorrow, you could win $1,000!"

The boy looked at me and said, "So?"

I said, "What do you mean 'so'? ...IT'S $1,000!"

He said, "Do I really win it, or I MIGHT win it?"

I said, "Well...you get a chance to win. It's a raffle."

"Nah," he said flatly, and went back inside his inner-city apartment to play Nintendo on his big screen T.V.

Our society is getting more materialist every year. And the materialism is even penetrating into the inner-cities and into the minds of children. I don't think promotions in Sunday schools and bus ministries have caused this, but sometimes they feed off of this attitude.

One rider in the Big Orange Truck said, concerning promotions, that "you keep 'em the same way you got 'em." This is so very true. Any bus worker will tell you that the first thing many bus riders ask before giving their consent to come to church is, "What are you having tomorrow?" In other words, if your promotion is impressive enough, I'll come. If not, I'm gonna stay home and play Xbox. I also think most bus workers would agree that promotions will bring a kid once, but after awhile, you just can't feed that appetite for stuff anymore. There is a huge turnover rate in the bus ministry, and I think this is one of the major reasons.