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An Act of Ministry:
Overcoming Fishbowl Mentality
by Kim Schilz (Kim's bio)
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Drama is the oldest form of teaching known to man. It touches the heart where words may not. Drama touches something deep within the human being, demands our attention and sticks in our memories. Jesus taught using parables, stories to entertain and teach, using the world that the people knew and could understand. So if he were taking with nomadic people, he used their language and customs in his parables. Jesus did this because it worked! He used drama and stories to get their attention and make them understand in the simplest way the message that He wanted to convey.
According to Judy Gattis Smith in her book, Drama through the Church Year (Meriwether Publishing, Ltd) there are three areas where drama finds a voice:
1. Education
2. Recreation
3. Worship and Praise
Drama can be performed in many areas and at many different times. However if you discover, as I did, that your progress will be hindered by "nay-sayers", there are a few things that you can do to get the program going again.
Within my home church, there was one person, elder member, who vocally made known his dislike of using drama in the sanctuary. He considered the sanctuary a "holy place". He worried that by allowing contemporary music, instruments (other than the piano and organ), and drama into the church, then we were straying away from God's will. Our first love of Christ was now being called on the carpet! As if he thought God was saying, "Straight-up, now tell me do you love me?" This member felt that we were letting the "world" into our home and getting away from the traditions that had served us well for many years. He began to tell his views to others and he gained a few supporters. They went to the pastor and convinced him that it was too controversial. Suddenly, our plans for Christmas and other events were put on hold. I was upset, at first, until I allowed God to minister to my soul. He never fails to give good advice if we only open our hearts, soul and mind to Him.
We (those in drama and music) decided that we needed to find out what the majority of the church felt about it. We had been to church council without support so with a survey we could be armed with the proof we needed to request change. Surveys were given out with related questions concerning the opinions and likes of the congregation. Which do you think best describes the sanctuary? A holy place reserved for services or just a building that we use for praise and worship? They were asked to rate the importance of music, announcements, drama, Sunday school opening and many other areas. This survey covered contemporary music, instruments, drama, and any other form of ministry.
As we prayed and waited for some of the forms to come back, our thoughts turned to many things. What if the only ones we get back are against drama and contemporary music? Change was something hard to except by anyone. Why was this so important to us? Things could have stayed the same. Are we pawns of the devil being used to upset the balance of the church? We prayed some more. We knew that using drama and music could reach more youth than the traditional hymns and low-key services. We wanted to breath life into every area of the church, attracting more innovative ideas that would reach the community for Christ. Sometimes, churches become exclusive instead of inclusive.
A fishbowl, as an example, is closed and can only handle a select group of fish. These fish are comfortable with that and wish it to remain that way. We are Christians of like mind so we should band together and keep everyone in the secular evil world away. The problems with the fishbowl thinking are that it will not fulfill the Great Commission! Safely in that little bowl, those fish will swim around watching the world. Contrast that with the ocean, which is vast and full of many types of fish. Some fish in the ocean group together, it's only natural, yet they all share the same ocean. We want to be like the fish in an ocean where we can reach out to other fish. We want our school of fish to grow so we minister to other fish and bring them into the school of Christians. Our world, or in this case, our community needed an ocean to effect it not a fishbowl to decorate it.
Finally, surveys were in and a week later after tabulating the votes in each area and making it into a readable report, we found that an overwhelming majority wanted and needed changes in praise and worship. We presented it to the council and the pastor promised that no longer would one or two people decide for the majority. We had the green light. Drama Troupe could proceed and contemporary music could be mixed with traditional hymns, although there was a line drawn at having a band complete with drums. Oh well, ya can't have everything, right? That'll come later.
If you have come against this type of problem in your church, email me some of the ways that you overcame it. We can all use good ideas. I will post some of them in my column. Send your comments and suggestions to kimandfriends@yahoo.com. Until next time, God bless and be creative!
Copyright 2002, Kim Schilz. All Rights Reserved. Used by permission.
| About Kim Schilz: Hello, fellow creative Christians! I am Kim Baker Schilz of Idaho. Being the mother of five children and running my own business keeps me pretty busy yet I always find time for using the creative gifts that God gave me. My church is a small Southern Baptist congregation of about 150. I have served in many areas including children's sunday school, Awana groups, youth leader, ladies sunday school leader, choir, and drama troupe. |
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