If you work in church communications, you’ve likely seen someone use the “Three Fs” on some promotional piece before. I know I have.

I’m talking, of course, about the words “Food, Fun and Fellowship”, which are apparently present at just about every church ministry gathering of any kind.

Here’s the breakdown:

Food – Generally pot-luck (lots of meatballs and casseroles). Or, a few bags of chips and some soda.

Fun – Eh. Maybe. Generally it’s whatever was going to happen anyways. We just hope that by sticking “Fun” on it, people will be convinced that it’s actually fun.

Fellowship – A fantastically churchy way of saying other Christians are going to be there to hang out with.

Here’s the problem I have. It’s not just a lack of creativity on the part of the people doing the promoting in terms of word choice.

The idea that we need food, fun and fellowship to draw people to an event makes me worry about the consumerism present in our way of thinking. Essentially we’re saying “Give me something (food), entertain me (fun) and make sure it’s with people who are really similar to me so I don’t feel uncomfortable (fellowship).” Is this what we should be doing? (That’s a rhetorical question).

Am I reading into this too much? Maybe. But I think the problem still remains. How many takers do you think there would be for a ministry event that advertised itself as having “Poverty, Pain, and Loneliness“? How about “Loss, Scorn, and Desertion“? Probably not a lot. But that’s exactly the way Jesus calls Christians to live (Mark 8:34-38, 10:28-30).

Should our goal in ministry to make life as comfortable as possible for Christians, or is it to save the world that is lost and dying around us? (Another rhetorical question).

This is hard because it goes against everything our culture tells us. But we have to try. There is too much at stake not to.

Thoughts?