Are Incentives Damaging the Church?

Incentives are not strategy, they are tactics. Defensive measures. – Carlos Ghosn

Incentive is defined as any factor that enables or motivates a particular course of action. Growing up in church, I saw this all time, and continue to see it now. When I was a kid it was bring $50 next week for missions and Pastor Jimmy will swallow a gold fish. As a teenager a chance to win $100 cash was my motivator to bring as many of my friends to youth group. I must admit, even as a youth pastor I gave away a X-Box 360 to the kid who brought the most visitors one night. Now, as a lay person in the church and an intense observer of everything the church does (not necessarily my church), I’ve noticed this incentive philosophy in church has even filtered into the message and presentation of the gospel. Things are often communicated…obey God, so you can be blessed; tithe, so you can pay your bills; pray, so you can get what you want; receive Christ into your life (which that phrase alone has some very dangerous implications, and I don’t mean ‘win the world for Jesus’ dangerous), so you can experience a life filled with joy and happiness. I understand that a lot of this is simple semantics, but those that are new to church and a faith in Christ may not understand that.

Where did this originate? Didn’t this begin in the garden when Satan offered Eve an incentive if she at the fruit, “your eyes will be opened and you will be like God.” There is something selfishly engraved in all of us that causes us to assume that if we do {you name it}, we should get something positive out of it. We have taken that notion or desire and have placed it center stage in the church. It seems that so many churches feel the need to present everything with an incentive attached to it. Even a simple request for volunteers goes something like, “Please consider volunteering in the nursery, once you make that commitment to serve our kids, I guarantee that you will be richly rewarded and blessed.” It is a pretty harmless statement, however, when declarations like that are consistent, it could become very unhealthy. Sure, we are blessed when we serve, but not always in a tangible way.

While we may feel that we do deserve a tangible earthly reward for doing something right, reality is that we don’t. If we did, Jesus would have lived in a castle and Mother Teressa would be a millionaire. My concern is that we often convince people that the means justifies the end, regardless of motives. Perhaps incentives have caused thousands, or even millions of dollars to be raised for missions. Tons of teenagers have probably heard the gospel because die hard youth groupers were motivated by cash, video games, and i-pods to bring their friends. Is that okay though? I mean the Bible says, All a man’s ways seem innocent to him, but motives are weighed by the Lord. – Proverbs 16:2 Is it okay to offer rewards if the end result is positive? Where do the incentives stop? I think that it would eventually where off and people would start wondering the true meaning and purpose behind what they are doing. Why do we give to missions? Why should I really bring friends to church? What is the true purpose behind me volunteering for something?

I’ve had a few conversations with people that I grew up with. They are no longer a part of a church and are self-proclaimed “away from God.” In one way or another, they have all explained to me that there was no true substance to what they believed and why they believed. A recent Facebook conversation with a friend led him to say, “We were always told what to do, but never any real reason why. At least no explanation that had any substance to it. It was always, do this to get people here, do that and you’ll be blessed, come here and win this. Seriously? That’s not how things in real life work. I was told to pray, read my Bible, and worship and God will bless me. Well, my sister got cancer, my dad left my mom, a good Christian girl broke my heart by cheating on me, and I got depressed. Eventually, I said I’m done with this.”

It’s pretty sad isn’t it? Somewhere down the line we’ve taught people that the gospel is...give your life to Jesus and you get what you want. However, the gospel is you give your life to Jesus and He’s enough no matter what. When did it become acceptable, outside of salvation and eternity in Heaven, to treat God as a means to an end? Who wouldn’t want to accept Jesus if they were convinced that their life would be filled with joy and happiness after they repeated a prayer? I don’t know, it just seems like a false motive to me. Shouldn’t people bring their friends to church because they see and understand the significance of being in the presence of God, hearing a message from the Bible, and interacting with other Christians? Shouldn’t kids give to missions because they realize that by doing so they are advancing the message of Jesus to people who are less fortunate and who may only hear about Jesus because of their sacrificial giving?

When it’s all said and done, I’m sure a lot of positive strategies are taking place in the church. Many are presenting the gospel, encouraging giving, and prompting invitation to their church in a healthy way. Even if they aren’t, I can always hold onto Philippians 1:18, But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice.