Curing Sunday Spectatoritis: From Passivity to Participation in Church

The sit-watch-and-listen format for church meetings isn’t cutting it. “Jesus seldom, if ever, monologued. He interacted,” says Charles H. Kraft, Fuller Seminary professor. This book calls for making church services participatory. It also offers stories in which 25 church leaders explain how they are doing so. Because most church services spotlight performance by professionals, they encourage passivity rather than participation among the people. The typical meeting format treats the church as an audience rather than as the body of Christ and family of God. As a result what has been called the “discipleship deficit” continues. The term “spectatoritis” in the title speaks for itself. No dictionary needed. Like arthritis, bronchitis, and appendicitis, spectatoritis brings on a measure of disability. But unlike those and other inflammatory “-itis” conditions that ache and throb, Sunday spectatoritis typically leaves its victims quite pain-free, even comfortable. And who among us, including church people, will seek a cure if unaware of any disabling symptoms? But as this book explains, spectatoritis can be cured. This book is for all who love the Body of Christ and work for its well-being. It is for pastors, church leaders, and church planters in all kinds of communities—in urban, suburban, exurban, and rural congregations. It is for Christians who seek to encourage increased congregational participation and to support leaders as they pursue that objective.