When Church becomes frivolous...

I saw something in church yesterday that I'm still trying to figure out. Evidently there is a push to get "small-groups" going, which is a good thing. Of course, in keeping with the seeming current trend, they weren't referred to as small-groups. Rather, they were called connecting-groups. Okay, no big deal, a rose is still a rose... What I really had a difficult time with was the way in which the idea was pitched. A team of potential ministers, all college age kids, presented several skits with the intention, I think, of explaining to us what a good connecting-group looked like. Unfortunately the skits were high on entertainment and low on content. One connecting-group got together to simply gossip, while another got together to watch Monday Night Football, and yet another wired group met at Starbuck's. You get the idea. Comedy ruled the show and even resulted in whoops and hollers from the congregation. A Reality Show based mentality was also present as, at one point in the show, one of the pastors entered the sanctuary with a large snake draped over his shoulders. After several skits of this caliber we were left with someone commenting that maybe they should get together to go over that book The Purpose Driven Life. I guess that was supposed to be the hook, the point, the reason for all the flippancy we had just witnessed. And I thought I had come to a worship service. I really shouldn't be surprised at this I suppose. In our MTV, experience-centered culture, unless something is made visually appealing while also providing you with a pleasurable experience, it isn't considered important.