The Choir Is Starving
In Christian radio today, I can’t think of a phrase more likely to provoke either indignation or vague guilt in programmers than:
“Christian radio is mostly just preaching to the choir.”
“Why are so many of us content with that when there are so many lost people that Jesus wants us to reach?”
It’s a valid question.
I have a different one:
“Is it possible we’ve misunderstood what the choir actually needs?”
We act like longtime “choir members” have moved on from needing the Gospel. What they need now are…reminders, instructions, motivation, or maybe a Medi-Share spot.
The Gospel is for “getting saved.” God did His part; now we do ours.
That message is an exhausting dead end.
No one ever finds assurance looking at their own track record or heart. Woe to them if they do.
There is always something more you should have done, could have done, or left undone.
Many of the faithful in your audience’s choir, even after years of singing, live with anxiety, uncertainty, and lack of assurance.
Every once in a while they hear reminders that obedience is necessary. And that’s good, because it is.
Yet…obedience is fruit from the tree, not a receipt showing proof you paid.
If choir members ONLY hear burden, we shouldn’t be surprised when they either despair or pretend.
The choir you’re supposedly preaching to so much is replete with people who don’t need another list, pep talk, time-waster, or false comfort.
They need Christ. They need the Gospel. Daily.
If that sounds basic to you, congratulations! You understand.
Air, water, and food are basics, too.
Too many in the choir are barely getting enough to survive.
They’re subsisting on empty spiritual calories
Seems to me if you’re looking to reach the lost, check the choir loft. There are tons of ‘em up there.
They, like all of us, need to hear, again and again, that Jesus did not merely make salvation possible and then hand us the bill for the rest!
That’s bad news.
They need the steady Gospel good news that their standing with God rests on Jesus, not on them.
So, if someone dismissively says “Christian Radio is just preaching to the choir,” remember: by doing it faithfully, you’re preaching exactly what the choir needs to hear.
So they can keep singing.
Doug Hannah is the Senior Director of Content for Family Radio/Loam Media
