On the way to church today, I passed something that I’ve never seen before…it was a dancing gorilla.
I guess to be more specific I should say that it was someone dressed up in a gorilla suit, but the suit did look real enough to fool my six year old. It was a guy dancing his heart out and holding a sign advertising five dollar pizzas. I sat at the intersection mesmerized by how much energy he was exerting in a hot, uncomfortable costume just to get his message across. On top of all that, the dude was actually a pretty solid dancer. A lot of effort for a guy who was probably making minimum wage. I was impressed.
Was his message life-changing? Maybe a good deal in a down economy, but I wouldn’t call it life-changing. Even so, I found myself getting hungrier and catching a bit of his enthusiasm. Had I not been running late to church, I might have just pulled in and bought one of those pizzas.
What’s the Point?
The world is often more enthusiastic about communicating insignificant messages than the church is about communicating the Gospel. We’ve got the greatest Message the world has ever heard, but we often find ways to bore people with it. I believe many churches need to completely re-imagine how they reach and teach their community and many Christians need to pray for boldness, creativity and authenticity in sharing their own faith.
The World desperately needs to hear the Good News, so let’s communicate it with excellence, passion and creativity! In Titus Chapter 2, Paul writes that in every way, we should make the Gospel “attractive”. I’m not saying that preachers need to start wearing Gorilla Suits and dancing as they preach, but I am saying that Churches (and Christians) should think outside the box when it comes to inviting people to church, witnessing and preaching. We don’t need gimmicks, but we do need passion!
Go for it. Share your faith with unbridled enthusiasm. I think you will find a lot more people discovering the power of the Gospel and packing your church (and then you can take them out for some of those five dollar pizzas afterwards)!
Soul Caffeine 
I somewhat agree. But I believe that ‘advertising’ what’s on the menu is very much a mind-set of the West, not so much about the reality of the Gospel. It was indeed Jesus who told us to count the cost first, knowing the hardships that would come with the statement: “I’m a Christian”.
Yes, we do need passion. But you can’t tell someone from the underground church to make the Gospel more attractive because maybe that’s not possible. He’s not able to advertise His faith so much. He is able to live it out! So I believe the true principle in this post is doing all things with excellence, as if for God Himself.
Passion is what attracts… If we are ho-hum about our beliefs, those around us will not understand why we even think the way we do! Being passionate about Jesus Christ and what He did for us on the cross will indeed create a passion in those who witness it in us first hand! Over the years I’ve seen/felt the difference in those who were passionate about Christ vs. those who were not! It was those who were passionate that helped draw me into wanting a relationship with Christ in the same way!