Superbowl Sunday and the Church

By: Chris Johnson

Personal note:

I wrote the following as a bulletin insert in 2004 just before the Super Bowl.

“… The half-time show of Super Bowl 2004 will be hosted by MTV, notorious for its use of filth to appeal to youth. And, as if MTV’s filth is not enough, viewers can elect to watch the ‘Lingerie Bowl’ featuring scantily-clad models as they get “down and dirty” for a game of tackle football. …”

Last year’s ads were for the most part toned down. The word is that they will be (for the most part again this year.) What is the reason for this apparent toning down? Is it because multitudes have expressed their displeasure to the companies that have used eroticism to market their products? I think this accounts for at least part of the reason. At any rate, I wrote the following and used it as a bulletin insert in 2004. It is a word to the churches that applied then it still does today. What do you think?

Superbowl Sunday and the Church

What began as the championship game between two competing football leagues in 1967 has since become an American entertainment extravaganza.

The transition from championship football game to cultural event was engineered by the corporate world as it realized, and continues to realize, the tremendous marketing opportunities afforded by broadening the appeal of the event. With its broadened appeal, many churches saw the Super Bowl as a great opportunity for evangelism and have hosted Super Bowl parties for this purpose.

However, the television event has become, especially in recent years, a spectacle of sin. Half-time shows are increasingly marked by the display of overt sexuality. Many advertisements feature the same theme, as well as condone the sexual objectification of women, illicit sexuality, rampant materialism, and indiscriminate alcohol consumption.

The half-time show of Super Bowl 2004 will be hosted by MTV, notorious for its use of filth to appeal to youth. And, as if MTV’s filth is not enough, viewers can elect to watch the “Lingerie Bowl” featuring scantily-clad models as they get “down and dirty” for a game of tackle football.

As Super Bowl 2004 approaches, we must ask ourselves: Is it possible for a church to align itself with the Super Bowl in its evangelical efforts without aligning itself with the general godlessness of the event? Can the churches hosting Super Bowl parties effectively screen out the immorality associated with the game? Or, is this inherently an unholy alliance?

As we answer this question one thing is certain. As Christians, we are called to be a “salt” and a “light.” We are not called to conformity. It must be different with us. It would be easy to retreat from this difficult world altogether. Many questions and situations would not have to be faced. However, Christ’s command to his church is not to leave the world, but to go out into it with the light of the Gospel.

In this approach, which takes so many different forms for so many different churches, one thing is certain: the church must influence the world more than the world influences the church. If the latter occurs, all evangelical efforts, regardless of their good intent, will ultimately fail.

“The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness! No man can serve two masters: for he will either love the one and hate the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.”
[Matthew 6:22-24]

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Bill Johnson, President
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