Once again, the church embraces culture …

It’s important for the work I do to stay informed about things that reveal human behavior, including what we watch and listen to. Among such things, few titillate audiences more than shows about relationships.

A favorite show people love to watch, or love to disparage, is “The Bachelor” and “The Bachelorette.” Christians especially love to rail against the flaws in the premises of these shows. But some Christians won’t be able to do that anymore since last night Christians came out with their own cheap version of “The Bachelorette.”

Game Show Network spent a lot of time promoting the premiere of “It Takes A Church,” which aired for the first time last night. The premise is that a church congregation would serve as a good matchmaker for those looking for lifetime companions, yet the content of the show was a mimicking of what ABC does on “The Bachelorette,” only not as well done.

The show started by identifying a lonely single woman who hadn’t had any luck with love, but wanted to find the right man to marry. So several people in the church were recruited to play matchmaker. Several men were presented to the church by their hosting matchmaker, and the church finally voted on three men from those presented for this lonely woman to consider. A fourth man was added when the pastor was allowed to make a pick.

You won’t believe what the pastor designed as the first interaction for the bachelorette with these men. One man at a time would blindfold the woman and, using only his voice, would guide her through an obstacle course comprised of cups of water, water balloons, and raw eggs, all placed on the ground.

I. Kid. You. Not!

Yes, that really was what the pastor thought would be a profound measure of how these men would relate to the bachelorette.

One of the men was then dismissed, leaving only three bachelors.

The next interaction was that the bachelors were assigned a different task to oversee at a nighttime fundraising event for the church. The bachelorette would spend a few minutes with each bachelor at their assigned task, then another bachelor was dismissed.

Now with only two bachelors remaining, the lady in search of husband material went on a short date with both of the bachelors. With one, she went bowling, and she enjoyed a horse-drawn carriage ride with the other.

Finally, it was decision-time, and the woman chose one of the bachelors to consider continuing a relationship with.

And the kicker to all this?

She chose the guy she initially thought was the best looking!

All this was revealed in a single one-hour show, much shorter and faster than a couple months of two-hour episodes on “The Bachelorette,” where that lady would have multiple dates and conversations with the men she would be interested in, including meeting their families and them meeting hers.

When the church behaves like the world, we completely lose our position from which to be able to speak to our culture. That’s because we’ve embraced it and are acting exactly like it.

Oh, there was one spiritual element in the two dates the bachelorette of “It Takes A Church” experienced that you don’t see on ABC’s “The Bachelorette” … her dates prayed before they ate their meals.

With such spiritual depth, surely the Game Show Network has found a higher way of selecting a spouse!

What does it say about the church when we think we should participate in spouse hunting as a Game Show Network “reality” show?

It’s no wonder the church doesn’t have much credibility when speaking about issues of our culture.

How about you: do you embrace culture, looking and living just like it? Or are you engaging culture on behalf of the kingdom of God?

Scotty