The “Carrot Stick” Ministry

…all the Athenians and strangers which were there spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell, or to hear some new thing.” — Acts 17:21

Everyone has seen a picture of a horse pulling a cart while a carrot is dangled in front of it’s face from a pole just out of the horse’s reach.  The carrot motivates the horse to pursue it thus pulling the cart behind.

I believe many churches use the “carrot stick” method to draw people to their church. They dangle some new program or gimmick before a prospect to motivate them to visit their church. However, eventually that “carrot” gets stale and loses it’s appeal.  Then they need to get some new “carrot” to dangle in front of people to keep them coming or reach new people. They are always looking for some new thing to excite people into attending their church.

It reminds me of a song by Vince Gill titled, “The Next Big Thing.” The song is about how someone can make it big with some new style or approach. But after awhile, people get bored with it and start looking for “the next big thing.” The cycle keeps repeating. As Vince sings…

When you finally hit the top, you know what that means,

Everybody’s ready for the next big thing.

   I know I’m “old school” and people will say I’m behind the times. I’m not opposed to new ways of doing things. But I believe the simple Gospel of Jesus Christ is still the power of God unto salvation (Rom. 1:16).  Instead of always looking for some new carrot, why not use a “carrot” that never gets stale—The simple Gospel of Jesus Christ.