Upper Shelf at Barabbas Road Church in San Diego

There is a famous expression that says,“Good teaching puts the cookie on the bottom shelf.” The picture is a child trying to get to a cookie on the bottom shelf. Obviously, if the cookie was on the top shelf then it would be more difficult for the child to get the cookie. Bottom-shelf teaching is a method that many churches across the country have put into practice to communicate the Gospel to both believers and unbelievers. The idea is that bottom-shelf teaching helps visitors feel more welcomed and comfortable when visiting your church. These types of churches that use “bottom shelf” teaching are called seeker-sensitive churches. The main goal of a seeker-sensitive church is to create an atmosphere where anyone can walk into the church and feel comfortable with what is going on there.

While there are some benefits to a church being seeker-sensitive, there are many negative aspects to seeker-sensitive churches as well. Barabbas Road Church in San Diego is not a seeker-sensitive church. This does not mean that Barabbas is a church that is not comfortable or welcoming, because Barabbas Road Church is a very welcoming and comfortable place. Visitors should feel very welcomed when they come to Barabbas Road Church. The biggest difference biggest between a seeker-sensitive church and Barabbas Road Church is that at Barabbas the focus is on the church rather than the visitors of the church. What is the church? The church is primarily and specifically a group of baptized believers that gather together for the mutual upbringing and encouragement of one another. The church is a group that is being discipled under the word of God and under the preaching of the Bible. This means that according to scripture the church is primarily for believers. Therefore, at Barabbas Road Church, the target is on believers rather thanvisitors.

This is why upper-shelf teaching is a distinctive of Barabbas Road Church in San Diego. The job of the pastor is to preach and teach the word of God to help the church grow in discipleship and towards maturity. If the pastor is focused on shepherding the visitor then who will shepherd the church? According to scripture, the word of God is sufficient enough to do its work, so it is sufficient enough to work in the visitor as well. The teaching at Barabbas Road Church is almost like jumping on a moving train where you will get help to get on board, but you are going to have to work at it. For the visitor, you will have to catch up and work, but the church will help you and disciple you along the way, which is a beautiful thing.

Church is an alien place for unbelievers. If an unbeliever comes to church hoping to feel 100% comfortablehe will be disappointed, because it is alien. The church should not hide this fact. Therefore, if you are a visitor or if you plan on bringing a visitor to church, you should know that visitors are very welcomed at Barabbas Road Church and they are coming on an already moving train. Come to church prepared, ready to learn and ready to be discipled. If you do this each week then you will grow and it will be a wonderful thing.