DID ANYBODY SEE "KING OF THE HILL"?

Did anybody see “King of the Hill” on FOX television this past Sunday night (April 9)?   I’ve been a fan of “King of the Hill” since it went on the air in early 1997.  The nice thing about cartoon shows is that the characters either do not age at all or age VERY slowly.  The Hill family has probably aged about one year in the past nine.

Sunday night’s episode was GREAT.  It was not the first time the show has dealt with church issues, but this was the best treatment of church issues BY FAR.  In the plot of Sunday night’s show, the Hills are late for church one Sunday morning at Arlen First Methodist and “their” seats are taken by a new family.  The new family refuses to change seats so the Hills can sit in “their” regular seats.  The female pastor (no offense to folks from Minnesota but she has an ANNOYING Minneapolis area accent) has no sympathy for the Hills.  Embarrassed and frustrated, the Hills look for another church.  Over the next few weeks they visit a wild and crazy Pentecostal church (now, I’M Pentecostal, but this one REALLY WAS wild and crazy), a Spanish-speaking Roman Catholic church, and a mega church which features a coffee and doughnut restaurant, a movie theater, and large screen High Definition television.  The Hills happily join the mega church.  Hank finds out, however that all that glitters is not gold.  The church has activities just about EVERY night, and the pastor and people are overbearing and controlling (though nice and well-meaning).  

After a few weeks, the Hills decide they need to be back at Arlen’s First Methodist.  They make up with the pastor, and conveniently, the new family who had sat in the Hill’s pew decide to switch to the mega church.

If I knew what the episode would be, I absolutely would have taped it and used it for discussion in a Sunday School class over the summer. (Yeah, I realize technically that usage would be illegal, but to anyone who is thinking that, please get a life.)

Ten years ago I began postulating that the church of the mid-Twenty-First Century would be vastly different from the church of the 1990s. - that by that time all churches would be either mega churches or very small churches of under fifty in attendance.  In fact, that trend is ALREADY taking place!  I heard a news item within the past few days that medium-sized churches in America (churches of 150-300) are in decline and are projected to continue to decline.  The churches that are growing are the very small ones and the very big ones.  Although Arlen’s FIrst Methodist IS a medium-sized church and appeared to “win the battle” in this episode, sociological and demographic studies tell us they will ultimately lose the war.

I’m not saying I LIKE that trend...it’s just reality.  My wife DIDN’T like the “King of the Hill” episode.  She felt like the Hills were babies and got exactly what they wanted.  My young adult son, Jon, commented, “Yeah, but that’s realistic.  THAT’S how it is in churches!”  He’s right.

When we’re out-of-state visiting churches, my wife actually prefers to visit mega churches.  I find them kind of overwhelming and out-of-touch with the struggles of small churches.  I suspect that “should the Lord tarry” someday when we’re retired, we’ll probably be in a mega church, though!

What did Jesus say about church size?  “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”  (Matthew 18:20)