One of the most common questions I hear from pastors is this: What’s the difference between an attractional church model and a “Kenotic” model?
It’s an important question, and it’s one I believe gets to the heart of where God is calling the North American church to go.
Alan Hirsch once said that the attractional model has been around since Constantine, which means it’s been shaping church life for about 1,700 years. That sounds about right to me.
At its core, the attractional model is simple. We often associate it with flashing lights, high-quality music, and well-produced Sunday experiences, but those are just surface expressions. The deeper idea behind the attractional model is “come and see.”
In contrast, the “Kenotic” model is “go and tell.”
These are two completely different ways of being the church.
When I explain this, many people respond by saying, “Well, both are important.” And I agree that both have some scriptural grounding. But in practice, when a church operates primarily out of an attractional mindset, a lot of unintended consequences tend to follow.
The attractional church focuses much of its time, energy, and resources on itself. Some studies estimate that churches spend up to 90 percent of their budgets and volunteer hours on weekend gatherings. Even if that number is high, most churches easily spend half or more of their resources on the Sunday experience.
The goal is usually noble. A church might say, “We want to do Sunday with excellence because Jesus deserves our best.” That is true and beautiful. But the problem is what often happens next.
The attractional model assumes that if we can make our services good enough, engaging enough, and inspiring enough, people will be drawn to Jesus. So we invest heavily in making the experience as inviting as possible. We want guests to see how much we value God and how much we love worship. We hope that will make them open to faith.
But in the process, we risk confusing attraction with transformation.
People might be impressed by the quality of our programs or the friendliness of our people, but that is not the same thing as being drawn to Jesus.
And in our postmodern world, this approach can even backfire.
Many people today are skeptical of institutions, including the church. They see a congregation that pours most of its money and energy into itself while the world around it struggles. They notice the neighbor two houses down who just lost her job while the church is upgrading its lighting system.
That disconnect hurts our witness.
What was meant for good—what was designed to show excellence and honor God—can end up sending the wrong message. Instead of demonstrating the humility and self-giving love of Christ, we accidentally display self-interest and insulation from the needs of the world.
The attractional model can look productive because it fills seats and raises funds. But in a postmodern world, it often weakens the credibility of the church and the power of its witness.
The “Kenotic” model, on the other hand, looks very different. The word “”Kenotic”” comes from the Greek word kenosis, which means “to pour out.” It reflects the self-emptying love of Jesus described in Philippians 2.
In this model, the church doesn’t ask people to come and see. The church goes and serves. It goes into the world, not to perform but to embody the gospel through humility, love, and presence.
That is the model I believe God is calling the North American church back to. A church that pours itself out rather than builds itself up. A church that lives sent, not settled.
Because the goal has never been to attract people to a building.
The goal has always been to reflect Jesus to the world.
