Is Your Faith Forming Disciples—or just Fans?

So much of modern life has become entertainment. Even work, once rooted in necessity,  now often revolves around creating or delivering content designed to entertain.This cultural shift hasn’t just shaped how we live and play; it has begun to reshape how we pray and proclaim. 

Scroll through social media and you’ll see it: reels of Catholic content creators choreographing dances to devotional songs, punchy clips of priests delivering pithy one-liners, or podcast banter crafted to sound more like late-night talk shows than sacred formation. It’s not that these things are wrong. Some of them are genuinely effective. But there’s a growing temptation in ministry to entertain before we evangelize, and impress before we form.

We don’t need to look far to see this playing out in real time. Many large Protestant churches have leaned heavily into this model. They have crafted Sunday services with professional-level lighting, emotionally charged music, and TED Talk-style sermons. These things draw crowds, no doubt, and often with sincere intentions. But the danger is subtle: when faith becomes a product and worship becomes a show, we risk forming consumers instead of disciples.

The Catholic world isn’t immune. We too can fall into the trap of choosing what’s engaging over what’s enriching. Youth nights can become hangouts and pizza, with a short “God Talk” tacked on. Online ministry can devolve into chasing clicks rather than cultivating conversion. Even liturgy can suffer, tempted toward performance instead of intimate unison prayer.

This is not a new temptation. In fact in Jesus’ earthly ministry he encountered many people who wanted to be entertained rather than be fed spiritually. In (Luke 23:8) King Herod is a prime example of this. When Jesus was brought before him, Herod was excited–not to hear the Word of God, but to see a miracle. “He has long desired to see him… hoping to see some sign done by him.” Herod wanted entertainment, not encounter. But Jesus refused to perform. He gave Herod nothing. No show, no sign, just silence.

In that silence is a lesson for the Church today. Jesus doesn’t cater to curiosity. He calls us to conversion. He doesn’t form fans. He forms apostles.

Discipleship is not glamorous. It’s slow. It’s sacrificial. It involves suffering, accountability, commitment, and trust. That’s a hard sell in an entertainment-driven world, but it’s what the Gospel demands. Jesus didn’t say “ Come and be amused.” He didn’t echo Commodus in Gladiator, shouting, “Are you not entertained?” after performing a miracle. Rather He said, “Take up your cross and follow me.” (Matthew 16:24).

If we’re serious about forming disciples, we have to recover the lost art of discipleship. That means grounding our evangelization efforts not in trends but in truth. It means trusting that the Gospel doesn’t need to be dressed up to be powerful. It means reminding people that the Church is not here to entertain. It’s here to evangelize, sanctify, and send.

Let us not form spiritual consumers who spectate. Let us form disciples–men and women who first meet Christ, then proclaim Him to the ends of the earth. Those who approach faith only for the feeling or entertainment are like the crowds on Palm Sunday: shouting “Hosanna in the highest” one day, and “Crucify Him” the next. 

We risk the same instability when we reduce God to a production, a storyteller, or an inspiring art piece–instead of the Supreme Being who desires an intimate, transformative relationship with us. Jesus is not a suitor who wines and dines us. He is the Bridegroom who leads, protects, and calls for our humble submission. 

So how do we respond? We return to the slow work of true discipleship–one soul at a time. We resist the pressure to chase virality and instead choose fidelity. We form people not to spectate, but to pray deeply, serve faithfully, and suffer joyfully. Discipleship is not about being a performer–or a passive member in the audience. It’s about becoming a partaker in the divine nature–one who is conformed to Christ through prayer, sacrifice, and mission.

 We trust that the Gospel speaks for itself, even without a spotlight.The early Church grew not because it was trendy or because of production value, but because ordinary believers were transformed by the love of Christ. Set ablaze with that love, they were willing to carry that fire to others, no matter the cost.

We remind one another that Christ came not to entertain the world, but to redeem it. And in doing so, He calls each of us not to a stage, but to a cross. Therefore, let each of us examine our own hearts and evangelistic efforts, choosing the often-unseen path of the cross over the fleeting allure of entertainment. Let us embrace the quiet, sacrificial work of discipleship, trusting that it is here, in the shadows of the cross, that true transformation occurs. In following Him, we do not seek the applause of the world, but the peace that comes from a life faithfully lived in His service. 

To learn more about this topic, listen to the podcast episode:Consumers or Disciples?