From Performance Healing to Performance Ministry

A master of showmanship, McPherson also used dramatic spectacle to convey her gospel and gain new adherents. In this capacity, McPherson’s prior experience with healing the sick and performing miraculous cures came into play.  The sheer drama of curing the sick, or even temporarily alleviating the pain of a suffering follower, was enough to fill local churches and open-air pavilions.  In the earliest days of her ministry, McPherson relied heavily on the dramatic effects of these healings to gather support and an audience. As her ministry evolved, McPherson realized that a sense of drama would be vital for sustaining interest and gathering new converts.  Translating the performance of healing into the performance of 20^th century evangelism, McPherson revolutionized the relationship between mainstream cultural conventions and traditional Christianity.

Utilizing her dramatic talents and making use of props and costumes in theatrical displays, McPherson enlivened the Foursquare gospel for her audience. In offering a sermon entitled “Arrested for Speeding,” McPherson roared onto the Angelus Temple stage on a motorcycle, and completed the act fully decked out in a police officer uniform.  In a retelling of a parable about Jesus searching for his lost flock, McPherson had a fully grown sheep brought onstage (McPherson originally intended to use a small lamb, but the Hollywood movie animal supplier she used mistakenly brought the fully-grown version). These methods, while often over the top, served McPherson’s purposes well for she realized that traditional Christian ministry was “too archaic, too sedate and too lifeless ever to capture the interest of the throngs.” She explained in her 1927 autobiography that she “developed methods which have brought hundreds of thousands to meetings who otherwise would never have come…Religion, to thrive in the present day, must utilize present-day methods. The methods change with the years, but the religion remains the same.”[1]

McPherson’s performances and theatrics also made her gospel accessible to a broad public. Clear and entertaining, visual and dynamic, McPherson’s morals were lively and simple to understand. The theatrics of her sermons illustrated key points of her sermons and overall message. Paring down Christian theology to its essentials, McPherson provided her followers with an upbeat and pleasurable church-going experience. Taking a cue from the popularity of Hollywood films and entertainment, McPherson crafted a charming and amusing weekly spectacle for her enthusiastic audience. In this way, McPherson’s sought to brand her ministry, advertising her gospel as an easy and accessible brand of Christianity that emphasized a compassionate Lord over a wrathful God.