IS SKPIING CHURCH A GOOD THING?

From Charles Stone ...

Is Skipping Church Good for your Soul?

September 6, 2011 in body care,Pastors with 8 Comments

I’m a pastor. Pastors are supposed to go to church. So I go to church, several times each week. I’ve done that for decades. I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve missed church by choice. This past weekend I added to that handful of misses. I skipped church.
My daughter had come to visit us over the Labor Day weekend and I scheduled one of our other pastors to preach at the weekend services. We took a long weekend at a lake house about 50 miles from our home.
The last time we took a long weekend we all went to church, a very boring one. This time however, I simply decided I wouldn’t go. To be frank, I felt a tinge of guilt because my wife will tell you I’m always the one pushing us to go to church while on vacation.

But for some odd reason, I didn’t push us this time.

So what did I do that Sunday morning? I sat in a swing and read my bible. I cut some dead limbs off a tree. I chatted with a neighbor. I exercised on my treadmill. I practiced the art of ‘slowing.’ And I really liked it.
Although I’m deeply committed to the local church and won’t make skipping a habit, I leaned a few valuable lessons.

1. My church truancy reminded me that pastors’ schedules keep us from normal weekends that most families experience. Sundays (and Saturdays if you hold services) are our biggest work days. But, it’s not all about me and I will gladly stay faithful to God’s calling.
2. Those not in vocational ministry will never understand this sacrificial part of our profession because when they want to skip church, they easily do with no repercussions. And when they do, most don’t even think twice about skipping.
3. An occasional ‘break from the Sunday routine’ can refresh a pastor’s soul.
4. I now understand how hard it would be for someone who has seldom attended church to give up his Sunday mornings and start attending. I truly enjoyed having Sundays free.
5. Number 3 above reminded me that we pastors must craft compelling, Spirit-led services if we are to entice the unchurched to attend and keep attending. What they experience at church must be worth the price of giving up their relaxing mornings at home, at the lake, or at the ballpark. We may only get one shot.
6. Pastors need  a sabbath too. Since Sunday’s aren’t ours, we must prioritize another day for rest. I take Monday’s off and I was reminded that I must truly rest on that day

SUBSTANCE NEGLECT

by Stephen L. Dunn

It's Thursday evening and my sermon is half done (no, I didn't say "half-baked."). Most weeks Monday is my Sermon and Study Day and I try to start gathering the notes, the exegetical discoveries, the illustrations that I have been collecting and begin to put it into a coherent and preachable form. Because of some pressing church business I did not do this until Tuesday, but having done so, Thursday night has arrived and I am fairly close to having something that is preachable.  I'll spend some more time with the message at some point Saturday.  Barring a last minute inspiration from the Spirit, Sunday morning will arrive with my "manuscript" notes complete, needing only a quick review over breakfast before stepping into the pulpit.

There is a popular misconception that good worship trumps poor preaching.  I once was asked to speak in Haiti for a conference only to have my sermon cancelled two days in a row because people had been so into the worship experience that they had run out of time for the sermon,  In the US, however, much of what passes for worship is more emotive than revelatory.  People coming away feeling uplifted is considered the most important thing in the worship event.

I am still traditional enough to think that the sermon is the critical element or pivotal act in a worship service.  For the sermon helps the worshiper focus on the message that the God people have come to worship intends the disciple to take away with them.  Remember, worship in Romans 12:1-2 is spoken of within the context of renewing our mind by discovering the mind of Christ.

But here's the rub.  Having defended the primary place of preaching in a worship service, I have to ask.  Is the message that you have prepared worthy of that place?  Is your sermon basically some popularized form of moral therapeutic deism or is it the Word of God?  Is the sermon substantive or is it so much religious fluff?  Is it grounded in a serious study of the Word, bathed in prayer, and reflective of the working of the Holy Spirit or did you just identify an opinion or personal preference that is dominating your thought these days and now intend to dignify it by declaring it to be "a word from the Lord?"  Has your relationship with the Lord and your attention to His presence and work been the source of the message? Or have you found something interesting, clever or relevant and are now asking God to baptize with His "amen."

When I stand before the people of God, I quite often utter this prayer in a public way, "May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be Your Words to Your beloved that I now have the privilege to share."

(C) 2011 by Stephen L. Dunn

WHEN YOU ARE IN DEEP WATER

WHEN YOU ARE IN DEEP WATER

 Reading: 2 Corinthians 12:9

Lately I have struggled to find the passion and focus to do the job I believe God has called me to do.

My calling is to reconcile people to God, to connect them to Christ's saving grace; to experience the transformed life that comes from a personal relationship with Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.  I carry out this calling within the context of being the Lead Pastor of the Church of God of Landisville.  That job carries the awesome responsibility of helping a church follow God's vision and to equip it for a future of faithfulness to God and fruitfulness for the kingdom.  In that role, it is essential that I take the long view of the church's mission. It requires me to work proactively for the church's long-term effectiveness and not consuming all my time and energy and simply reacting to the latest crisis or making sure everyone is happy in the moment. The reality is that you cannot make anyone happy. Happiness is a choice.  And people-pleasing is particularly warned against by God's Word. As a leader and pastor, I must make decisions that are in the best interest of the body even when individuals want to operate from a very personal place.

Much of the past several weeks has been consumed with putting out fires created by people who, either #1 don't take the long view and now are in a crisis that they want to make yours, #2 think their happiness is more important than the church's effectiveness, or #3 are generally miserable and prefer to be miserable by living on their own terms instead of finding peace and joy by living on God's terms.  And then there are people who hate for the be any problems and want me to make all of those other people's problems go away.

Pastors call this the dark side of ministry. And if you go there and dwell there long enough, your passion drains away, you simply operate by reacting to what happens next, and leave little time for what God told you was important but what men do not think is as important.

In these times, you know you are in over your head, and just start paddling just to stay afloat, let alone actually get somewhere.  Being a pastor can be a lonely place at those times--for few people understand that struggle and a whole lot of people never know anyway and therefore don't provide the help needed.  Although they are still disturbed by the people you haven't managed to fix.

It is a place of weakness for most pastors.  But it is also a place where we must keep our focus.  When you are in deep water you need to trust the One who walked on water.  And this verse becomes the reality thayt ultimately reignites a pastor's passion and renew his focus.

But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me." - 2 Corinthians 12:9.

(C) 2011 by Stephen L Dunn

This post was originally published on the devotional blog THRIVING IN CHRIST

ENCOURAGING YOUR AUDIENCE

From one of Sermon Central's contributors comes this important counsel:

Everyone needs encouragement.  We need it as preachers.  So we shouldn’t be surprised if our listeners do, too!  And yet, strangely, something that everyone needs, and everyone acknowledges is needed, seems to be strangely absent in a significant amount of preaching.  Let me encourage you to encourage people as you preach.

Don’t think exhortation is encouragement. 

There is a need for exhortation, but people need to be encouraged, too.  Exhorting involves persuasion and a hint of rebuke, but encouragement injects hope, confidence and life.

Don’t think guilt is encouragement.  

To put it simply, it is not.  Guilting people into conformity is a shortcut that may yield results, but it will be short-lived and counter-productive.  Allow guilt to come by the conviction of the Spirit, but don’t add guilt where guilt is not the issue—that is a form of legalism.

Don’t think that enthusiasm is encouragement.  

Your enthusiasm may be contagious, but people may sit impressed by your passion, yet not feel encouraged in their own.  Think through how to invest rather than simply demonstrate enthusiasm in your preaching.
There are other things we may offer and think we are being encouraging.  But consider both your passage and your listeners: how can this be preached in a way that will encourage them?  Robinson talks about the need for ten encouraging messages for every one rebuke.  It is so counterproductive when we get that ratio reversed.  Be encouraged as you read the Word, and look to share that encouragement as encouragement!

Peter Mead

BiblicalPreaching.net

Cor Deo

Peter Mead is involved in church leadership at an independent Bible church in the UK. He serves as director of Cor Deo—an innovative mentored ministry training program—and has a wider ministry preaching and training preachers. He also blogs often at BiblicalPreaching.net.

DO WE TALK TOO MUCH?

"... it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe." I Corinthians 1:21
Preaching is an integral part to the ministry of reconciliation and life-transformation given to the church of Jesus Christ.  Some of us have the particular calling to fill that role within the Body, to be the preacher.
Preaching is sometimes considered out-dated or even a detriment.  "I appreciate that you don't preach to me," a man used to say to me often.  When I would protest that indeed, I was preaching to him, he would respond, "No, you're teaching me and there's a lot I need to learn."  He was playing a semantics game. I was preaching; but part of me understood where he was coming from.  There are a whole lot of preachers who have a lot to say, who do not say it well, and who do not say it out love. What they preach is foolishness.

But as a preacher by profession, I often find myself asking important evaluation questions.  One of them is, "Did I share God's Word today for God's people, or was a baptizing my own opinions by expressing them from a pulpit.'  I often precede the preaching event with a prayer, "LORD, I pray that today the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart are YOUR words from YOUR heart to the people YOU love."

But another question I often ask is, "Was this message too long or did it try to say too much?"  In seminary we used to be warned to preach the gospel in every message by not to preach the whole gospel in a single message.  The implication is clear -- too much preaching is unfocused and too many sermons are too long to be of genuine impact.

I once asked a group of sixty year old's how long a sermon should be.  "Twenty minutes" was the response.  It was a predictable response because these same people believed a worship service should only last sixty minutes. Their idea of a worship gathering was that it was a religious duty that they were obligated to be a part of--but it should be well-defined, predictable, and have boundaries.  My sermon should have plenty of Bible, not delve into too many difficult topics.  Three points and a good story made up a good sermon--and yo ought to be able to do that in 20 minutes.

I also asked one of my sons-in-law who was in his twenties and fairly new to his faith the same question.  His response, "If it has depth and substance, and is the real deal, I can listen to a sermon for 40 minutes; but if it's simple Sunday School stuff and not about my Christian life then ten minutes is too long."

He had heard too many preachers who spent a lot of time telling him from the pulpit what he had already heard in Sunday School and he craved something deeper.  He had also heard enough sermons where preachers weren't really focused on the Word of God or where the Word was sort of lost in a lot of personal anecdotes and insignificant comments that they had little application for the life he was trying to live as the real deal, an authentic disciple of Jesus Christ.

So here's the question - do we as preacher talk too much when we don't have anything to say?

(C) 2011 by Stephen L Dunn

THE LIGHTER SIDE OF PREACHING

 

IS YOUR PREACHING TOO DEEP OR TOO SHALLOW

Most of us who are conscientious about our preaching ask ourselves the question, "Is this too deep or to shallow?" If we don't ask the question of ourselves, someone, usually someone with a strong opinion, will ask the question for us.  It is not a question that can be asked in a vacuum. We must take into account the congregation with which we are communicating - their needs, their maturity, their biblical understanding. Craig Groeschel, writing for Sermon Central, has some helpful insights on this question:

Is Your Preaching Too Deep or Too Shallow?

by Craig Groeschel

Many of us were taught that to reach people today, we have to make our sermons simple, practical, and relevant. While I agree that all three qualities are important, we must never forget they all must be spiritual to change lives!

In our efforts to reach people far from God, some pastors with good intentions are perhaps making messages too shallow.

When people come to church today, I believe they truly want to know what the Bible says. There seems to be a genuine hunger for God’s Word. Even if a curious non-Christian attends church, most want to hear a biblical message rather than a self-help and feel-good sermonette.

Our American churches today are sadly filled with many biblically illiterate people. Many truly want to learn more. Most prefer to be challenged rather than babied.

Ultimately, it doesn’t matter what people want. If sin separates people from God, we can’t be afraid to preach about sin, the cross, and the resurrection.

The other extreme can also be dangerous. We have to equally guard against our sermons being too deep.

Some pastors are hypercritical of those who aren’t deep. But sometimes deep can equal boring or irrelevant.

I love studying the meaning of Greek and Hebrew words and find sharing some with the church to be very helpful. But an overuse of the original languages can become dull.

Similarly, the history and context of a chapter is also often important. Sometimes, though, a pastor can spend so much time in the deep end that people drown in unimportant facts.

Two years ago, a very intelligent pastor moved into my community. Many of my friends attend his church. His sermons are so intellectually deep that the average person can’t track with him. His church has lost about 40% of its weekend attendance.

Several people approached him and asked if he could make the messages easier for them to understand. He adamantly opposed, explaining that he’d never "dumb down" God’s word. While I admire his passion, I think he lacks wisdom.

Those who truly have the gift of teaching must guard against over-teaching a text.
Is your preaching too deep or too shallow? What do you struggle with the most?