What is Church Anyways? - Part 7
Ξ March 22nd, 2006 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Theology |
One of the best “uses” for Sunday morning services is teaching and fellowship. As I have dicussed there are many aspects of 1 Corinthians 14 that I don’t think work well in larger settings. There is something about group dynamics that just kind of make certain types of ministries less effective. Even those churches that do try and have personal prayer ministries and that kind of thing on a Sunday, usually set things up so that the people seeking ministry basically move to place where they are pretty much in a small group ( a prayer chapel or even a gathering at the front of the church). The difference would be that it would be a small group where people might not know each other all that well. I’ve even seen it where an alter call is made at the end of a service and those who have chosen not to respond simply leave the service and head home leaving behind a small group.
There are some things that work very well in large groups though. One of them is clearly teaching. Someone with a gift of teaching on his or her life is often very effective when teaching in a large group. I have been thoroughly engaged with speakers when I’ve been one of thousands sitting in the crowd.
Sundays provide a great opportunity for all the small groups within a body to come together and be taught together. Why is this important to do? Well, I think a shared vision and direction is critically important in a church body. I think that teachers are more than just someone who teaches. They are a form of leader because what they say has can lead someone to make decision about their lives. In this comes a great responsibility.
In this discussion comes some tough questions for teachers to ask themselves. Where are you leading people? Are people making life decisions based on the lessons you provide them with? I think teaching can be encouraging, or it can be challenging, or it can be both. Another question… Am I challenging the people I’m speaking to? Am I encouraging them?
Something I often struggle with, having been a Christian for as many years as I have, is the fact that I hear many of the same sermons over and over again. Take for example the story of the prodigal son. I have heard this story more times that I can count. I’ve heard teachers teachon the cultural significance of a son in those days asking for their inheritance early. I’m probably wrong, but I’m fairly convinced that there is nothing new to learn from that story. To be reminded of it from time to time can be helpful - this is true. But I’m at the stage where I can recall all of what that story is about by having a teacher simply say “Remember the prodical son?” This is enough for me to get the point. I don’t need to have it decoded for me once again. In fact with that particular story, I just about shut right down when I hear it because I’m just so tired of hearing the same thing about it over and over again.
Not to be hard on teachers but I think there is some responsibility here too. Surely it is valuable to teach on this story and any elementary Christian topic when new Christians are around, but what of value are you offering to the regulars that have heard it all? This is a tough balance to have in your teaching because a church with un-challenged and bored regulars will ultimately be a church that is generally uninspired. This will be a church that is crippled in Kingdom work because so few people in it are inspried to grow in their own personal callings. At the same time, a church that teaches WAY over the heads of any new folks that might come along is going to ineffective in some ways as well.
The bottom line is that there needs to be lots of opportunities for teaching. If it has been determined that there are usually lots of seekers present on a Sunday, then perhaps teaching that is guaged on a more elementary level is important. In this case though, it is very important that there is more advanced teaching being offered at different times. I’ll go so far as to say that it would be the responsibility of a church’s leadership to actually plan this thing out. If we are making our Sunday services seeker friendly, then we NEED to have some non seeker friendly gatherings where we have our teachers teach some of the more gritty stuff so that our regulars don’t go away week after week feeling unchallenged, bored and even discouraged. It is not the regular’s job to get themselves challenged, interested and encouraged. They are already coming to services. They are doing their job of being there. The leadership now need to take over and provide what is necessary for growth.
This being said, if a person regularly attends a church that simply refuses to provide teaching that engages them, then I think that person needs to move on and find a new place to meet. Though teacher bare a responsibility in providing useful teaching, there comes a point where we need to look out for ourselves as well.
I think its fair to say that every church will be different in this regard. The church leadership needs to get intentional about planning these things out so that there is a time and place for people at different faith levels to recieve the teaching they need in order to grow. Everyone needs to be tought regularly. I personally don’t think that it’s enough to get a relevant teaching only once a month. We need to be enganged on a weekly basis if at all possible. I think this almost always means that more than one weekly gathering is necessary.
Now what of small groups? Well this is one area that I feel teaching isn’t that effective. I think a bible study approach to learning is more effective. Some small groups might be fortunate to have a teacher in their midst. In this case, maybe having a teaching during their gatherings would be effective. However, when there are no teachers in a small group - a bible study format might work better in order to get some learning accomplished. By “bible study” I’m thinking of a format where the group will read the bible or some other text together and then discuss the passage together. The sharing amonst them will inevitably provide opportunities to learn from one another.