How many times have I listened to a pastor preach and critiqued his content, style, delivery, illustrations, etc instead of listening to what God has laid on their heart to share? I'm finding more and more that this is happening in my life. The way that most of the western churches are set up is that things revolve around the preaching; prayer, scripture reading, worship through music all lead up to the main event - the sermon. This is not necessarily bad, but it has, in its own way, created a consumerist-style of receiving a message; we sit down and receive a (often three-point) lecture, the pastor gets down, we sing a song (sometimes) and leave. There is very little interaction within the congregation which leads us to look for a place where the preaching is the best.
I believe that good preaching is very foundational to corporate worship however, with the ability to subscribe to Podcasts from people like Mark Driscoll, Rick Warren, Rob Bell, Bill Hybels, etc we are able to listen to some VERY gifted communicators. It doesn't matter for this point if you don't agree with or like the content of these people's sermons, my point is that you are able to listen to people who can communicate very very well and listen to them on a regular basis. I'm left pondering if this is healthy for proper church (read: community of believers). Yes, in many cases, the theology is bang on and it's pretty good stuff, but is it beneficial to the body?
I have been listening to some of these high quality speakers (well, not lately because school has been keeping me busy) and am left wondering if I am becoming jaded against my church and pastoral staff because I am now holding them to the same standard of communication that I am taking in on an almost daily basis. Is it better to turn off the Podcasts and focus on being an more active and participatory member in the local body? Join a small group? Teach adult/children Sunday school? Become a Youth Sponsor?
Don't read that I am against further education - I plan on always being active in furthering my knowledge through schooling, books, confrences, etc - but is my diet of professional communicators limiting my gratefulness for my local pastoral team? How about you?
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A few comments... One I think that your studies have probably deconstructed sermons for you and it makes it harder to take the whole thing as a package (of course I could be wrong on this)
9:46 AMSecond, yes I think you should turn the podcast off. I recently was in a similar boat, accept the podcast made me critical about everything-they weren't sermons but Christian talk radio (Wretched Radio). I realized that, even though it was beneficial in some ways, the critical spirit it gave me was enough to stop listening.
Are these podcasts bad, no... by no means. But if you are finding this negative response because of it, then I would encourage you to take that time to read scripture more, be more involved in your Church and not allow your mind to compare to what other preachers do or how they speak.
Lastly, not everyone can be a Mark Driscoll, John Piper, MacCarther, Hybels, Warren, Bell... though I find it funny to have all those names together... but that is another post altogether. If your pastor is being faithful to the word and preaching it biblically, then you need to see the worth in that. The preacher giants are not the norm, and yes it is hard to not be captivated wanting all of us to be like them.
Can you indulge in them for a taste of great preaching, yes. But I think if that is deterring you from the local Church and its ministry... probably best to focus your efforts in how you can support, encourage and be involved in your local body of believers. Also, try not to focus so much on the structure, but the people and there lives together in and out of the service... that always helps me.
PS if this structure is a major bother to you later down the road, maybe you are being lead to start a house Church... just a thought.
I remember Ortberg joking about the ability people have to compare preaching now. He imagined some one saying "Have you heard Luther? His Wittenberg Door stuff is just amazing."
7:00 PMI wonder if we are not headed for a new wave of House Churches which rely on a handful of communicators globally and do the work of contextualization themselves? The church becomes more relational, incarnational, and better taught. Or more consumerist?
Nathan, I sure hope that it doesn't lead to a just a few world-wide leaders! With the Holy Spirit and the Bible, we have the ability to really get into the meat of the scriptures without having to rely on just a few people who we have 'granted authority' to chew up the meat the Bible and regurgitate it back to us. If all we ever do is rely on a preacher for our Biblical teaching, spiritual maturity will ever take place and we'd be stuck on milk forever (something I think many North American churches have been doing for quite some time now).
6:14 AMIf you're still hungry for leadership books - you NEED to check out Organic Leadership by Neil Cole. (also check out Organic Church by him)
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