Go ahead and take a poll of numerous Christians. Ask them what the most important thing is that a pastor does. If you do this, I guarantee that the runaway number one answer will be, "He preaches."
This is a fascinating phenomenon in light of the fact that the New Testament doesn't provide even one example of pastors preaching. Not even one! The sad reality is that the current situation of pastors preaching week after week is based in man's traditions, not in scripture. As they say in the South: it is what it is.
Preaching is the primary way that pastors earn their paychecks. Of course they do many other things, but the primary one is preaching. Just look at the poll results. The main "work" he does is study for hours each week and then preach the sermon(s).
This arrangement guarantees that sermons aren't going away any time soon. The people in the pews believe the pastor should preach, and the pastor needs a paycheck to live. There's a sort of co-dependant thing going on there.
Regardless, the pastor's need to pay his bills is just one more reason that we should not expect sermons to go extinct any time in the near future.
2 comments:
God is so patient. We (I) am so far from the ideal.
I find that our bodies & minds are even designed in such a way that we learn the best when it's NOT a sermon. I think everybody knows this. University are learning it and even doing what they can to change things. On the rare occasion when I have to sit through a typical Sunday sermon.... I am amazed at how hard it is to pay attention. Our bodies & minds need new information in environment to stay engaged. When who is talking is being moved around the room - we stay engaged. If it's the same stimulus - even if it's a lot of shouting - if it's the same voice, same place, same intake - we can't stay engaged for more than 10 (?) minutes. Intriguing that even our bodies & minds seem to be MADE for community.
When our eyes shift - it's a new voice, new dialect, accent, new place in the room - the new visual stimulation helps our memory.
I know that I'm also a very visual person - so maybe that has a lot to do with what I'm saying.
But I think I'm finally at the point where I can say, "whatever" and just focus on what the Lord has called US to do and just not even think about what others are doing.
The most expensive ministry in the whole world is making sure each American believer gets a Bible lecture every Sunday. So with this reality American believers are saying it is far more important that they hear 500 or 1000 or even 2000+ Bible lectures than it is for someone to hear the gospel even once where there is no one to give it to them. Some studies say 90% of what is given to the work of God is spent in America. This is solo foolish for the kingdom of God. America is spiritually needy but the current system is making the need greater. There are millions of believers who are equipped by the current system to give the gospel to no one in America. It makes for a mere trickle of resources to even make it outside the church door.
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