So in the last entry, I had a little nudge at reconsidering the altar call.
I thought that would be it for the time being in terms of reconsidering certain staple parts of the Christian lifestyle.
So much for that thought.
I heartily recommend having a read over at Eric’s Progress looking at The Sermon. (He writes so well, you’ll find it easy to follow. Though not necessarily easy to digest if you’re … errrrr … comfortable with the status quo.)
Most Christian fellowships I am aware of arrange a weekly meeting for their members (and sometimes for visitors) that is built up in such a way that the headline act is the sermon. By sermon, I refer to one person in front of the crowd talking to/at the crowd in a monologue format. I wouldn’t think it’s too much to suggest that the gathering of the saints in a lot of circles is sermon-centred.
It is all I’ve known in terms of church gatherings, with a few exceptions.
Eric takes a sledgehammer to this approach to gatherings and smashes it to smithereens. He really does. I almost read him doing it with relish, but that’s me reading into it, rather than reflecting his sincere efforts to highlight some serious disciple-making hinderances in the sermon.
These are not new arguments to me.
For at least the last four years I’ve been questioning the role of the sermon in a body of people that’s meant to be about mutual edification when we meet. I’m not in a position to effect change (yet) where I currently share communal gatherings, but it’s certainly something I hope we can explore together.
Yet that is something I want to do – explore it together. Eric makes some salient points on why the sermon is a huge barrier to effectively making disciples. One key area of his contention, is this statement.
Interestingly, there is not even one example in scripture of a sermon being preached to a church. Not even one! As for the oft quoted “Preach the word!” from Paul to Timothy, the apostle’s point was for Timothy to proclaim the truth of the gospel in the midst of false teaching within the Ephesian church. There is no suggestion whatsoever that Timothy was a pastor in Ephesus or that he was supposed to deliver a monologue speech to the church family there.
I hope you get the ground-breaking point to which Eric alludes. Scripture does not make the fuss that we do about having sermon-centred gatherings. If the New Testament doesn’t make a big deal about it, why should we?
Of course I could have missed something – hence the need to explore it together. If you can offer something to support the sermon-centred status quo, please feel free to leave a comment.
For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
C. L. J. Dryden
Life With CD 