Announcement

Collapse

Deeper Waters Forum Guidelines

Notice – The ministries featured in this section of TheologyWeb are guests of this site and in some cases not bargaining for the rough and tumble world of debate forums, though sometimes they are. Additionally, this area is frequented and highlighted for guests who also very often are not acclimated to debate fora. As such, the rules of conduct here will be more strict than in the general forum. This will be something within the discretion of the Moderators and the Ministry Representative, but we simply ask that you conduct yourselves in a manner considerate of the fact that these ministries are our invited guests. You can always feel free to start a related thread in general forum without such extra restrictions. Thank you.

Deeper Waters is founded on the belief that the Christian community has long been in the shallow end of Christianity while there are treasures of the deep waiting to be discovered. Too many in the shallow end are not prepared when they go out beyond those waters and are quickly devoured by sharks. We wish to aid Christians to equip them to navigate the deeper waters of the ocean of truth and come up with treasure in the end.

We also wish to give special aid to those often neglected, that is, the disabled community. This is especially so since our founders are both on the autism spectrum and have a special desire to reach those on that spectrum. While they are a special emphasis, we seek to help others with any disability realize that God can use them and that they are as the Psalmist says, fearfully and wonderfully made.

General TheologyWeb forum rules: here.
See more
See less

Are We Preaching Down?

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Are We Preaching Down?

    Do our messages have any meat?

    Link

    -----

    Is it good to reach the lowest common denominator? Let’s plunge into the Deeper Waters and find out.

    I was thinking recently about the way sermons go in churches. Most of the time when I attend a church and hear a sermon, it’s really basic stuff every time. Normally, we think that we don’t want to go too deep. After all, we don’t want to confuse seekers that are coming in wondering what Christianity is about.

    Now I understand the concern. You don’t want to go over people’s heads. However, I think w have overdone it. I am not saying you get up in the pulpit and act like you’re talking to PhDs. I remember once hearing about William Lane Craig speaking at the National Conference on Christian Apologetics and how many of us are educated at the conference, but it was said afterwards that only two people in the audience understood everything said.

    But if we keep staying at a low level, we give nothing for people who want something deeper. Sometimes people who are seeking and wanting to know about Christianity want to know if it has any substance to it. Does it have anything worth saying to the world today? If we go and hear a sermon that is largely just self-help and how to treat your fellow man, well there’s a place for that, but most people can get that at the bookstore even in secular books.

    Some people might wonder about those who do want to know the basics of Christianity. Here’s an idea. Let that be in a class a pastor or a church leader can regularly lead. If you want to know the basics and just that, then have a remedial class on Christianity where that is where you go and give the basic information.

    Sermons need to have some depth to them. Church leaders in the past were normally highly intellectual and educated. This wasn’t just in theology, but in many other subject matters at the time. Education was prized as something valuable to have.

    In the pulpit, we should be going deeper. We need to give people something they won’t get just anywhere else. We need to give them something they would not get on their own basic study. A pastor is paid not just to speak an hour every Sunday. He is paid for duties outside of that like counseling, church visitation, but also so he can be free to study and provide for his own family without having to do extra work. That time is meant for him to get the best stuff he can find on his subject so he can give it to his church members.

    Here’s something to consider to measure if you’re a pastor how well you’re doing. Contact the people of your church on Tuesday and individually ask them what the sermon was about. How many of them remember? I suspect few will remember. Ask them about what happened in their favorite TV show or sporting event the prior week though and they will tell you. There was more for them to remember there. If people find something worth remembering, they will make an effort to remember it. If they don’t, they won’t. If they don’t remember what you said in your sermons, it could be because you didn’t say anything worth remembering. Heck. There are times I forget what the sermon was about before Sunday is over.

    If you don’t give your congregation anything to think about, they won’t. Give them something about Jesus they won’t find in basic Bible study. Give them something that you got from your years of Seminary. Show them that you yourself are a real student of Scripture. For those who are wanting the basics, set up a class for that.

    People generally become the way you talk to them. If you talk down to them, they will become that. If you treat them like they are capable of learning, they will become that as well. If we want a church that has intellectual grounding, we need to talk to the people like they’re capable of it.

    Talk up to your congregation and not down to them. They’re capable.

    In Christ,
    Nick Peters
    (And I affirm the virgin birth)

  • #2
    I absolutely agree. We need to preaching the deep things of the gospel so people will get past the milk stage and mature in their faith.

    And the contemporary music in the churches reflects the lack of depth of the teaching.


    Securely anchored to the Rock amid every storm of trial, testing or tribulation.

    Comment


    • #3
      The Church I congregate with struggled with this issue for a long time. We are of the Central American Church, my congregation (Centro Bíblico El Camino/ Bible Center The Way) in particular resolved this by giving two kinds of sermons: The first sermon at around 10:00 am is understood as basic lessons, nothing terribly deep, but excellent for a basic understanding of Christ's teachings, the milk. The second sermon at around 12:00ish pm is focused on more deeper and complex knowledge called "Vida Profunda" (Deep Life in Spanish), the meat. Sometimes it involves discussion where members speak and interact with the subject due to small numbers (usually around 20-40 folks, good number for dialogue). The second sermon usually has fewer attendance, but it's all good, and it has allowed our church to cover both levels of understanding, and our congregants understand and respect those differences in understanding amongst members without becoming condensating to other members and allows genuine choice. Good system.

      And yeah, I tend to skip out on the 1st sermon, and usually stick around for the 2nd, heheheheheh.
      Ladino, Guatemalan, Hispanic, and Latin, but foremostly, Christian.
      As of the 1st of December, 2020, officially anointed as this:

      "Seinfeld had its Soup Nazi. Tweb has its Taco Nazi." - Rogue06 , https://theologyweb.com/campus/forum...e3#post1210559

      Comment


      • #4
        I guess I shouldn't hope that a sermon will be as meaty as a college level Theology/Christianity class at a good Christian college? Because those were great! And then sermons are mostly milk....
        If it weren't for the Resurrection of Jesus, we'd all be in DEEP TROUBLE!

        Comment


        • #5
          Originally posted by Christianbookworm View Post
          I guess I shouldn't hope that a sermon will be as meaty as a college level Theology/Christianity class at a good Christian college? Because those were great! And then sermons are mostly milk....
          Well, I wouldn't give up hope to much. A sermon can be deep but doesn't necessarily need to "emulate" something like Seminary Lecture from a Christian College, but one can still find some substantial stuff. Some congregations and denominations can be fairly deep as I have seen from some Catholic and Orthodox Sermons. Some Protestants ones (mostly Lutheran, Anglican, and Presbyterian) tend to lean on the more intellectual side of the spectrum in my experience.

          There may be something out there.
          Ladino, Guatemalan, Hispanic, and Latin, but foremostly, Christian.
          As of the 1st of December, 2020, officially anointed as this:

          "Seinfeld had its Soup Nazi. Tweb has its Taco Nazi." - Rogue06 , https://theologyweb.com/campus/forum...e3#post1210559

          Comment


          • #6
            At least the Pastor at my church engages in exegesis instead of eisegesis. It's more Sunday school that seems on a high school level...
            If it weren't for the Resurrection of Jesus, we'd all be in DEEP TROUBLE!

            Comment

            Related Threads

            Collapse

            Topics Statistics Last Post
            Started by Apologiaphoenix, 03-15-2024, 10:19 PM
            14 responses
            74 views
            1 like
            Last Post rogue06
            by rogue06
             
            Started by Apologiaphoenix, 03-13-2024, 10:13 PM
            6 responses
            60 views
            0 likes
            Last Post Apologiaphoenix  
            Started by Apologiaphoenix, 03-12-2024, 09:36 PM
            1 response
            23 views
            0 likes
            Last Post rogue06
            by rogue06
             
            Started by Apologiaphoenix, 03-11-2024, 10:19 PM
            0 responses
            22 views
            2 likes
            Last Post Apologiaphoenix  
            Started by Apologiaphoenix, 03-08-2024, 11:59 AM
            3 responses
            44 views
            0 likes
            Last Post whag
            by whag
             
            Working...
            X