The world we live in is flat. Clergy and laity is an evil distinction. Vertical communication and control from the top down is passé. The tsunami of social media and Internet access is threatening to sweep away the church as we know it in its deafening torrent of relevant collaboration, free expression, and deep data mining. In its wake will remain the scattered splinters of unyielding resistance strewn along the banks of its historical wreckage. Mr. Pastor Man, you’d better listen up because this isn’t going away.
Can you research commentaries? So can we. You can quote Greek words and their definitions? So can we. Everything you can do, we can do: faster and more comprehensively; and we are able to know any and everything about you and publish it to our world. You collect our money to maintain your shrine’s empire and prepare your boring monologues. We know and share for free on our Smartphones.
The era when you are the mouth and we are the ears is over. Technology is forcing you to return to a biblical relevancy of interactive relational mentoring: dialogue. By dialogue, appeal is made to truth as the basis of belief, bringing about a change of mind by influence of reason and moral considerations.
Dialogue, not monologue, is the pattern. “Reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God” –Acts 19:8. “And according to Paul’s custom, he reasoned/dialogued with them from the Scriptures, explaining and giving evidence that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead” -Acts 17:2-4.
“Paul began to discourse/dialogue/converse/reason with them and prolonged his word until midnight” –Acts 20:7. The Lord Jesus’ pattern of teaching took place by interactive spontaneous dialogue. His longest uninterrupted message was in Matthew 5-7, taking only 18 minutes to speak.
Your monologues and doctrines, first produce sterility and then eventuate in revolt. By those means, people considered as inferior by the church professionals, are not expected to reason and conclude for themselves. They are to simply repeat what came to them as an authoritative but foreign idea. They may submit, but they are not convinced. Thus, when the program is over, they revert back to former ways.
Reason, engage, and solicit the reflections of men. Set before them the ideal of Christ and ever urge progress towards that by fixing our eyes upon Him. Christ will never leave them and will continue to engage them long after you, the messenger, have departed.
But this won’t happen unless you trash your sermons and engage in dialogue from the Word of God. But you “Pastors” will never do this. You are too proud and you fear exposure from the light of the Scriptures. The alternative? We abandon your unbiblical and empty church-shrine and leave you to man the helm alone till it runs aground on the rocks of biblical irrelevancy. Oh, did we say biblical relevancy?
Yeah, we did. Check out the dynamics of “church” in Acts 15; and we quote:
“Certain men taught…dissension and dispute…describing…reporting…some rose up, saying…much dispute…rose and said…listened…declaring…became silent…answered…listen…then it pleased the apostles and elders, with the whole church…teaching and preaching…with many others also…strengthening the churches.” They dialogued because truth fears no error; error always fears truth.
Sound like your typical Sunday morning routine? We don’t think so. We’re tired of your man-made programs where you are the head and we are the tail. Better throw your the sermons into the dust bin.
Better begin true discipleship and real participatory fellowship where every spiritual priest has something to contribute. Better welcome and return to the Bible’s pattern: “What should you do then, brethren? When you gather together, each one has a song, has a lesson/teaching, has a revelation; let all these things be done for the strengthening and building up of the church” -1 Corinthians 14:26. “Two or three prophets should speak and the others should judge/evaluate what is said. For you can all prophesy one after another, so all can learn and be encouraged and exhorted” -1 Corinthians 14:29,31.
Otherwise, you will be blowing your sermons into thin air, echoing hollowly to now abandoned benches. We will abandon your shrines and then your sermons will be where they belong: in the dust bin.