The Sermon Driven Sunday (and why there's a better way)
9/1/2008
The stage is set, critical mass has been met, the opening band exits the stage (literally), and the moment has come – the pastor is about to speak. Quick, hush that crying baby, silence all cell phones, and pull out your pen and paper. This is what we all came for; this is the main event. This is what our Sunday’s are all about.
If you look at our Sunday morning services, our midweek gatherings, and almost every other program put on by the church it seems that the same thing always holds the trump card: the sermon.
Now, I don’t set this up to say that I think sermons are bad. I think they are a good and necessary part of learning and formation. I have both heard and given sermons that have changed my own life, and maybe even a few others. But the sermon is not the only part in formation. But in our programs, services, and gatherings it always feels like the pinnacle. It feels like everything else is just the set up or landing, but the sermon is the main event. The musician asks what songs to sing, the answer is the sermon theme. First comes the sermon, then comes everything else following in line.
But what if the sermon was taken off of its pedestal? What if the sermon was brought to equal playing ground and helped share the support, as opposed to being the thing that is supported. What if we crafted our programs and gatherings around a higher thought or idea and then everything else supported that; first comes the one idea for the day, then comes the sermon, the songs, the images, the sounds, and everything else (but not necessarily in that order).
Instead of a sermon driven Sunday we could have one idea that everything in our program or service upholds. Instead of one person’s words being the main event, we promote the supporting actors and actresses, giving them all an equal hand-hold on the formation of our students and community.
Why try and hit a home run every time when you can have a whole program that moves people from one base to the next, all working together for the same goal, all supporting one idea; different but equal methods all communicating the same message.
Which came first: the sermon or the Sunday? For the sake of the holistic formation of our students and communities, let the Sunday come first, and may our different methods (teaching, singing, small groups) all join together under one message.
Jim Kast-Keat is the Director of fifty6, the fifth and sixth grade ministry at Mars Hill Bible Church in Grandville, MI. He likes books, four square, and his wife. And he can play The Office theme on his accordion. He is also a huge proponent for ‘one idea programs’, giving every element equal weight in the communication and experience of the formation of his students. For more, check out www.jimkastkeat.com.
If you look at our Sunday morning services, our midweek gatherings, and almost every other program put on by the church it seems that the same thing always holds the trump card: the sermon.
Now, I don’t set this up to say that I think sermons are bad. I think they are a good and necessary part of learning and formation. I have both heard and given sermons that have changed my own life, and maybe even a few others. But the sermon is not the only part in formation. But in our programs, services, and gatherings it always feels like the pinnacle. It feels like everything else is just the set up or landing, but the sermon is the main event. The musician asks what songs to sing, the answer is the sermon theme. First comes the sermon, then comes everything else following in line.
But what if the sermon was taken off of its pedestal? What if the sermon was brought to equal playing ground and helped share the support, as opposed to being the thing that is supported. What if we crafted our programs and gatherings around a higher thought or idea and then everything else supported that; first comes the one idea for the day, then comes the sermon, the songs, the images, the sounds, and everything else (but not necessarily in that order).
Instead of a sermon driven Sunday we could have one idea that everything in our program or service upholds. Instead of one person’s words being the main event, we promote the supporting actors and actresses, giving them all an equal hand-hold on the formation of our students and community.
Why try and hit a home run every time when you can have a whole program that moves people from one base to the next, all working together for the same goal, all supporting one idea; different but equal methods all communicating the same message.
Which came first: the sermon or the Sunday? For the sake of the holistic formation of our students and communities, let the Sunday come first, and may our different methods (teaching, singing, small groups) all join together under one message.
Jim Kast-Keat is the Director of fifty6, the fifth and sixth grade ministry at Mars Hill Bible Church in Grandville, MI. He likes books, four square, and his wife. And he can play The Office theme on his accordion. He is also a huge proponent for ‘one idea programs’, giving every element equal weight in the communication and experience of the formation of his students. For more, check out www.jimkastkeat.com.
Conversation
I am so concerned with this
I am so concerned with this generation of me pleasing Christians. I, I, I , Me, Me, Me. I am sorry sir, but you are not the focus of the Church service.
Paul told Timothy:
Preach the Word, be instant in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke exhort with all long suffering and doctrine.
What people don't like is is the reproof and the rebuke. Oh, I know it really hampers the crowd and puts a big wet blanket on the Christian Rock Concert. Which is what many of our "Church Services" are turning into.
But the bible also says that "reproofs are the way of life".
On this Rock I will build my Church (That's the Lord Jesus not Peter, by the way) and In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. So Jesus is the Word and He said that on the Rock (Christ) he would build his Church and we should demote the position of the proclamation of it????
I am confused. I go to Church to worship a thrice Holy God and to hear his Holy Word Proclaimed! So that I can in turn live a life of Faith.
The bible never says faith cometh by singing, or dancing it says :"faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God"!
Amen & Amen!!!
What came first was the Word
What came first was the Word of God.
Everything in worship should revolve around that. The sermon is digging into the Word, showing our sin and proclaiming Jesus as Savior. The sermon and the human behind the sermon is not the main event. God's Word is.
Can other things beside a sermon proclaim God's Word? Yes, music can. Visual images can. Even dramas. But it must all involve words or we have feelings, a movement or an atmosphere but no understanding of the depth and character of our compassionate, faithful God who loved so much He sacrificed Himself in Jesus.
The power of God works through the Word. (Isaiah 55:11-12) The Holy Spirit works faith by hearing the Word. (Romans 10:14) The Word of God is our standard and all other things must proclaim it and support it. Worship comes in many wonderful forms. To worship in spirit and truth, worship must be powered by God's Word.
Well said! I have often felt
Amen Jim! That's all that
Amen Jim!
That's all that Paul needed. He had no dance team, no video screens, no 8 piece worship band.
Yes, music has it's place, but the proclaimation of God's word must always be the central focus of our corporate worship.
The trend towards marginalizing the focus of God's word is scary.
The divine origin and authority of scripture is the only anchor that we have and the only foundation upon which we are to build our lives.
The only "higher thoughts or ideas" we should be promoting should only come from God's word!
"Instead of one person’s
"Instead of one person’s words being the main event, we promote the supporting actors and actresses, giving them all an equal hand-hold on the formation of our students and community."
I would be concerned also by the dominance of the sermon over the rest of the service if the sermon was merely, "one person's word..." However, hopefully, we as ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ are sharing the power of the gospel that Paul refers to in Romans and are seeing the Holy Spirit transform hearts by the preacher speaking God's words to God's people through the exposition of scripture. God's word transforming through the work of the Holy Spirit will vitalize "the songs, the images, the sounds, and everything else" to a greater degree than any idea of the day construed by men.
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