When I had posted my 2021 Goals, Glen had asked the not unreasonable question to my goal of "Find a New Church" if good churches were so rare in my neck of the woods. I have been giving that question a great deal of thought, because I needed to have a more ready answer for others that asked and also to really understand what I was looking for versus what I have been finding.
I can come up with some external matters: type of music for example (while I do prefer some modern styles of music, I have to confess both a love for old hymns and a growing weariness of songs which only, ever seem to be weepy imploring), types of service (I tend to be a "high church" sort of fellow, and prefer an order of service to a free-flowing movement), even types of dress (I am not necessarily a fan of vestments, but stepping up to preach with a sports team logo shirt is a bit much). But if I am honest, all of these, while being important, or not critical.
What bothers me the most, I realized, is the lack of a professional clergy.
Preaching and handling the Word of God is a profession, like any other profession. I would not go to a doctor who was not trained in medical school nor a massage therapist who trained using You Tube videos. I do not take my car to someone who does it in their spare time. If I am going to a professional, I expect professional work.
But there has been a trend in the Christian church - at least the non-denominational Church (the Catholic, Orthodox, and Main Line Protestant Denominations, while having other significant issues, have at least been spared this problem) to completely dispense with the idea that preachers of the Word need any education in it. Good preaching - good church leadership - is a craft and skill as much as any other exercised in the modern world.
To be clear, a degree in Religious Studies - really a Masters in Divinity or Doctor of Theology - requires a great deal more than just "how to preach". It requires study of church history, church doctrine, original languages (Hebrew and Greek typically, Latin perhaps thrown in for good measure). It requires thought and multiple writing projects and presentations and preaching practice.
But for many churches, they have dispensed with all that. "Being Led By The Spirit" - which is, while important, not the only qualification for preaching - or being in a leadership position in the church - again, needed but not the only qualification - are considered to be enough.
The result? Bad preaching, bad theology, a willingness to be swept along with the larger culture (because that is what you as a preacher understand and know; you have no frame of historical reference), and a reliance on almost anything other than the revealed Word of God (if they are using more examples from books and public speakers than the Word of God, that is a problem).
Having said this (I can hear some of you thinking in the back of your minds), this does not take away from what I consider to be other significant issues with the modern Christian church and would be considerations for any new church that I would be thinking of going to (but beyond the scope of today's mediation). They are important, and they need to be considered.
But as I have mulled it around in my head for a week or more, the lack of professionalism has stuck out to me more and more as a weakness that many churches now have. As has been said by wiser heads than I, if you have a society that devalues theologians and plumbers you will have bad theology and bad plumbing. And while religion is effectively a private endeavor (e.g., at least here in the US it not a regulated industry), it does not change the need to have the same expectations and levels of professionalism that one would seek from any other organization, especially one that (to those that attend) influences so much of their life.
I do not know that I have actually questioned any church I have attend about the credentials of their preaching staff - not just did they give a biblical message, but did they have the training to do so. Be assured, I intend to do so going forward.
Well said. The extreme casualness that has become common in so many churches just speaks to me of sloppiness and lack of respect for the Creator they claim to be worshipping. I mean, if someone is going to meet an important person that was greatly admired, I doubt the dress of choice would be a t-shirt and jeans with holes in the knees. I suspect that most folks would dress to impress. Why isn't it the same for God?
ReplyDeleteWhen I lived in Texas, I recall the esteemed regional seminary of the denomination to which I then belonged, making sweeping changes in their curriculum. They were no longer going to require courses in Greek, Hebrew, and hermeneutics, but were proud to be implementing a new business course of study. I don't really follow them anymore, but from what I hear of them on occasion, the fruit of those choices is in full evidence.
Exactly. Everything has to be good - from the speecher on down! The folks have to be good people too, and share at least some of your values and be the kind that you can relate to.
ReplyDeleteAs with most things Glen, it starts at the top and works its way down. One of the great disconnects I am working through is how to relate to people who in theory share the same theology and understanding of God but in practice do not.
DeleteLeigh, I think it relates to the movement of the last 20 years of "Jesus is my friend" movement, the sort of thing that makes Christ (and therefore God) a sort of supernatural sort of big brother or best friend - and after all should you not be able to be comfortable with God?
ReplyDeleteThat is not it, of course - if as Christians we believe that God has the power to save us from sin, that is a bit more than our "best friend" can do - but as we seem uncomfortable as Christians (except in the abstract) with a Holy God it is not all that surprising.
Any time I hear of churches, denominations, or ministries taking on aspects of the business culture or the secular world I mentally give up on them. Churches are not and have never been perfect, but the operation of a church as a religious supernatural institution greatly differs than that of a business. Seldom if ever, at least in my limited experience, are churches improved by it.
As to the last, the fruit of their choices, I can simply reply with God's Word: God is not mocked, and what a man sows, he reaps.
I attended a SBC church my whole childhood. But I came to real life in August 1981. I started reading the Word. God became real to me, and I was discipled by a 69 year old home missionary, Lillie Belle Kramp after I was reborn. She had memorized books of the Bible, she was theologically sound like no one I've met since. She had a sharp wit, and a sharper tongue, but amazing self control. Through her contacts, I got 2 years of Bible college study crammed into a one year program. (Columbia Bible College) That was completed in 1984.
ReplyDeleteI think part of the problem is how much of you does God own.
We live in a flippant world. A world that is more inclined to appearance than substance. We live plastic lives, drive plastic cars, watch plastic shows, eat plastic food, think plastic thoughts, listen to plastic music, are led by plastic pols. Is it any wonder that our churches are plastic too?
Those of us that like iron, steel, wood and stone cannot ever be satisfied with plastic. Those that have tasted the Spring that wells up into Eternal Life cannot stand the plastic juice of the masses. I think that is where I have been failing... I have tasted of the Holy, the iron and steel of the eternal, and have not continued along that path with single focus, but tried to keep one foot on the path, while looking at the plastic world. How can you be satisfied with plastic when you know the smooth heft of iron?
Judges is where we are now.... Good times, fickle hearts, decaying worship, hardship, bondage, suffering, repentance, deliverance, cleansing, heartfelt worship, good times, fickle hearts.... Every man doing what is right in their own eyes....
Guest post! Sorry, old pastors tend to get preachy....
No reason to apologize at all STxAR!
DeleteI think your point is a good one - we now live in a disposable world, and our theology and our preaching has become somewhat disposable as well (do we preach for the ages anymore, or just for the week?).
Focus...I am conflicted. On one hand we have the writing that turning our hand back from the plough is not desirable, on the other the very real fact that for many, preaching is not - and cannot be - a means of life (unless we changed our complete view of how the preacher is supported; my uncle, a Baptist preacher, worked a day job his whole life while preaching).
But as a member, I think you are right: We are satisfied with plastic because we have seldom - or never - tasted true preaching riches. When we do, we wonder why we made do with less. It reminds me of AW Tozer, who in The Knowledge of The Holy notes that if a soul that had gone to Heaven returned to earth, he would find all sermons flat and tepid compared to the glories he had observed.
I cannot listen to Christian radio anymore. The whiny, one note songs are noise. Hymns were written to teach doctrine to the illiterate. Words and music are a special kind of mental glue.... "Conjunction, junction, what's your function?"
DeleteI came to life in the early 80's, The Imperials, Harvest, Scott Wesley Brown, some really good stuff in there. And the old hymns that I can remember singing at mom's side as a tot...
A simple comparison of the current style, much less the words, show that it is..... plastic. Argh... etc....
STxAR, I find it difficult as well. In fact, although I know I "should", I do not. Most modern Christian music leaves me flat. I find myself humming the hymns of times past.
DeleteThe one thing I like about the faith that I belong too is that I can go anywhere in the world and the service and readings for the day will be the exact same though spoken in different languages depending on the country. About the only variables are the music and to some extent, the sermon, which while based on the readings, will have some personal style to them from the priest's perspective.
ReplyDeleteBut I have noticed a lot of casualness from the crowd. It isn't uncommon to see people attending mass in sweatpants and sports jerseys when most of the older generations still wear suit and tie every Sunday. It looks like they literally rolled out of bed and drove to mass.
Ed, I was originally brought up Episcopalian and then Lutheran, so when I have attended Catholic mass from time to time (my longtime friend Uisdean Ruadh is a devout Catholic) it really does not feel all that different. And that was always one of the benefits of being in an organized denomination: one can always know exactly what page one is on, and concentrate on something else than finding one's way.
DeleteTo be fair, I am guilty (to a lesser degree, I suppose) as any other. I do not wear ties although I did try to dress better (business casual) even in our more "modern" congregation. I have gotten much sloppier now that I am online. I should rectify this - yes, I know it is not important in that sense, but it does say something, at least to me (or should).
I would describe my dress as Friday business casual on most Sundays but try to dress up for those special days and most certainly for funerals and such.
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