How do you minister to the "bored?"

Are you expecting them to be leaders or are you making leaders? Everywhere you go and every time you do ministry take some people with you. Train them to do ministry and be leaders. Put yourself in their shoes as though you had grown up as they did.

 

abcgrad94,

people need to be challenged. If you expect nothing from them, you'll get nothing. That is what leadership is all about: set the bar high and the second thing about leadership is that leaders spawn other leaders.

I agree: too many people show up at church expecting to be entertained by the worship and by the preaching. When we worship, our audience is GOD ALMIGHTY and He is the one we're singing to. And there will always be critical people. Not having a Pastor for 7 months and chairing a pulpit committee has taught me one thing: people are OVERLY CRITICAL of preaching! Most sheeple focus on HOW you say something rather than WHAT you say. It is sad! So there will always be those who sit and soak an sour and it is your job and my job to be praying for them that God will get out His hatpin and stick them with it a little an wake them up!

 

The OP has the answer. They want to be entertained. Then entertain them. Have you tried rock music with Christian lyrics? How about clown-led communion? One church I read about got a crowd with a trapeze act.

I also heard about a pastor who rode a Harley onto the stage; he was clad in leather. Varoom, varoom. Boy, did that wake up some folks

Oh, and don't forget about that six-part series on great sex, powered by provocative billboard ads. That'll get their attention.

Or.

Or, maybe we could pray for God to pour out his Spirit on our congregation. Nobody'll be bored if that happens.

 

ABC, I am not against making things interesting for a crowd, if certain things are not violated:

One, you NEVER sin to make things entertaining.
Two, a church service is a church service. It's not for getting together and playing pool with your drinking buddies.
Three, the cross of Christ is to be preached without wisdom of speech - no cute stories to illustrate the cross!

But, we have to remember:

No one comes except he be drawn. Entertainment will not win them. Entertainment can be a useful tool to open them up to learning more. But it cannot win them!

Does this help any?


~~~~"Have you tried rock music with Christian lyrics? "

Dangerous! Possibly sin, but I will "not" take a stand on whether it is sin or not - I am unsure.

~~~~"How about clown-led communion? One church I read about got a crowd with a trapeze act."

What becomes the pourpose of the church meetings? Entertainment, or the equipping of the saints?
Just be careful.

~~~~"Or, maybe we could pray for God to pour out his Spirit on our congregation. Nobody'll be bored if that happens."

I should read your whole message before I argue against it.

 

"I need to know how to handle this mindset without becoming so frustrated or apathetic myself."

"Or, maybe we could pray for God to pour out his Spirit on our congregation. Nobody'll be bored if that happens."

The other gent's answer - PRAYER.

I have to ask..
You're saying we, entertainment etc...

You're not a woman speaker, are you? (You will notice I did NOT say pastor, because no woman is a pastor.)

 

Glad to hear, ABC!

 

If you husband is preaching the Word, (choosing some pointed topics they need and I assume he is, then as has been said, it is the Spirit that must do the work.

Do your best till He moves you on and that is all that He asks.

Having said that, do you have an area representative of your breed of church? If so talk to him, he might have some ideas/insight that would help.

I had a friend that knocked himself out for several years at a little church. I spoke there as a missionary and not one person stopped to look at the brochures/information. His area rep sat him down one day and said move on this church is dead. From what he told me I would probably agree.

Just pray, be patient, be open and do the best you can. You work for God's glory and He will gain it as He will.

One final thought, are you sure they are bored and not lost? Sounding like it as you speak of your church :-(

 

[snipped - slandering our Christian brothers is NOT allowed]

 

Bob, you may as well delete my account if calling men heretics, who uphold pride as a necessary thing, and believe in compromising the faith in order to get numbers, is a problem.

Are you defending "christian" brothers, or apostate? I am not the final judge, but by appearances, they are damned. And if not damned, they are heretics for certain.

(If you want to know what this is about, I will not name names to have this deleted again. But, I refer to the seeker-sensitive movement.)

 

I don't know what "upholding pride as necessary" means.

I have much disagreement with "seeker-sensitive" churches. However, they didn't start the entertainment mentality in churches. Churches long before them had their tent shows, southern gospel concerts, testimony services, and a host of other things that have watered down or just plain eliminated the gospel

(Ouch..I know I just hit some of momma's favorites here. I'm the heretic now).

There are many in the seeker-sensitive movement that are far more orthodox than their critics who cornered the market on easy-believism and man-centered "salvation" decades ago.

A local IFB pastor was railing on tv one night about a rather well known pastor/author in the seeker sensitive movement. How he was a heretic. How he was a compromiser. Didn't use the KJV to boot. Next broadcast? How Jews did not need Jesus to get to heaven and anyone who thought they did was damned and heretical.

Garbage. Just plain garbage.

 

1Co 2:1-5 And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

 

I do believe Paul said it better than I did.

 

It is interesting in the early Welsh revival, the preacher became silent, with tears in his eyes,,, After some silence, one parishioner stood and started to sing a hymn. The whole assembly joined in song.

This was happening in chapels all over Wales and a great revival took place. There was absence of preaching, loads of singing praises to God, and prayer. People were saved, and others restored to God. No entertainment. They didn't have anything more than a tuner.

Cheers,

Jim

 

Not the judge.................

I'm sorry that I missed your post before it was deleted but it probably would have been entertaining in a sad sense. Your bombastic style destroys the credibility of your case. Also, shouting generalities without reasoned argument crafted on a factual basis is simply spouting inanities.

Now, you say that you are not the judge but you did judge according to appearances. Read your post. Theologically, I am probably more conservative and fundamental than you, yet much sounder in my views. You are throwing around a lot of terms without due consideration of their meaning. What is a heretic? By whose standard? How are the objects of your ridicule heretical? As to pride, I would call it pride in anyone who can pontificate his or her own opinions as God's own mind. It is good to examine our own hearts and minds before offering judgment on others (see Matthew 7).

 

What was the preacher doing before he became silent?