I was listening to a podcast a couple of weeks ago that featured the lead pastor of the First Baptist Church in Okeechobee, Florida. He was talking about the main elements leading to his church’s explosive growth. He said he identified barriers for young families attending worship on Sunday and found that preparing breakfast for kids on Sunday morning was an issue. So he said, “If you’ll come, we’ll feed you.” They had eggs, sausage, biscuits, and gravy on tap for everyone who attended. This strategy meshes with others that I’ve heard recently, including church-sponsored flag football and pickleball leagues for the purpose of drawing people in the doors.
It’s been interesting to me to see research over the last several years which shows not to use entertainment to bring young families or individuals back to churches or to try to keep them. So many churches (and we’re not immune) are trying to go for easy fixes by creating an experience that’s exciting, dynamic, and fun. The sermon is shortened and made more entertaining while music becomes more prominent. However, according to numbers that I’ve seen in the past, a tiny percentage of people surveyed left their congregations because of the music. Additionally, a significant portion of those who left reported that they really did miss the preaching of God’s Word.
Our children need to learn about the patience of Job, the faith of Abraham, the courage of Gideon, the perseverance of Paul, the perfection of Jesus, etc. If we take the power of the Scriptures away from their hearts and replace it with food and team sports, they’ll never be the same.
Churches may object and say that they do preach the Bible — and that’s true to an extent. However, what’s preached today contains a heavy emphasis on “relevant” sermons, which often translates to sermons that “meet people’s needs,” regardless how selfish, narcissistic, and godless these needs may be. Rarely is a sermon heard that identifies the specific and ugly nature of sin, and then calls people to repentance. Rarely is a sermon heard that lays out logically and rationally the uniqueness of salvation in Christ or the specific identity of Christ’s church.
Ultimately, the preacher’s goal isn’t to make the Bible relevant, but to help his hearers see how relevant the Bible is! The Bible is the Word of God and is timelessly relevant all by itself. The Bible transcends all societies, cultures, fads, etc. We can never let the preaching of the Bible take a back seat. If we do, the church will lose its relevancy.
Kyle Campbell