Sitting in “Big Church”

If you’ve been reading my blog, you know that I am on a quest with our church leadership to transition the ethos of our church to a place where intergenerational relationships are the norm, not the exception.  For us, one of the flagship changes that we are seeking to bring about in this process is seeking to have more of our students engage with our corporate worship services.  If you know anything about my church, you know we are not generally considered “fluffy” in our teaching.  Our senior pastor is an amazing expository preacher and he does not “water things down.”  In the ten years I have been here I have seen our pastor come to use language that is more accessible by more people, adjust his delivery style to be less tied to his notes, and incorporate more transparent examples when appropriate.  However, in all these changes, he has not compromised his commitment to Scripture and expository preaching.  I love my pastor and enjoy sitting under his teaching each week.

One of the things I hear most often from parents when we talk about the corporate worship service centers around our pastor and his preaching.  In some form or fashion what people often say is “my kids don’t get anything out of the sermons, they are over their heads.”  This same comment has been articulated by adults when asked about why they don’t invite friends and neighbors to church.  Responses to this type of question go something like “please don’t change the style of preaching, that is why we are here, but I would not invite a friend, it’s too deep.”  All this causes me to pause a bit.  Is this a problem?  I don’t think so.  I think it’s more an issue with expectation.

Today, I received an email from our high school pastor who included the dialogue he had on facebook with one of our college freshmen.  The last line of the conversation included this statement.  “I miss pastor tom’s preaching a lot.”  WOW!  I heard the parent of several elementary students recently say how much they enjoyed having their kids in the service because of all they learn.

Another thought comes to mind when I think about the brain research that has surfaced over the past five years.  Mark Ostreicher quotes Dr. Jay Giedd and his “use it or lose it principle” in his book “Middle School Ministry”.  The concept here is that students need to be using their brains if they are going to see growth in their brains occur.  If this is the case, why not challenge our kids with more opportunity to “use it”?  Why not ask them to think about a sermon they hear?  Why not then position parents to have conversations with their teens after those services, mine nuggets learned, and share insights they themselves had?  Why not?  We expect they can’t handle it.  We expect they will be board.  We expect too little.

What do you think?