Gap-filling teaching

I thought this was interesting commentary from Joe Carter. Note the request for "gap-fillers" and think about how adult sunday school, small groups, and other teaching opportunities can be helpful.

"The average New England churchgoer of the 18th century listened to some15,000 hours of sermons in his or her lifetime, notes Joshua Davey. Comparethat to the 1500 hours of lectures are involved in obtaining a bachelor'sdegree and it's becomes clear why early American evangelicals were so muchmore knowledgeable about theology than we are today.Davey points out that if a modern churchgoer hears between 1 -1.5 hours ofsermons a week for 75 straight years they would only accumulate 3,900 hours.

I think Davey is being overly optimistic. While most church services maylast about an hour, less than half that time is spent listening to a sermon.If Rick Warren were to break out an hour-long homily the pews at Saddlebackwould likely be empty come the next Sunday! Davey makes some important points about the important need for political preaching. And while I whole-heartedly agree, I think it would be a start just to have more preaching. I don't have much hope that the typical evangelical liturgy (music by the choir/praise band-offering by the ushers-sermon by the preacher-football game by the NFL) will change within my lifetime. American evangelicals are a product of our culture and our MTV attention spans simply couldn't handle a Puritan-length sermon.

But that's where bloggers can come in. There is a definite need for "gapfillers", teachers and preachers who can provide small doses of instructionfor the rest of us between the 20-minute sermons we get on Sundays. Societyhas changed from the 18th to 21st centuries; we need to adapt accordingly. We should use the new technology for both the spread of the Gospel and teaching of the church. After all, this generation's Jonathan Edwards may besitting behind a computer rather than standing behind a pulpit."

A big area Joe didn't mention is what we do in our homes -- formal devotion times, simply reading God's Word at the dinner table, living out Deut 6:6-7.