Many pastors, ministers, and preachers seem to be long-winded. Even to the point of bragging about it. And congregations are, for the most part, to sit and listen as long as it keeps going. Some speakers can't seem to stop on time, if there is such a thing as, "on time."
However, is this the Christian attitude one should take? That a congregation or a listening audience owes the speaker as much time as they want to speak. That a congregation is somehow broken if it has a time limit. That Christians of all people, should just sit still and listen as long as a preacher wants to go on.
And some pastors demand this. They demand the podium as long as they have something to say. That you are not a good person if you think the pastor's time is limited. How dare you have the nerve to stop them? Many demand a captive audience until doomsday, come hell or high water! That if you are in church, you are obligated to listen as long as it takes. That any invited speaker should keep going like the energizer bunny. And you cannot leave!
We would argue that a speaker never has an unlimited amount of time. That they can just ramble on until they are finished. And demand that. Is not a pastor supposed to be humble? Should not a pastor put his/her congregation first? A pastor is leading a flock. Not a dictator. No pastor should be selfish with the time in church.
Many speakers put a guilt trip on the audience.
Oh, you watch TV for hours....you should watch me!
You go to a ballgame for two hours, I deserve the same!
If I have a message, you need to hear it all!
Sorry friends. It just does not work that way. You cannot put your congregation in a guilt trip by demanding that they it needs to sit and listen for what seems forever.
Because someone can preach for hours does not mean they should.
The human body is not made to sit in one place for an unreasonable amount of time.
Making one feel guilty is not Christian.
Abusing your time and audience, and being demanding...is not Christian either.
There should be respect on both sides. Pastors should expect a reasonable amount of time to give a sermon. Congregations should also be given a time limit that all members can handle.
The normal time, it seems, for a human to sit through a sermon, is 30-60 minutes. And we say that as to what seems to be normal.
Remember, we have all walks of life in a church. We have sick people. We have old people. We have young people. We have hungry people. We have medical problems. Our brains just get tired.
How effective do you think a sermon is going to be, when one reaches the wall? Anything said after that is just painful and not getting to everyone anyway. So why antagonize your audience?
There's the rub. Should a pastor be a dictator and antagonize an audience? In Christian terms, probably not.
Pastors, know your sheep. Do not demand from them anything unreasonable. In fact, when you start demanding anything....you are not humbling yourself as a Christian.
Prepare your congregation. Nurture your congregation. Teach your congregation. Lead your congregation.
You won't be successful if you think everyone should just love hearing you speak ad nauseum.
Very well said in the article!
ReplyDeleteIn fact, pastors are not needed. The church is structured in a rather perverse way to pay pastors to effectively do nothing of substance. Pastors are mostly parasites.
Instead, everyone who wants to serve in the church in whatever capacity, should do so for no pay. Other than expenses. But no salary. This is how most people contribute to their churches already. With the exception of pastors and some other roles. Why can't the latter minister because they love the Lord and be satisfied with it without a worldly gain?
Using the Bible to justify their position,salary, prestige, authority is a non starter.